NCAA Final Four: Wisconsin Must Play Kentucky without Fear

By Cheri Cheng - 31 Mar '15 10:49AM
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When you go up against the dominating, undefeated team in the nation, you cannot play with fear.

This is the mindset that the No.1 seed Wisconsin Badgers will need when they play fellow No.1 seed, the Kentucky Wildcats in the national semifinals on Saturday at 8:49 p.m. ET on TBS.

Although UK has been dominant all season with their 38-0 record, they are not infallible. After the Kentucky - Notre Dame game, which the Wildcats scrapped by with a 68-66 victory, Kentucky coach, John Calipari made it clear that the Wildcats are far from perfect.

"We're undefeated," Calipari said. "But we're not perfect."

If the Badgers want a spot in the finals, they will have to play smart basketball and make the Wildcats work for the win. Wisconsin is a very seasoned team with many returning players who can give the Wildcats their first loss of the season.

"We're not going to back down from anybody," Badgers forward Sam Dekker said in regards to Kentucky. "Obviously they're a great team. Best team in the nation right now. But I think we have a pretty good team, too."

Calipari also acknowledged Wisconsin's strengths. He stated, "They're outstanding. We just played a great offensive team in Notre Dame. This team (Wisconsin) rivals and maybe surpasses (that) because they can iso (isolate) you in the post. They shoot the 3 the same as Notre Dame does. They have that one guy that's a big guy, not a guard, and their guards are good, too, in Frank who can go get his own. But Dekker has proved he can do the same. They're really good there."

Badgers coach Bo Ryan added, "We know what we're up against. Our guys are pretty smart guys. They know what it's going to take, a pretty perfect game or close to it, to get these guys."

The Kentucky - Wisconsin game will be a rematch of last year's final four game. The Wildcats defeated the Badgers by one point, with a final score of 74-73.

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