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NEW ORLEANS – Ultimately, all the University of Kentucky Wildcats did during the 21 days of the NCAA Tournament – and especially Monday night in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome – was confirm what anyone who follows the sports with a balanced perspective figured for the better part of 2012:

John Calipari was coaching far and away the best collection of players in college hoops this season.

Uh, let me rephrase that:

He was coaching the best team – in every best sense of the word – in the country.

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  NEW ORLEANS

   National Title game

Kentucky 67, Kansas 59

   Why Kentucky won: because the Wildcats possessed on the most dominant low-post presences in (relative) recent college hoops history in Anthony Davis (16 points, six blocked shots, five assists and three steals) and incredibly gifted, balanced and unselfish cast around him.

The Turning Point: Tyshawn Taylor’s reverse layup (which would have cut the Kansas deficit to four points was blocked by Michael Kidd-Gilchrist; Taylor recovered the ball then turned it over with 54 seconds to go.

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NEW ORLEANS – Squads representing the East and South came out winners Sunday afternoon during the second All-American Championship games that were played at the Lakefront Arena.

Future Big East Conference players Omar Calhoun (Brooklyn, NY, Christ The King/bound for Connecticut) and Ricardo Ledo (South Kent School, CT/Providence) paced the East with 26 and 15 points, respectively, during the 84-72 victory over the West.

Calhoun, selected his team’s MVP, scored 27 of those points in the first half to push his team to a 44-28 advantage.

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NEW ORLEANS – Feeling fresh and spry after a good night/early morning’s sleep on Final Four Weekend?

Or, at least, want to see some of the very best high school hoopsters – and some future FF participants – up close and personal on Sunday afternoon.

Then you’re in the right town.

The Second All-American Championships, sponsored and organized by the Gazelle Group, will be played at 2 and 4:30 p.m. CT, respectively, at the Lakefront Arena,

The first contest will match 10-play squads representing the East and West, with a North-South affair to follow.

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NEW ORLEANS – And then there were two . . .

Four and a half months after the fact, that Nov. 15 game played between the Kentucky and Kansas basketball teams in Madison Square Garden is now going to be a prime topic of conversation.

The Wildcats prevailed (75-65) in that one – something called the State Farm Champions Classic.

There will be a tad more at stake when the squads hook up for Round 2 Monday night.

And their national championship confrontation in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome has all of the makings of an honest-to-goodness Classic.

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