National final: SAN ANTONIO -- Call them the Comeback 'Cats.

Kentucky capped a truly maddening March with an unprecedented

Tubby Smith is on top of the world. (AP)

second-half rally, beating Utah 78-69 Monday night to win its second NCAA championship in three years. And the Wildcats did it this time with a new coach and without stars in their lineup.

Kentucky won its seventh national title with its third straight rally of the tournament and became the first team to overcome a 10-point halftime deficit.

National semifinal: SAN ANTONIO -- The Kentucky Wildcats picked up where they left off last season, beating Stanford 86-85 in an overtime thriller Saturday to advance to the Final Four championship game for the third straight year.

Kentucky got the job done this time with the slick 27-point shooting of Jeff Sheppard and moved within one victory of its seventh national title.

Champions two years ago and runners-up to Arizona last year under Rick Pitino, the Wildcats' return to the title game came with a team that Tubby Smith inherited but shaped into his own.

Elite Eight: ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- Scott Padgett's 3-pointer with 39 seconds to play gave Kentucky the lead for good and the second-seeded Wildcats exorcised the demons of 1992 with a stunning 86-84 victory over Duke in the South Region final.

Jeff Sheppard finished with 18 points and 11 rebounds for Kentucky (33-4), which rallied from a 17-point deficit in the final 9:34. The game erased the painful memories of the 1992 East Region final in Philadelphia, where Duke defeated the Wildcats 104-103 in overtime in arguably the greatest NCAA Tournament game ever played.

The Wildcats will play Stanford, the Midwest Region champion, next Saturday at the Alamodome in San Antonio. Kentucky became just the eighth team to reach three consecutive Final Fours and the first since Duke went to five in a row from 1988-92.

Sweet 16: ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- Not even fabled UCLA was a match for Kentucky, a No. 2 seed playing like it might be the No. 1 team in the country.

Jeff Sheppard's shooting and the inside muscle of Scott Padgett and Nazr Mohammed overpowered the depleted Bruins from the start, and the Wildcats romped 94-68 Friday night in a South regional mismatch of college basketball's two most storied teams.

Kentucky (32-4), only the No. 2 seed in the South despite winning its last 10 by an average margin of 21 points, will meet top-seeded Duke (32-3), an 80-67 winner over Syracuse, in Sunday's championship game.

Second round: ATLANTA -- For the first time in four years, the Kentucky Wildcats aren't a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament. It looks like they're taking it personally.

Second-seeded Kentucky extended its month of domination with another double-figure victory Sunday, routing No. 10 seed Saint Louis 88-61 in the second round of the South Regional.

The Wildcats (31-4) scored the first 10 points of the game, then destroyed the Billikens (22-11) with a five-minute stretch later in the half that was a thing of beauty.

First round: ATLANTA -- Kentucky's front line, led by Nazr Mohammed with 18 points, overpowered South Carolina State and gave the Wildcats their first NCAA Tournament victory under coach Tubby Smith, 82-67 Friday in the first round of the South Regional.

Second-seeded Kentucky (30-4) had too much size and depth for South Carolina State (22-8), which saw its forwards and centers take a pounding.

Kentucky, which won the Southeastern Conference's regular-season and tournament titles, dominated the final 10 minutes of the first half, building a 43-28 lead against the overmatched champion of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference.

Key players: Kentucky's best offensive player is Jeff Sheppard, who can hit from all over the court. Sheppard, who poured a career-high 27 points in the Wildcats' win over Stanford, has played particularly well in the NCAA Tournament. Kentucky achieved its success this year by doing little things like boxing out and playing great defense. But when they need a bucket, guys such as Nazr Mohammed, Scott Padgett and Wayne Turner have come through.

Did you know: Kentucky is atop the list for most NCAA consensus All-Americas, but the Wildcats have never had a player capture any of the six principal national player of the year awards since UPI's initial winner in 1955.