This Vacation Costs More Than Money

That was an expensive hiatus Cedric Ceballos took. . . .

It cost him approximately $54,000 in salary and a lot more that can’t be measured in dollars and cents. . . .

If he didn’t have so much competition for the title, he could be called the laughingstock of the NBA. . . .

How awesome has Kentucky been in the NCAA tournament? . . .

So awesome that the Wildcats are heavy Final Four favorites despite having lost to two of the other three teams. . . .

At most Las Vegas sports books, Kentucky is favored by 8 1/2 points over Massachusetts in their rematch Saturday that is being billed as the real championship game. . . .

So much for the final national rankings that had Massachusetts No. 1 and Kentucky No. 2. . . .

And so much for the first meeting between the two teams. . . .

Last Nov. 28 at Auburn Hills, Mich., Massachusetts beat Kentucky, 92-82. . . .

“We were intimidated by Marcus Camby,” Rick Pitino said after the Minutemen center scored 32 points, got nine rebounds, and blocked five shots. . . .

UMass squandered an early 18-point lead and was tied, 45-45, at halftime before opening the second half with an 11-1 run. . . .

Kentucky was upset by Mississippi State, 84-73, in the Southeastern Conference tournament championship game after beating the Bulldogs, 74-56, on the road Jan. 9. . . .

Pitino said his team needed that loss to bring it back to reality and since then it has won four games by an average of 28 points. . . .

Not many NBA teams are deeper than the Wildcats. . . .

Massachusetts’ most impressive statistic is its 8-0 record against top 25 teams. . . .

I always hear what a great coach Roy Williams is and what a mediocre coach Jim Boeheim is. So how come Syracuse, with lesser personnel, beat Kansas on Sunday to advance to the Final Four? . . .

The Orangemen pulled the upset despite a subpar afternoon by John Wallace, whose performance in the overtime victory over Georgia was about as good as it gets. . . .

Another maligned coach on a roll is former math teacher Richard Williams of Mississippi State. This had been a disappointing season for the Bulldogs, who were ranked ninth in the preseason poll and 19th in the final poll. . . .

Shame on CBS every time it doesn’t show the score after a basket. . . .

More significant than Georgetown point guard Allen Iverson’s 23 points against Massachusetts was his assist total: one. . . .

One thing that made the Kansas-Arizona game so good was the officiating. The officials let the players decide the outcome. There were several outstanding non-calls down the stretch. . . .

Look-alikes: UMass guard Carmelo Travieso and entertainer Gregory Hines. . . .

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If Chad Fonville appears to be unhappy at Dodgertown, it’s understandable. What did the little second baseman who gave the team such a big lift last year do in the offseason to lose his starting job? . .

Saturday Punch: UCLA outfielder Eric Byrnes knocked out an intruder at his apartment at 5 a.m. Saturday and then drove in three runs during the Bruins’ 12-7 victory over USC at Jackie Robinson Stadium. . . .

The match race between jockeys Gary Stevens and Julie Krone on Saturday at Santa Anita proved to be a big hit. Both Stevens, who won on Busy Banana, and Krone, who got the place on Richard of England, said it was a blast and the crowd of 24,857 seemed to agree. . . .

Judging by all those CBS promos last week, you would think Ben Crenshaw is the only guy who ever won the Masters. . . .

Julio Cesar Chavez has begun gym workouts in Mexico for his June 7 fight against Oscar De La Hoya, who will resume training in Big Bear today after receiving the Fighter of the Year award from the New York Boxing Writers Assn. . . .

Official figures from the Nevada State Athletic Commission show that 16,143 fans paid $10,673,700 to see Mike Tyson stop Frank Bruno on March 16 at the MGM Grand. The gate was second only to Tyson-Peter McNeeley in Nevada history. . . .

But let’s put together a fund-raiser for the poverty-stricken Tyson, who is complaining about his $30-million purse for dispatching Bruno in six minutes and 50 seconds. . . .

Amid all the basketball on the tube over the weekend, the surest and most soothing sound of spring was Vin Scully doing Dodger exhibition games.