By Neil Schmidt
The Cincinnati Enquirer

LEXINGTON - It returns in the quiet moments, as they ride the bus or drift off to sleep. It haunts. It hurts.

"You try to run away from it, but you can't," Chuck Hayes said.

It is Marquette 83, Kentucky 69, in the 2003 Elite Eight.

To hear Hayes and his Wildcat teammates tell it, it is the greatest motivating factor behind this stellar season.

"I've watched every one of my games, win or lose, but for some reason I haven't been able to watch that one," Hayes said. "I just remember the pain I went through."

The Wildcats (26-4) return to the NCAA Tournament still simmering about their previous visit. Although coach Tubby Smith said he hasn't mentioned the Marquette game to his players, they cite it often in interviews.

"We don't want to feel what we felt last year," Kelenna Azubuike said.

Said Ravi Moss: "To get so close (to the Final Four) last year and not make it hurts."

It was a shock. Kentucky was the nation's No. 1 team, riding a 26-game winning streak, but it fell apart so fast.

All-American Keith Bogans sprained an ankle in the Sweet 16 victory over Wisconsin. He was hobbled against Marquette and couldn't guard its All-American, swingman Dwyane Wade.

Wade sliced through, passed over and dunked on the Wildcats' defense, posting just the third triple-double in NCAA Tournament history: 29 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists. Unsung center Robert Jackson dominated UK's front line with 24 points and 15 rebounds.

Hayes, assigned to guard Wade, fouled out in just 17 minutes and was held scoreless.

"Last year, I feel we were one of the better teams," Smith said. "But we weren't the best on that day. Marquette was."

Smith talked Tuesday about the psychological blow of Bogans' injury.

"You go in with, 'How can we get our guys to overcome that?' Not just our players, but our coaching staff," Smith said.

Smith said the tournament's single-elimination format makes individual matchups even more important, and that a healthy Bogans would have drawn Wade. Lacking that, Smith said, "We had issues."

Clearly, the Wildcats were rattled. They shot just 26 percent in the first half and trailed by 19 points at halftime.

This season's UK team might be more able to weather adversity.

It fared OK while leading scorer Gerald Fitch missed three games because of a hand injury. With five scorers averaging double figures, there are options if anyone's hurt or off his game. Smith has brought along his bench to the point where he was able to play 12 players Sunday in the first half of the Southeastern Conference title-game victory over Florida.

"I think we've got guys mature enough and good enough that, whoever's out, we can fill the void," Fitch said. "We'll definitely be prepared for whatever problems we'd have."

Smith said he knows that with a second consecutive No. 1 seed, there's pressure to reach a Final Four. He said he tries to keep his team relaxed so it can reach its potential.

Yet he has been through enough of these to like his team's chances.

"You've got to have good leadership, and we have that," he said. "We've got camaraderie. We have guys that are very unselfish. We're a tough-minded team.

"We're going into postseason play with a lot of confidence. ... (And) we know we have unfinished business."

Tickets available

Tickets are still available for the St. Louis regional at the Edward Jones Dome. All-session tickets, good for admittance to all three games of the regional, are $100 and $110. The $120 seats are sold out. Go to www.ticketmaster.com.

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E-mail nschmidt@enquirer.com