COLLEGE BASKETBALL / NCAA MEN’S TOURNAMENT : Sun Devils Victims at Kentucky Party : Southeast: Arizona State is treated as rudely as every regional guest by the Wildcats, who win, 97-73.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — This Southeast Regional is starting to feel like a cold Kentucky reign.

Rick Pitino’s Wildcats, with bench strength that extends down to the ball boys, continued their romp through the tournament bracket Thursday night with a resounding and ominous 97-73 victory over Arizona State before 17,458 at the Birmingham-Jefferson Civic Center.

Kentucky, seeded No. 1, plays second-seeded North Carolina in Saturday’s regional final.

It’s easy to understand why Tar Heel Coach Dean Smith did not allow his players to watch Kentucky’s dismantling of what many considered a talented Arizona State team.

“I don’t want them to have their own scouting reports,” Smith said. “I want them to have our scouting report.”

Kids tend to scare easily.

The Wildcats, a mostly nameless and faceless group of shooters, runners and defenders, have made a joke of proceedings so far, having outscored three tournament opponents by 92 points.

Mario Bennett, Arizona State’s super center, had boldly predicted Thursday’s game would not be a blowout.

He is now reconsidering his definition of the word.

“They just kept dishing it off to big men and finishing,” said Bennett, who apparently did not take down any numbers.

It was a typical Wildcat mauling. Five Kentucky players scored in double figures, led by guard Tony Delk’s 26 points. Nine Wildcats played 13 minutes or more.

“They can wear you down,” Sun Devil Coach Bill Frieder understated.

Ruthless?

Kentucky was firing three-point shots until the end. Frieder insisted he wasn’t offended.

At the end of the first half, the Sun Devils cut Kentucky’s lead to five on Jeremy Veal’s three-point shot.

While Veal was still celebrating, Kentucky’s Rodrick Rhodes answered with a three-point basket of his own at the buzzer.

It was only a prelude.

“It hurt us pretty bad,” Sun Devil forward Ron Riley said of the three-point shot.

“It got the momentum back their way.”

Kentucky opened the second half with a 12-0 run in the first 3:13. It started with a dunk by Andre Riddick and finished with Delk’s slam on a follow shot.

Kentucky’s bench looked as if it was involved in a game of musical chairs, as Pitino motioned players in and out of the lineup.

“It’s a tremendous thing to have talent like this,” Pitino said. “But playing 10 guys, it takes time to jell.”

Consider Kentucky jelled.

Pitino solved the problem of Arizona State’s Bennett with hours of film study. After a 12-point first half, he scored only two.

Pitino noticed that Bennett was most effective when he received the ball down low and directed the offense.

“We wanted to get to his body so he could not bend his knees and hit (passes to) his cutters,” Pitino said. “We took his knees out.”

Yes, Kentucky is cold.

With Bennett contained, Riley led Arizona State in scoring with 20 points, although he was only six for 16 from the field.

Frieder’s team finished the season at 24-9.

“I’m not going to let anything detract from the great season we had,” he said.

Kentucky marches on, facing North Carolina in a matchup of two of college basketball’s greatest programs.

Mark Pope, a Wildcat center, said he wasn’t concerned with the name on the other jerseys.

“Maybe 20 years down the road it’ll be neat to think about all that,” Pope said. “But right now, we have some serious business to do.”