Kentucky beats Baylor, faces Louisville in Final Four

ATLANTA -- Everyone who follows college basketball has seen Kentucky play on television many times, and every coach who prepares to face the Wildcats reviews plenty of video.

Then comes the reckoning: seeing them in person.

"This team's actually better than I thought,'' Baylor coach Scott Drew said after Kentucky completed its coronation as NCAA South Regional champion with an 82-70 victory Sunday at the Georgia Dome.

It's a common feeling for Kentucky opponents.

"I guess they do a great job of scouting us, but when we get on the court, it's very different,'' said Anthony Davis, Kentucky's star freshman forward.

The challenge was evident early on, when No. 3 seed Baylor (30-8) charged to a 10-5 lead that seemed to awaken No. 1 Kentucky (36-2) and its unmatched combination of size and speed. Sixteen consecutive points later, it was 21-10. Soon it was 40-18, then 42-22 at halftime, then 51-28 early in the second half.

The only blot on Kentucky's day was a nearly devastating injury. With 18:38 left, Davis landed awkwardly after a collision with Baylor center Perry Jones III and grabbed his left knee in pain. He returned a little more than a minute of game time later, but at times he had a slight limp and winced in lingering pain.

"The knee is doing fine,'' said Davis, who promised to be ready Saturday against Louisville. "I'm not going to sit out.''

Said coach John Calipari: "He popped up pretty good. It may be dinged up a little bit. He'll get treatment, believe me. He'll be having treatment on the plane.''

Baylor was far more competitive in the second half, getting within 10 in the final minute, but Kentucky held on, in part by going to the foul line repeatedly, making 30 of 44 attempts.

Jones scored 15 of his 17 points in the second half and went at Davis aggressively, which prompted a question about where that was in the first half. "I don't know,'' he said flatly.

Senior Quincy Acy led Baylor with 22 points and for much of the first half appeared to be the only Bear not intimidated by Kentucky. "In the second half, we did a better job of playing hard and showing more effort,'' Acy said. "First half, we didn't do that as a whole.''

It might not have mattered, given the efficiency of Kentucky's transition game. Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, the regional's most outstanding player, scored 19 points and shot 7-for-10, and Davis had 18 points, 11 rebounds and six blocks.

The statistical line of forward Terrence Jones illustrated the versatility and unselfishness of Kentucky's stars -- 12 points, nine rebounds, six assists, three blocks and two steals.

And it all unfolded in front of a crowd of 24,035, approximately 95 percent of whom were members of Big Blue Nation. In short, it was a mismatch on and off the court, even with Heisman Trophy winner Robert Griffin III in Baylor's fan section.

There is not much left to say about Kentucky, which now must make its final arguments in the Final Four, where last season it lost in the semifinals to Connecticut.

"We know how it feels to lose, and we don't want to feel that way again,'' senior guard Darius Miller said, speaking for those Wildcats who actually were around a year ago, unlike Sunday's three freshman starters.

Baylor now understands what the fuss has been all about. When someone asked Acy what it was like to deal with Kentucky's front line in person as opposed to watching video, he said, "They've got some good dudes down there.''

Yup.