By Neil Schmidt
The Cincinnati Enquirer

UK's Tubby Smith coaches the nation's winningest program. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings)

FIRST ROUND

No. 1 Kentucky (26-4) vs. Florida A&M (15-16) Time: 7:10 p.m. Friday Place: Columbus TV: 12, 7 Radio: WSAI-AM (1530)

Kentucky has won 58 games the past two seasons, the most in the nation, and secured consecutive No. 1 NCAA Tournament seeds. Which logically leads to this recent letter to the editor in UK's fan weekly, The Cats' Pause:

"I am fed up with the direction the program has taken under Tubby Smith. The team has fallen from grace over the last five years. ... I had been hoping the team was just going through a slump, but I don't think this downward spiral will end until Tubby is gone."

Welcome to the lunatic fringe.

"Fans are unrealistic. That's just part of the territory," said UK radio analyst Mike Pratt, a former Wildcat All-American.

"The fans at Kentucky, why it's a great place to play is because of (the support of) those people. But they're going to extract blood, too."

Smith coaches the nation's winningest program, but the spoils of its success in this NCAA Tournament could be offset by a spoiled fan base's judgments.

To the more moderate segment of UK fans, last year's Elite Eight loss was forgivable because of Keith Bogans' ankle injury. The season was a surprise for a team picked third in its Southeastern Conference division.

Yet finishing No. 1 in the rankings still didn't end UK's relative Final Four drought; it hasn't gone since 1998. Though this season's team has overachieved based upon its preseason No. 11 ranking, the pressure exists to play into April.

"It's great for them to have high expectations," former UK athletic director C.M. Newton said of Wildcats fans. "But the fanatics where anything short of winning it all, Final Fours ... those people don't understand what college basketball is all about."

Making multiple Final Fours, as UK did four times from 1993-98, isn't the norm. Since 1992, besides UK, only Michigan State has gone to three in a row. There has been only one repeat champion, Duke in 1991-92, since 1973.

"The run that Kentucky had in '96-'98, an overtime period away (in the 1997 title-game loss to Arizona) from winning three in a row, to have that kind of success is extraordinary," ESPN analyst Jay Bilas said.

Expectations thereafter were ratcheted to an impossible peak. Never mind Smith has a better NCAA Tournament winning percentage at UK (.773, 17-5) than Adolph Rupp (.625, 30-18).

What makes it so hard to stretch together six wins in the Tournament? A combination of factors.

Injuries can be crippling, as with Bogans last year. Teams face unfamiliar foes, often with just a day to prepare. There are travel travails, crowd factors and officiating nuances.

"It's six games in a row, and you don't have room for mistakes," UK junior forward Chuck Hayes said.

Teams must be able to overcome an off shooting night. This team seems well-positioned in that regard.

"They overcome bad shooting by getting good shots," Newton said.

Passing is paramount. UK averages 15.6 assists a game, and six players have at least 25.

"They really look for each other," Smith said. "They like each other. That's been a big key."

The biggest constants, though, have been defense and poise.

UK holds opponents to 39.9 percent shooting, an improvement on the 41.5 percent mark of last season. And the Wildcats have stayed cool, going 7-0 in games decided by five or fewer points.

It's not an overly impressive array of talent, as UK lacks a single McDonald's All-American. Yet it's a core of experienced contributors hardened by a winter in basketball's crucible.

"If they play to their roles as defined by the coaches," Pratt said, "they're pretty daggone tough."

E-mail nschmidt@enquirer.com