ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) - Kentucky’s Jon Hood grabbed the microphone from one of the television crews, sauntered over to where Jarrod Polson was seated, and started to pepper him with hard-hitting questions.
Such as, “Who’s the funniest guy on the team?”
“You are,” Polson replied with a smile.
On a team of talented underclassmen, the two seniors were undoubtedly enjoying their latest Final Four trip. They were part of the Kentucky team that lost to eventual champion UConn in 2011, and also part of the team that beat Kansas the following year to win the title.
Neither of them has actually played in the Final Four, though.
The last remaining recruit from coach John Calipari’s first class at Kentucky, Hood never made it into the game against the Huskies as a sophomore, and tore his ACL and didn’t play during the Wildcats’ championship run. Polson rarely played at all those two seasons.
Of course, nobody will remember those details years from now.
“Me and Jon were talking about it,” Polson told The Associated Press, lounging in the Kentucky locker room before heading to the court at AT&T Stadium for a final practice before Saturday night’s semifinal against Wisconsin.
“If we say that down the road, ’We’ve been to three Final Fours,’ I’m not sure how many people will believe us,” Polson said. “That’s just not that common, even getting to the Final Four one time. It doesn’t happen to many people.”
- Dave Skretta - https://twitter.com/apdaveskretta
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NCAA Finals Watch follows the Final Four games and all the activities surrounding the event as seen by journalists from The Associated Press in North Texas - from the big stadium in Arlington where the games will be played to downtown Dallas. It will be updated throughout the day with breaking news and other items of interest. Follow AP reporters on Twitter where available.
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