Did Kentucky Just Become The Miami Heat’s Newest Opponent?

The NCAA champion Kentucky Wildcats won’t beat an NBA team.

They won’t beat the worst team, Charlotte, let alone its most talented, Miami. With apologies to recent comments by Larry Brown (who’s won a title in each realm), John Calipari’s team would never come close to beating 12 NBA players.

So why even pose a hypothetical when we know it’s out of the case? Because in the court of public opinion, the Wildcats may have become the Heat’s newest opponent—  and even already beat them at their own game.

If identical twins could be separated by years, that would be Miami and Kentucky. It’s not an argument about the level of talent, because the Heat’s individual skill is almost without match at the NBA level. Consider that talk around here DOA.

No, there’s a dead ringer similarity in the way they were constructed, the backlash about it and the expectations that grew from it. And it’s a reason why a group of 18- and 19-year-olds in Lexington may have just become yet another hurdle Miami must jump before it can be accepted by our sports-loving society.

Which team does this describe?

This is about how they made it, a team of immense individual talent morphing into an explosive, cohesive unit that, despite all the handwringing from the pious establishment, plays the game by any known definition of “the right way.”

It’s not Miami — but the description of Kentucky by Yahoo! Sports’ Dan Wetzel could very well be. Let’s talk about their design by two masterful architects, Pat Riley and John Calipari. The Heat’s approach was more brazen, but both were built in their dry docks like the Titanic. The $100-million contracts in Miami vs. the freshmen and sophomore lottery picks in waiting in Kentucky. Anthony Davis, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, Marquis Teague, Terrence Jones, you know the cast and where they’ll be next season (not Rupp Arena).

But here’s the catch, and it’s a big one: That description talks about a team that’s “made it.” Any critic of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh will shout DIRK! as fast as you can mention the 2011 NBA Finals. If they were the Titantic, few jeered when they hit icebergs — the early losses, the publicized infighting, the Mavericks.

Herein lies the hurdle: Now that UK accomplished it all, sailed nearly unscathed to a title (while under pressure to win analogous to Miami’s) you’ll be surprised how many now look to the Heat and think, Well what about you guys?  The pressure that already existed, the clock that won’t stop ticking until the Big Three win the title, has grown. Another Superteam did it; why can’t Miami?

We love rooting for something bigger than ourselves. It’s part of why teams become obsessions, and why teams become “(ENTER MASCOT HERE) Nation.” It’s also why anyone with the gall to go against our favorite team can be labeled a fool. But fans, and even new ones like Heat fans, will stand behind a team no matter what. For an actual nation of fans to accept a team, a sense of the work put in and at least a modicum of humility is valued. Miami struck out in all senses. They’re cast as a roster of incredible individual talents that’s taken a shortcut to the title while laughing in your face about how many titles will eventually be won.

Well, Kentucky won a title by being all the things we love. It turned the concept of a Superteam that is hard to root for into one cherished as one of the all-time NCAA greats. They did it by being unselfish and flexible to adapt to all challenges.

Miami is an incredible group of talents that can beat any team, anywhere, on most nights. For all the regretful ways their tenure started with the Heat, Miami’s best players can morph into any role befitting a consummate teammate. But they are a Superteam, and many will see Kentucky’s championship model as one for the Heat to heed.

It’s an imperfect idea, just like a college team beating an NBA squad, but until Miami wins it’s one more barrier to their acceptance.

Which team had/has more pressure on them to win it all?

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