This is the truth about March Madness and UK. The "Madness" part is tough to understand. If you have not played in it, or gotten to know those that have, it's not easy to grasp. The emotion fans often bring to the table makes it difficult to see. That is not a negative comment towards fans, because without their emotion, March would not be what it is. Thousands of 'True Blue Fans' have spent much of the season complaining about the regular season.

In the words of a senior sage, Scott Padgett, it has been "disappointing" by Kentucky's standards. Former UK sharpshooter Cameron Mills doesn't hesitate when he says, "Kentucky fans are spoiled." The problem is in the feeling a player gets in March. What Kentucky's players have experienced for the past three seasons is one of the greatest natural highs they will ever experience. It is not something you can recreate in February, and therefore, for a special team like Kentucky, it is at times harder to win until the calendar changes to that special month.

Scott Padgett's words were ringing in my ears as I watched him drain shot after shot after shot to beat a Kansas team that ended the season being much better than anyone anticipated. I talked to Padgett just before the NCAA tournament, about the drug UK has experienced like no other team in March. Padgett didn't disagree. "When you get to the NCAA tournament, the championship game three years in a row, it's hard to duplicate that kind of atmosphere when you are just playing a regular season game. It's something next year those guys (his teammates) are going to have to work on. We find a way to play much better in March."

As much as Padgett likes and respects Tubby, the bright senior brought up the value of a lesson taught to him by his former coach. "When you get to the tournament, as Coach Pitino used to say, there is no such thing as bad pressure. There is pressure that makes you run faster, jump higher, and that is what we do tournament time. A lot of teams kind of freeze up. That's where we get better." Padgett can literally feel the result of March Madness pressure on other teams. "You can see some of the plays they make. Just the little things that you notice on the court."

When Padgett and his teammates see it, they understand how to take advantage of it. It makes it easier to attack ! "Oh definitely", says the veteran who is hoping to lead UK to a repeat. "Last year in the tournament in the UCLA game, you could tell it was over before it started." Anytime UK blows out a non-cupcake in March like they did UCLA, it only adds to their reputation. At times, reputation can be worth a few points in any month.

What makes Padgett's statements even stronger is how it is passed down to the younger generation of UK's future stars. Saul Smith talked with pride about why UK embraces March. "It's a characteristic of us. When the pressure is on, under the lights, we play our best basketball. " Smith admits that this special feeling can not be duplicated in February. "That's why they call it March Madness. This is Kentucky. There is that special feeling you embrace in March, you lose and your done. In March, it's always a high when you win." Michael Bradley, whose getting a lot more attention in scouting reports ever since he became number one in America in field goal shooting, also understands why UK plays harder and smarter in that special month. "When March comes a long, it's not something you try to do. But you just focus more than a regular game and you want to win more than a regular game."

So, to those Kentucky fans who have been complaining about a bad regular season, the glass is half full not half empty. This special program is full of young men who are calm and cool when it really counts. Comments can be e-mailed to sportscut@mis.net .

Alan Cutler is a motivational speaker, an award winning TV sportscaster who starting covering UK in 1981, and a sports talk show host in Cincinnati and Lexington. Choose to have a great day !