Rome is Burning.

On Friday I sent out a text message to some friends that said “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no NIT,” but the truth is that I do fear the NIT. Since I was Sophie’s age, the University of Kentucky has always made the NCAA tournament (except for those years that an express mail package busts open filled with cash). To say that I feel adrift is an understatement. Being a Kentucky basketball fan is more than simply cheering the local squad. In many ways it a defining quality of what it is to be a Kentuckian. And right now, the program is separating the men from the assholes.

My fear of the NIT is that if we do very well, it will be akin to a 19 year old beating up a 7th grader at the playground. And if we suck…. well, I don’t really want to think about that. My fear was compounded yesterday when the NIT bracket was released and we received a 4 seed. You read that correctly, the storied Kentucky basketball program received a 4 seed in the NIT.

As I made clear in my earlier post, I am not advocating that we publically lynch Coach Gillespie. Ignoring the fact that we need to give the coach more than two years, it would be very counter-productive to the program to fire a coach after the team achieved a winning season. Simply having more wins than loses is not acceptable; but, it could have been worse.

So I sit in the middle of March with nothing to do. I could watch and enjoy the NCAA tournament even though my team isn’t playing but it seems weird. I am sure that many of you do this (I am looking at you South Dakota readers) but part of me feels like I should give up on the tournament as a sort of punishment. Yes, I realize how stupid that sounds.

Before anyone suggests that I support one of the other three Kentucky teams in the tournament, I plan on doing just this (even Louisville but I am gritting my teeth).

So what else happens in March?