Ncaa Basketball Championship

His team a decided underdog for the third time in three NCAA tournament games, West Virginia Coach Gale Catlett had a proposition for Utah's Rick Majerus on the eve of today's West Regional semifinal encounter at the Pond. "I wish that Rick and I could tee it up at 4:15 at midcourt and play one-on-one--whoever wins advances," Catlett suggested Wednesday. "Because I would whip his butt. I wasn't a very good player, but I can whip him."

What defines a good regional? Is it the best collection of talent and tradition, such as the grouping of UCLA, Kentucky, Duke and Syracuse in this year's NCAA South Regional? Is it one with the best story lines, such as Rhode Island and Valparaiso and the Harrick and Drew families in the Midwest? Is it any regional without bombastic Indiana Coach Bob Knight?

It should have been the night of his life, the payoff for thousands of jump shots he launched in his driveway; the reason he left home in Seattle for the University of Arizona. Michael Dickerson, your school just won the NCAA basketball championship, what are you going to do now? What could Dickerson say? Call my shrink? Dickerson's relationship with Arizona's national title remains a cruel one.

Back when Joe Smith was a sophomore at the University of Maryland, before he was making enough money to take the entire campus out to lunch, he had to borrow Sarunas Jasikevicius' dining card to eat at a school cafeteria. Three years have passed, Smith has gone on to the NBA and Jasikevicius' duties have expanded. Now he's providing a meal ticket for the entire Terrapin team.

North Carolina center Makhtar Ndiaye has recanted his claim that Utah's Britton Johnsen used a racial epithet during Utah's NCAA semifinal victory, issuing a statement through the school and adding that he has sent Johnsen an apology for falsely accusing him. "During the game, Britt Johnsen and I were doing trash-talking face to face, which was not right, but I did not spit on him nor did he use the N-word to me," said Ndiaye, a senior.

FIRST ROUND * Kentucky 82, South Carolina State 67--Wildcats shot 59.6% and were led by center Nazr Mohammed's 18 points in an easy first-round victory. SECOND ROUND * Kentucky 88, Saint Louis 61--The Wildcats went on a 19-0 run late in the first half to take a commanding 46-18 lead at halftime. REGIONAL SEMIFINAL * Kentucky 94, UCLA 68--Wildcats jumped out to an 11-2 lead and never looked back, blocking 14 Bruin shots and holding UCLA to 29.1% shooting.

Kentucky is the bluest of the basketball bluebloods, but not this bunch. They weren't born to royalty. They came from nothing, some of them, and together these Wildcats fought from behind like no team ever had to win Kentucky's seventh national championship, beating Utah, 78-69, in front of 40,509 Monday night at the Alamodome. It was Kentucky's second national title in three years, but its least expected.