Kentucky Beats Baylor, Nabs Final 4 Spot

Kentucky is taking its highlight show back to the Big Easy. With an NBA-like display from a young team filled with future pros, the top-seeded Wildcats advanced to the Final Four for the second year in a row with an 82-70 blitzing of Baylor in the South Regional final today. Michael Kidd-Gilchrist scored 19 points, Anthony Davis added 18 points and 11 rebounds, and Terrence Jones dazzled in all the overlooked areas, leading the Wildcats (36-2) to a Bluegrass showdown with rival Louisville in the national semifinals next Saturday at New Orleans.

At one point, Kidd-Gilchrist had as many points as Baylor's entire team: 17 apiece. Kentucky led 42-22 at the break and Baylor never got any closer than 10 points the rest of the way. John Calipari, in his third season at Kentucky, just keeps recruiting the best high school players in the land, molds them into a top team, then sends most of 'em on to the NBA before they've barely had time to find their way to class. But for all the talk about Calipari's one-and-done tactics, he's getting plenty of contributions from those who hung around beyond their freshmen year. Take Jones, a sophomore forward who passed up the draft. He scored just one point in the opening half, but his fingerprints were all over Kentucky's dominating performance: nine rebounds, six assists, three blocks, and two steals. (More March Madness stories.)