West Virginia Mountaineers At Kentucky Wildcats: Sweet Sixteen Live Game Thread

Welcome to the Live Game Thread for the Sweet Sixteen game between the Kentucky Wildcats and West Virginia Mountaineers. This game has been ridiculously analyzed because of the long break between the last one and this, but I can barely recall a game at this point in the tournament that has received more buzz than this one.

Game particulars

This game can be reduced to only one thing: turnovers. West Virginia needs a lot of them, and if they get enough, they have a chance. But that’s all they'll have is a chance.

For West Virginia to actually pull the upset, Kentucky has to help them by missing free throws and open shots. That can definitely happen, we’ve seen Kentucky do both things infrequently this year, although rarely if ever at the same time. Another thing that could put WVA over the top is a very friendly whistle, which basically means allowing them to get away with a lot of contact without drawing fouls. That makes their press a whole lot tougher.

For Kentucky, they need to be steady, throw over the smaller ‘Eers, and get transition layups against the press. In the half court, Kentucky has all the size in the world, and they need to go to that size early and often.

The road to the Final Four really begins right here. The preliminaries are over, and now the opponents are really, really good. Let’s get this done.

Go, ‘Cats!