Resilience

re⋅sil⋅ience

   [ri-zil-yuhns, -zil-ee-uhns]

–noun

1.	the power or ability to return to the original form, position, etc., after being bent, compressed, or stretched; elasticity.

2.	ability to recover readily from illness, depression, adversity, or the like; buoyancy.

Listening to other people's opinions, and being too close to something you're passionate about can cause you to lose sight of some feelingsyou may normally have towards that thing about which you are so passionate. This was my case with Kentucky Basketball.

After a controversial coaching change, college basketball's winningest program went through some changes in their style of play. Tubby Smith has been replaced due to his unwillingness to change up his recruiting staff, do to the lack of big prospects that had come into the program during his reign. Gillispie's first few games were far from smooth and as a result the team went under fire. The thing people forget is that the new coach, Billy Gillispie, has already revived two programs in UTEP and Texas A&M. The only thing is that this time he was handed a team who went 22-10 and was told to revive them. How do you revive a team that had made the tournament 16 consecutive times before you arrived. And the coach before you won a title. UK forward Perry Steven puts the expectations of UK fans into perspect very well when he says "They want you to win 7 out of 6 games"

Kentucky fans don't care about their record, but they do care about championship banners, and Tubby Smith just wasn't hanging any with his own recruits. His lone title came from the team Pitino had forged before he decided to leave to coach in the NBA.

During the change of regime from Smith to Gillispie, I had to listen to people attack the Wildcats, a daily occurance in Cincinnati, and it caused my faith to falter. They started last season 7-9. However, he coached the cats down the stretch of their last 16 games with a 12-4 record. His plan started to sink in and it showed. Their tourny hopes were crushed as their leading scorer, Patrick Patterson, was diagnosed with a stress fracture in his leg that would force him to sit out for the rest of the season.

This season we opened with a loss to a mid-major team. Cue pessimism. They would continue to lose to North Carolina, however this stung a bit less considering that they're the number one team in the country.

Then things started to turn. The cat's had a few cupcake games to fine-tune their skills, and bump their record to 3-2, after beating Kansas State to make it to the finals of the Las Vegas Invitational.

Welcome the night of November 29th. West Virginia made an amazing Sweet 16 run last season, and this season jumped out to a 5-0 start after defeating Iowa the night before. The Wildcats and Mountaneers delivered what was expected to be a big defensive struggle, the halftime score WVU led 26-16. Sure UK's defense looked good but their shooting was ice cold. WVU would push the lead even further, at one point leading by 12 with only 15:00 to play.

Then I remembered something I'd seen before the season's start. A video that played at the opening of Big Blue Madness, UK's 1st practice of the season, annually performed in front of a sold out crowd...

I lost sight of the fight in the Wildcats I had always seen as a kid, watching the "Comeback Cats" cut down the nets in '98. I'd assumed we'd slipped to mediocrity. I'd forgotten that UK has the most wins in the entire history of the sport. I'd forgotten that they have more SEC titles than all of the other SEC teams combined. I'd forgotten that they have the 2nd most National Titles out of any team in college basketball. I'd forgotten they were a team that was bred to win.

Kentucky would ralley to take a 37-36 lead with 7:36 to play and they would never trail again. The Mountaneers would score just 7 more points for the rest of the game as Kentucky went on to land the huge upset 54-43 over Huggins' WVU, and won the Toyota Las Vegas Invitational Championship.

For the first time this season, Kentucky is on the winning side of the upset, but that isn't what has me excited. It was the scrappy fight, determination, and resilience the Wildcats displayed that has me excited. It's that the swagger is back. The "we are the best team in college basketball history" mentality. Regardless of the record, that is what has always made UK special. Watching what SOUNDED like a home game, and seeing the THOUSANDS of UK fans who traveled to Las Vegas inspired me. Hearing GO BIG BLUE in Las Vegas being screamed just as loud as it is when it thunders through Rupp Arena in a home game made my heart race.

I lost sight. The magic shouldn't dissapear just because I attend the school now. It should only amplify. The Return to Excellence Begins Now. Maybe this isn't THE year. But if its not, its just a stop on the path to the inevitable.