Missed opportunities

For Kentucky, Miss. State, postseason doesn't mirror regular season

Erik Daniels' Kentucky career ended without a national title. AP

Ladies and gentlemen, your two SEC Sweet 16 participants are ... Alabama and Vanderbilt?

As if one needed further proof that the NCAA tournament in no way mirrors the 30-game regular season that precedes it, two teams, Kentucky and Mississippi State, that went a combined 27-5 in conference play are history, while two 8-8 teams are moving on. And who would have guessed that the Sweet 16 would feature as many teams from the state of Alabama as North Carolina? That ought to get some minds off spring football for a week.

Tubby Smith and Rick Stansbury may be considered the class of SEC coaches, but following their teams' most recent premature tourney exits -- UAB stunned Smith's Wildcats 76-75 on Sunday, while Xavier took down Stansbury's Bulldogs 89-74 -- there's going to be plenty of hand-wringing among the locals this offseason.

For Mississippi State, it may simply have been a matter of running into the wrong team at the wrong time. With Stanford and Gonzaga losing over the weekend, the Musketeers are officially the hottest team in the country, having won 15 of their last 16, taking down St. Joe's, Dayton, Louisville and MSU within the past two weeks. The way Xavier shot 3-pointers Sunday, making 13 of 19 -- including Dedrick Finn's 60-footer just before halftime -- the Bulldogs didn't have a chance.

That reality, however, can't temper the disappointment in Starkville, Miss., where Stansbury has helped raise expectations significantly. After luring marquee players like Mario Austin and Lawrence Roberts, the Bulldogs have had ample SEC success the past three seasons, winning one regular-season and one tourney title. But legacies are ultimately defined in the NCAAs, and MSU hasn't made it out of the second round in that stretch, falling to a lower seed each time.

Mississippi State's frustration, however, pales in comparison to that being felt in Lexington, Ky., right now. The careers of three seniors, Gerald Fitch, Cliff Hawkins and Erik Daniels, who formed the core of a remarkable two-year regular season run (29-3 SEC, 59-9 overall), have ended earlier than anticipated -- and in even more stunning fashion than last season's Elite Eight exit at the hands of Marquette.

The question is, did the past two Kentucky teams underachieve in the tourney or overachieve during the season?

As has been pointed out time and again, these Wildcat squads were not loaded with talent like many of their predecessors. This year's group featured no McDonald's All-Americas, no guaranteed NBA prospects, which is why there was always lingering skepticism about UK among much of the public.

And yet both years they fooled us into believing they were one of the favorites, going into last year's tourney as the No. 1-ranked team in the country, this year's as the top No. 1 seed in the bracket.

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Smith is to be commended for squeezing so much out of such an unheralded group. He turned them into a tough, fundamentally sound team whose tenacious defense often compensated for its lack of natural scoring ability.

When that defense isn't there, though, Kentucky is a different team. Just as Marquette's Dwyane Wade proved the ultimate neutralizer in last year's tourney loss, UAB's Mo Finley, whose 17-footer with 12 seconds left was the difference, is simply a better scorer than anyone on the 'Cats' roster.

"I do think this team overachieved in many ways," Smith said afterward. "Two games in a row we just didn't play our normal defense. We've got to do that, or we have problems scoring."

Smith's lack of marquee names the past couple of seasons was in many ways a conscious effort. With other top programs suffering massive attrition to the NBA, Smith built a rare team of four-year guys and it paid off in the wins column -- mostly.

Smith, who didn't truly win over the nation until last season's 26-game winning streak -- despite winning the national title his first year on the job -- knows UK fans are hungry to get back to the Final Four. It will be interesting to see if he changes his approach. Help is on the way in the form of McDonald's All-America guards Rajon Rondo and Joe Crawford. But you can't help but feel like Kentucky missed a golden opportunity the past two seasons.

Stewart Mandel covers college sports for SI.com.