THE road to the NCAA Final Four championship goes through . . . Lahaina. Kentucky’s drive
started in LahainaWouldn't you know it. The basketball season for Tubby Smith's Kentucky Wildcats -- which climaxed with a 78-69 victory over Utah for the national championship -- began last November at the Lahaina Civic Center in the preseason Maui Invitational.
Taking over for Rick Pitino as UK's coach, Smith said at the time, "We're trying to get an identity. This is the place to do it."
Kentucky had lost in the semifinals to Arizona in a rematch of their NCAA championship game from the season before. In turn, Arizona lost to Duke in the Maui title game.
But obviously, Smith's Wildcats were on the right track in the search to find their identity, which they finally discovered last night at the Alamodome in San Antonio.
This was Tubby's team. Not Pitino's. And Smith -- the first black coach in Kentucky history -- showed that he indeed belonged. Smith became the fourth Kentucky coach to win a title but the first black to do it.
Those who follow college basketball, especially at Kentucky, can appreciate the significance of Smith's accomplishment.
It was, after all, Kentucky that was involved in the most racially significant NCAA championship game. That was in 1966 when Texas Western, with five black starters, defeated an all-white Kentucky team.
College basketball, especially in the South, has never been the same.
SO nobody's more deserving than Smith in savoring the reward that comes with a national championship.
"He's a class act all the way. He's very deserving," said Hawaii basketball coach Riley Wallace, who was in San Antonio to watch his 27th straight Final Four.
"They (the Kentucky fans) were on him for losing three games at home this year," Wallace said.
So, it was a vindication of sorts for Smith, who had more pressure than most first-year coaches.
"He knows his roots," Wallace added. "Tubby doesn't steal the limelight from his players. He's not like Rick Pitino. Kentucky was Pitino's team. With Tubby, it's never his team."
That was the case first at Tulsa and then at Georgia before he went to Kentucky. In 1996, local fans had a chance to see Smith's Bulldogs win the Rainbow Classic.
Wallace, though, was pulling for Utah last night. Western Athletic Conference loyalties run deep, after all.
"It was very good for the WAC to have a team in the Final Four," Wallace said. "The league office put a half-page ad in the local paper, expressing best wishes to Utah from all of the teams."
THE Utes simply wore down, according to Wallace.
"Kentucky's depth just wore them down," he said. "Utah got some good looks, but they couldn't make their shots. That's what happens when your legs go."
Too bad. Utah had the opportunity to become the first WAC team to win a national championship in basketball.
UNLV won in 1990 before becoming a member of the conference. Utah won in 1944 and Wyoming in 1943 both before joining the WAC. And the 1966 champion, Texas Western, later became Texas-El Paso, and played in its first NCAA tournament as a WAC member in 1970.
Wallace believes the Utes will be the team to beat again in the WAC next season.
And despite the loss of Anthony Carter and Alika Smith, he thinks the Rainbows could be right up there as well if two prized recruits -- who said they've committed to Hawaii -- stick to their promises.
"He's been holding pretty true," said Wallace about one of the recruits. "We beat some good schools for him."