ATLANTA -- This was supposed to be Kentucky's region. With No. 1 Virginia, No. 2 Cincinnati, No. 3 Tennessee and No. 4 Arizona all knocked out during the first weekend of play, it felt like the carpet was laid out for Big Blue to make it to the Final Four.
The notion that No. 5 Kentucky had the easiest path to San Antonio was inescapable. Someone even labeled Atlanta the "Kentucky Invitational" - a fact that Loyola-Chicago coach Porter Moser said he thought about while he fumed during his team's late arrival Wednesday due to a police escort that never showed and a bus driver who got lost navigating the city.