I suppose we ought to congratulate the University of Kentucky, breezing through NCAA tournament like an exhibition season.
But that goes against the grain. Winning the title with a group consisting of so many one-and-done players is contrary to the idea of collegiate athletics. Making a farce of the concept.
Lots of blame to go around, starting with fan bases that ignore the obvious as long as their team is winning. Coaches that circumvent the rules, operators like William Wesley who pull the strings, runners who do the bidding, the families and friends who benefit, and players who only want to play basketball, no interest in education.
Kentucky won another championship, with all the recognition that goes with it. Enjoy it, UK fans, while the game of college basketball is still relevant.
And, somewhere on a farm in central Kentucky…a young boy shoots a weathered basketball at a hoop nailed to the side of a barn. He thinks not of “one and done” or World Wide Wes.
HE just wants to maybe play for his favorite school someday.
His name might be Damon Bailey. Jeff Hall or Richie Farmer.
His dream is important, though…and the Calipari’s of the world can never take that away.
But if he is not a likely NBA-bound player, would he even get a nod from Calipari? Realizing this, will he still dream of playing in Rupp? Or has that realization not come about yet in Big Blue Nation?
Steveko2, not one to blame the players although, in most cases, the one and done’s will never get degrees. It’s obvious that they’re are nice kids. We never said they weren’t. If you look at Calipari’s track record of recruiting at other schools and the penalties he has incurred, plus players that are heads and shoulders above everybody else, it is only natural to be suspicious. That and UK’s track record as a school. Do we have evidence? Of course not. I have friends who are UK fans that I congratulate but the overall experience leaves a sour taste.
Get a grip Mikey. I’ve been a CARD fan probably longer than you…plus, I’m a graduate of U of L. What year did you graduate from U of L???
My point to Charlie and the rest is that UK was the best team this year and you can’t blame the players for the system they’re in. I don’t like to see UK win either, but at least I admit when they’re the better team with better players! And I don’t see what rules the coaches circumvented — name one….And unless the NBA changes its rules (or NCAA) – the one-and-done is here to stay – so rather than complain about it, why not recruit better players and win the NCAA championship?? So for those upset about UK’s one and done players, I guess you’re saying you’d rather them stick around another three years and win three more national championships????
Cards finish season in top 5
Louisville’s late-season tournament run elevated them to No. 4 in the final coaches poll. After winning the Big East tournament, the Cardinals (30-8) streaked all the way to the Final Four, where they fell to eventual national champion Kentucky.
Here’s a portion of this morning’s Courier-Journal editorial about the UK situation:
What price, Glory?
And as UK fans were rightfully proud of their team, there are still widely held reservations about their coach, John Calipari, his tainted past with NCAA tournaments (two of his Final Four appearances with other teams have been erased from the record books because of violations) and his current penchant for loading his team with one-and-done players who put in their year of collegiate ball before going — or trying to go — pro. He is weary of the questions about this, blaming it on what the rules allow instead of what his recruiting produces. Yes, it was a young team that will try to go pro that helped him win his first NCAA title; he says his next goal is a perfect season. Let’s hope he’s talking about more than the win-loss column.
There’s a lot to be said for imperfection, of working a number of years to improve as a team, and NPR’s Frank Deford said it in a recent commentary about “college basketball’s slump into anonymity,” a piece in which he labeled the Wildcats “a transient team made up mostly of freshmen who’ll be gone next year.” In a message crafted around the Calipari model of team-building, Mr. Deford lamented, “The brightest stars leave for the NBA after a year — ‘one and done’ — just when they’re beginning to attract interest. There’s so little identity or continuity, and basketball is the most personality-driven sport. It’s especially revealing that the biggest fuss made about March Madness is about the brackets. And essentially, filling out a 68-team bracket has as much to do with sport as does buying a lottery ticket … Can we really say that the ‘C’ in NCAA stands for ‘Collegiate’ if virtually a whole team doesn’t spend much time in college?”
That’s a question Kentuckians should ponder as heavily as their favorite players’ stats. And so is this, long after the luster of the win fades: What price glory?
Here’s a link: http://tiny.cc/9du8bw
There are many in the media that are either delusional or obviously biased.
The editorial is perfect example of what the local media has done the last few years after Rick Pitios request to put Louisville first.
Saying that the one and done’s “are what Calipari’s recruitment produces”, knowing that its the NBA’s rule to attend and that U of L would love to have them is ludicrous. Especially since U of L recruited some of the same players. And there isn’t a coach in the country that wouldn’t accept the nation’s top prospects to their program knowing they were one and dones, not one. . . and there isn’t a college in the country that says you can only play for us if you agree to attend college for more than a year.
The line where it says “he says his next goal is a perfect season. Let’s hope he’s talking about more than the win-loss column. “ is laughable. I suppose a the perfect season would be for an all senior team to win the national title , graduate and all go on to a chosen profession, other than the NBA of course.
That will happen about the same time Cardinals fly backwards and peck that log out of your eye. . .
I seem to remember a similar bias toward Rick Pitio when he was at U of K, but of course that was only while he was at Kentucky. Lots of Pitino haters then too. It’s because he was successful at UK and now its the same for Calipari because he heads the nation’s most winning and storied program.
And by the way the vacated final fours argument. It doesn’t float either.
Calipari has been never been implicated in any NCAA violations but Rick Pitino has. It was was with Hawaii in 1977 where he was implicated in eight of sixty four infractions brought against the school if you want to look it up.
Pitino recruited Teague only. He would NEVER recruit an entire team of one and dones. Calipari said he wanted 7 NBA draft players for next year, I heard and saw him say it the morning after the tournament. The NBA does not REQUIRE that they spend a year in college, they require that they’re 19 and one year removed from high school. They could go play in the D leagues and leave college basketball alone where people who need to go to college and just want to play the game are. People could be using those scholarships at UK to get an education instead of springboarding their careers to the NBA while all the while sitting people like Miller, who stuck it out the full 4 years, on the bench when he should be starting. It’ll be a good day when Cal leaves. Other coaches COULD recruit like they, but college level is development, time for growth. If you don’t like that, get off U of L’s site because that’s what our programs is based on! L1C4!
Amy you are wrong, you might want to check your facts, because yes he did offer teague a scholarship, but he also offered scholarships to john wall, Eric bledsoe, and brandon knight, and he tried to recruit demarcus cousins but did not offer him a scholarship. The only difference is that Cal got those players not Rick. You might want to do a little research before you speak
What coaches circumvented which rules??
Are you for real steveko? We don’t take kindly to UK fans. Go to the UK sites and quit bugging us.
Don’t understand where you’re getting the idea Steveko is a UK fan, Mikey. He’s been posting here a long time and I consider him a Cardinal loyalist.
It’s that rascal “the Observer” you gotta watch. Bet he has a blue flag and poster of Calipari in his closet. LOLOL
He sure is negative for a U of L fan.
Kentucky and West Virginia fans share so many similarities, it must be incest.
Man shot amid Kentucky postgame revelry has foot amputate
Raucous celebrations sprung up in and around Lexington following Kentucky’s 67-59 win over Kansas in Monday’s national championship game.
LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) — Police say doctors amputated the foot of a man who was shot in the leg during raucous celebrations in Lexington of Kentucky’s NCAA basketball championship.
Lexington police spokeswoman Sherelle Roberts says 31-year-old Harold Calloway remained hospitalized Tuesday afternoon. He was shot around 2 a.m. as Kentucky fans were celebrating in the streets. No arrests have been made in the shooting.
Roberts says police don’t typically identify wounded victims, but Calloway has outstanding criminal warrants in Indiana.
The celebrations around Lexington spilled into the streets shortly after Kentucky’s 67-59 win over Kansas and lasted into the early-morning hours Tuesday. Authorities reported numerous small fires and dozens of arrests.
Robert says police are preparing a report on arrests and other incidents for later Tuesday.
If college basketball is dead, then why do we care so much about U of L’s b-ball team??
College basketball as we know it, is now dead. Congrats vacatapari, you have just committed the perfect murder.
I must agree with Tom S,–that the college game as we knew it has died. If the NCAA can read the writing on the wall, it will make the ‘Calipari/WWWes’ method of success uncomfortable if not impossible in the near future.
Coach Cal already leads the field in vacated Final Four appearances, but continues to recruit in the same old ways. The UK institutionally chooses to ignore the woes of UMass and Memphis, including the stiff financial penalties. And now Cal is attached to UK much like a parasitic, symbiotic lifeform. This can’t end well. Sixty-seven schools will silently celebrate the day…
To my classy UK friends…Congratulations.
To the rest of the fan base..Don’t flaunt it in front of me.
The UK players this year seem like fine young men and respectable — to me, different than teams of the past. They can’t help that the one-and-done system is in place. And I don’t think anyone can blame a player for going to the NBA for tens of millions of dollars. It’s not the players fault if they can “breeze through the tournament” — it’s the other teams that need to be more competitive. UK was the best team this year – don’t bring them down…just the contrary, other teams to raise their game. Just like everything else in life. And what can fans do about it anyway? Not go to the games? Louisville has had players leave before graduation too. Give UK their due – and let’s hope Pitino can start recruiting better players. Cards had a great season and should be proud of themselves. They overcame a lot this year and will be strong next year and beyond. But this, unfortunately, was UK’s year. I don’t like it, but I’m not blaming the players or the system. They were good.
The system, Steve, the system.
So several things are now obvious…
yUK has 2 head coaches – Calipari AND Pitino…Denny Crum is a huge UK fan…Even the Networks love the new one-and-done system…college basketball has nothing to do with a college education…thugs like World Wide Wes, LaBron James, rappers and the NBA thugs now have more control over college basketball than the NCAA.
The old college game died today for good. Beginning tonight, the game will never be the same.
It’s baseball season.