K a scumbag? Perhaps, but Caliperi’s a proven cheat (see Memphis and Rose’s SAT).
Hate Kansas and hate Kentucky more. That said, I think Kentucky wins easily tonight. I don’t really care who wins as I expect to start drinking heavily right around tip time.
6.
danimal
Rooting for UK, the ones in blue.
7.
Spaghetti Lee
I hate Kansas. I know Kentucky is a scummy program, but Lord help me if Kansas wins it all I don’t know what I’ll do with myself.
8.
pragmatism
Scotch.
9.
El Cid
I just want to see how they use the new Stand Your Ground rule, where you can use your firearm when you feel like your life and/or victory is in imminent danger.
10.
TheColourfield
I actually hate Coach Cal more then Rat Face K so go Kansas.
Calipari is more scummy than Coach K. He cheats and when the program gets caught and is put on probation he leaves and goes to another school. Rinse and repeat.
GO KANSAS JAYHAWKS
13.
Schlemizel
I have no idea what you guys are talking about. The actual championship series starts Friday with Union/Ferris followed by BC/MN.
14.
gex
@El Cid: Heee! That would make our sports even more Roman Empire-like! We have to do something while everything burns.
ETA: In this case, the player that commits the charge gets to shoot the player that had established position. Does he still get two free throws?
15.
CT Voter
Calipari is scum–although straightforward scum who happens to be exposing the shamelessness of the NCAA, so, really, tough call tonight.
Being from there, my reflexive response is to root for UK. But it’s an ethical issue for me, so I won’t. (See, stuckinred, I can see the big picture). I can’t really want Kansas to win – that would be embarrassing. Injuries is the witty but silly response, so I guess that leaves me with a meteorite.
In other words, I’ll just finish some work tonight.
UK is a cheap one and done program, that attracts idiots, who are not interested in schooling, just like Alabama in football.
Hell it’s the SEC(except Vanderbilt, the token brain school)
As for the women, might as well give the trophy to Baylor.
21.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
How long till football season?
22.
Anoniminous
If the referees would take the losing coach out to the top of a pyramid, rip open his chest with obsidian knives, offer his heart to the Sun God, eat it, flay the skin, and force the President of the winning (quote) Institution of Higher Learning (unthequote) to wear the skin for a month …
I’d be vaguely interested.
Otherwise? nah
But Other People’s Mileage Varies and I see no reason to be a snit nor snob about it … so …
Times I feel like that I always hope for a meteor. I think of Keith Jackson calling it during a Notre Dame/Michigan game: “Hold the phonnnnne! theres a giant space rock making its way past Touchdown Jesus and streaking to the 50 yard line! Whoa, Nellie! Looks like the end of the world as we know it!”
24.
Clime Acts
ROCK CHALK JAYHAWKS KU!
Fuck all the loser/haters here.
25.
Dave
It’s a simple equation, really. If Kentucky wins, my buddy wins 2nd prize in the office pool, about $150. He’s already said he intends to spend the winnings on a bottle of Johnnie Walker blue label, and intends to share it with several people on our project team, myself included. So I stand to gain directly and alcoholically if Kentucky wins.
26.
Throwin Stones
Anyone know how to revert back to the mobile version?
Calipari’s “scuminess” is why I’m rooting for him… he reveals the farce that is “amateurism” and the “student-athlete”.
29.
Mr Stagger Lee
Oh God Phil Knight of Nike was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame. PUUUUUKE!!! Oh by the way I want Kansas to win, but it won’t happen, hand the one and done idiots the trophy like Baylor in the women’s program.
30.
The Dangerman
On Anthem, what the hell was that? That may have been the fastest mute ever (I didn’t see Roseann Barr live).
I think we can all win if the roof springs a leak and they have to cancel. Or the NCAA makes Kentucky’s entire team ineligible at halftime and they have to dress the Cheer Squad.
31.
Corner Stone
Kentucky wins. Just as any semipro team should against an NCAA team. Nobody is hanging with Kentucky.
I don’t know why people are banging on Calipari. He’s doing exactly what the NCAA has asked him to.
32.
Face
Lets NEVER repeat that Natl Anthem abortion by….who? Thats was atrocious
The Fray. Never heard of them previously, will likely never hear of them again. Perhaps the actual act was delayed in traffic and they just pulled a few guys from the stands. That really was the suck.
Also, I was really hoping Ohio State would have beaten Kansas so I could root for Kraken to win tonight, but no, stupid Buckeyes had to go screw it up.
37.
SBJules
@Jade Jordan: I have to agree that Coach Calipari is more scummy than Coach K. So I’m for Kansas. Barack’s mother was born there after all.
We’re rooting for Kentucky/ Husband spent better part of a decade getting two degrees there.
47.
MikeJ
Being a Mizzou fan, I should hate KU, but I grew up in Memphis[1] and hate the shitheel KY coach more. Besides, the morons making a big deal of the “boarder war” sicken me.
[1] TN, not MO, as my dorm room door said on move in day.
48.
Punchy
Withey fouked and no call. Skinny beanpole on UK gettin all the calls. Bullshit
49.
gex
OT: I really miss not having a listing of the most recent comments in the sidebar. Or am I not seeing it? It’s harder to figure out where everything’s happening and stay prompt in conversations.
50.
urlhix
Kentucky by 13. And I’ll be long asleep by the end of the game. S-E-C!
51.
belle
NEVER dook. never rat face.
so go Kansas, they beat UNC when UNC was injured, so maybe them, also they are Roy’s old team.
I am horrified how my social life just stopped last week, when the Tarheels lost. well. there is next October to wait for.
None of last years frosh went pro, like the year before. Having grown up there, I said at the end of last season, that one and done shit won’t fly very long at KY. We will see if that holds this year, though Davis is so far above the college level, he probly should go. @Southern Beale: GO CATS!!
54.
The Dangerman
I feel a run coming; this thing could be over by the half. Kansas doesn’t have the horses.
I have no idea what you guys are talking about. The actual championship series starts Friday with Union/Ferris followed by BC/MN.
I like your attitude. Go Dutchmen!
That’ll tide me over until the lax final four on Memorial Day weekend.
58.
plynch22
Interesting take on how Coach Cal does it, from a basketball recruiting web site I frequent. It’s anonymous but sounds legit:
How Cal does it
From someone connected…
I am writing this due to the number of posts that accuse several major programs of cheating and the follow up posts that ask why doesn’t the NCAA do anything about it. First let me say, that I have coached at some of the biggest HS basketball camps in the country and I have family and friends at every level of basketball from NBA GM’s to college coaches, high school coaches, agents themselves and journalists at ESPN.
What I am writing is not a guess of what’s going on in college recruiting it is a fact. Several years ago cheating as a college coach meant your school was paying HS or Junior College players to sign with them. The going rate for top 20 talent was around 50k cash. Some schools like Missouri got caught and many others did not.
Things started to change when the NBA first made the rule allowing kids to be drafted straight out of HS. This rule gave agents an incentive to start cultivating relationships with HS players and coaches and “handlers”. Once those relationships were made, agents became the power brokers of college basketball. However, this didn’t really impact the game until the NBA once again changed the rules and stated that a player must at least wait one year after his class graduates to be drafted.
This rule meant that the agents had to find college coaches that would take the player’s they had great relationships with and not try and turn the player’s toward a competing agent while that player played for that coach. This is where I know every top ten program play’s the game if you will. You do not get several McDonald all american’s without understanding how this works.
Now here is where Coach Cal up’s the ante. While many coaches will do what I mentioned above most will still try and keep the player’s in college as long as possible or at least until the player is definitely ready for the next step. Coach Cal does the opposite and the agents love it. Coach Cal’s message is you have one year here and then I am kicking you out. The agents love it, because they get the player back earlier which helps in two ways, the obvious one being agents make money when players sign contracts and two the shorter period of time a player is in college the less chance another agent will be able to sway them to their agency. The player’s love it because they know starting spots will definitely open up for them and Coach Cal is going to give them heavy minutes and do all he can to push them to the NBA.
Added on top of this is the fact that it is UK and Coach Cal is considered by those of us in the game to be a good coach and there you go, UK get’s just about any player they want.
Don’t get me wrong, there are other coaches who agents believe do a good job preparing player’s for the NBA, only most of them have a conscious and won’t push a player out of the program whether they are ready or not. If you notice this year’s UK team has a couple of sophomores, the main reason for that is the NBA lockout. Jones is definitely gone last year if it was a normal year and maybe even Lamb although occasionally agents will let Cal keep a player there if the player has a chance to move up from a second rounder or free agent to a first rounder because first round draft picks get guaranteed cash and second rounders most often do not. Player doesn’t make money neither do the agents.
It should be noted not all agents play this game, however several of the biggest one’s do and Coach Cal is tied in tight with them.
Now the question is, is this cheating or not, in many cases player’s or their families or handler’s get a line of credit ( there are many times the player doesn’t even know about it)
to me this is obviously cheating by the agents, but where do the colleges come in. I can tell you the college coaches have nothing to do with the cash and don’t want to know if a player received any benefits or not from the agent. Yes, they all bury their head in the sand. But before you crucify them realize they don’t have much of a choice, they do not know who get’s paid and who doesn’t usually. They don’t break any current rules, all they do is say to player’s when they are ready to leave ” ok you like Andy Miller ( NBA agent ) go for it, sign with him” and really don’t get in the way.
Now, is their other types of cheating going on, a little bit not anything huge. Example might be Coach Cal allowing D. Rose’s brother to ride to games on the team plane and stuff like that.
I am horrified how my social life just stopped last week, when the Tarheels lost.
Serves you right for your allegiance to the wrong shade of blue.
And you’re still stuck with the worst bunch of coaches in all of D1. Ol’Roy and Sylvia? What a joke. Larry Hat? Please. Breschi? Bwahaha.
K, P, Cut, and Dano. Now those are coaches.
62.
Nellie in NZ
I’m jumping in here to say that I am out of touch with American sports (it seems to be rugby, cricket and netball in that order) and in the best of times, I’m not well informed about sports.
But I taught at Kansas for 20 years and had some stellar students who were on the team and really pleasant guys. So, what does it mean when someone calls Kentucky a semi-pro team? Compliment? Insult? Or accusation? Of what?
63.
BGinCHI
@plynch22: This is amazing and sounds pretty believable.
But here’s my question. Where the hell do they get the money for this? It can’t come from a University operating fund (too risky), so it has to come from some alumni fund or something, right?
Two more things.
Fuck Kentucky.
And the Kansas starting five contains no player who is from Kansas. Pathetic.
64.
KIlkee
@Mr Stagger Lee: The Irish have a way of surprising. But probably not this time.
65.
55
Scumbag? WTF? You do realize that Jon Calipari is coaching tonight?
Watch the Kansas high school tournament some year, and it will be obvious why that’s the case. No indigenous talent at all.
69.
plynch22
@BGinCHI: Yeah, couldn’t agree more on the F UK and no players from Kansas sentiments.
When money’s involved I think it’s coming from agents who see it as an investment more often than not. And the agents hang around the programs that they know will look the other way. That’s when big money is involved. If it’s small-time money, or helping a parent get a job near campus so they move across country to watch their kid (because, as you point out, they’re not going to their home state school), that stuff comes from boosters.
70.
Corner Stone
KU can’t beat Kentucky off the dribble in a half court game. They can’t out rebound them inside. They’s shooting like ass from the mid range. And KU can’t hope to run with Kentucky in a wild shootout.
So, I’m sure there’s a formula here how KU wins this game. But, ummm, not seeing it.
71.
Mr Stagger Lee
@plynch22: That is why the NCAA will never completely crack down, there is so much money especially TV money and nobody is going to watch NAIA version of B-ball made up of short White guys or Black players who rode the bench playing for the Dr.Huxtable Middle Class High school. Noticed some of these schools are cutting back on academics and raising tuition and maybe dropping the wrestling or gymnastics , but not the football or the Basketball programs. The NCAA may jump on the occasional USC or Ohio State, but those schools were acting the fools publically, and needed to be slapped down, but noticed when they gave Auburn a pass for paying Cam Newton’s dad $100,000 to play ball, because Auburn knows how to keep the fences mended and tracks covered like the rest of the SEC.
I like the Fray. I’ll happily admit that they’re not really that talented or unique, but I have a weakness for that kind of music. I also like Augustana and Coldplay.
But I don’t know who the hell would hire them to sing the National Anthem, given that they specialize in fuzzy mid-tempo guitar ballads with a singer who alternates between mumbling and moaning. The national anthem should in my opinion always be sung by someone with a traditional sort of singing voice.
I also like the idea a modest stipend that would hopefully allow the kids to resist bigger, more corrupt bribe offers, and maybe coax some into staying instead of going for a pro sports payday. But I wonder how people who complain about the unpaid-labor nature of college sports think will they’ll magically get cleaner if they start paying the athletes outright. If you think the big-name schools are too dominant now, you ain’t seen nothing yet.
I also like the idea a modest stipend that would hopefully allow the kids to resist bigger, more corrupt bribe offers, and maybe coax some into staying instead of going for a pro sports payday. But I wonder how people who complain about the unpaid-labor nature of college sports think will they’ll magically get cleaner if they start paying the athletes outright. If you think the big-name schools are too dominant now, you ain’t seen nothing yet.
I think the NBA should encourage pro-prospects who aren’t academically “college-ready” to play a year or two in Europe.
That way, the ones who want to be in college are in college, and the ones who want to get paid are getting paid.
But I wonder how people who complain about the unpaid-labor nature of college sports think will they’ll magically get cleaner if they start paying the athletes outright. If you think the big-name schools are too dominant now, you ain’t seen nothing
But there’s a sort of self selection going on, at least in NCAA football. So many talented kids from all kinds of high school programs are looking at FSU or OSU and saying, “Why would I ride the pine for 2 or 3 years when I can go to a mid major or a lesser tier “big program” and be a stud for 3 years?”
The coaching and nutrition and conditioning and all that has become so widely available, and better, that these kids with natural talent and “want to”, can make a difference at other programs than USC or Meechigan, etc.
85.
Lamont Cranston
No player with the opportunity should pass up the chance to make even the league minimum for the sake of staying in college.
What happens when you have a career-ending injury in your next game? You can always go back to college if you want to.
Requiring a year of indentured servitude from guys before they can enter the NBA is just criminal.
86.
p.a.
calipari was in the 2nd wave of AAU/5Star coaches who helped ruin college basketball. (Rick ‘tabletop’ Pitino was in the 1st wave.) the NCAA are bums who make billions off the sharecropper/athletes, but Cal is scum.
go KU. I guess…
87.
Corner Stone
In NCAA football, for example, we’ve just got to find a long enough pry bar to wedge the fucking money grubbing BCS bloodsucking pig fuckers off the underbelly of these kids’ effort to get them to some sort of playoff. Where it’s not a joke anymore if a Boise St (esque) team is considered worthy for a Natl Champ slot.
Who the fuck wanted to see the god awful rematch of LSU v Bama?
88.
Corner Stone
Really Bill Self? You’re going to let Kentucky settle into a half court offense?
This is going to be a short but painful 2nd half for KU.
@Cacti: Rick was silly enough to prove it to the world. Hee!
93.
Corner Stone
The dagger!
94.
Karen
Maybe it’s because I’m a woman but tell me why do towns (for example, Kentucky) riot when they WIN? I can understand being poor losers but why trash a town when you WIN?
Is it a guy thing and I just wouldn’t understand?
95.
MikeJ
@Karen: I’ll never understand what they do in Kentuckytown.
96.
Corner Stone
Just the fact that some no talent chump like Pitbull is a multi-millionaire music entertainer.
Future generations will not wonder what caused our downfall.
97.
MCA1
C’mon, Cole, you can do better than that. What on earth qualifies Coach K as a “scumbag?” Just because Duke pounded the stuffing out of WV in the Final Four two years ago doesn’t give you license to be as shallow and insufferable as a Carolina or Kentucky fan. You’ve got to earn that skill at projection and self-delusion over decades.
98.
gex
So, I’m reading some NFL news and I’m trying to understand what the point is for Sean Payton to appeal his punishment to Gooddell who is the guy who set the punishment.
I don’t see what the point is of having that process whatsoever. Unless the whole point is to make the first punishment be the one people remember when this is hot in the news and then later reduced to a slap on the wrist when people are frothing over something else.
99.
Spaghetti Lee
OK, seriously, what the fuck? UNC, OSU, now this? Is there some rule that you have to shit the bed when playing Kansas in the 2nd half?
C’mon, Cole, you can do better than that. What on earth qualifies Coach K as a “scumbag?” Just because Duke pounded the stuffing out of WV in the Final Four two years ago doesn’t give you license to be as shallow and insufferable as a Carolina or Kentucky fan. You’ve got to earn that skill at projection and self-delusion over decades.
He’s a monumental phony. Duke is always saying they do things “the right way” but rat face is notorious for being a thin skinned douchebag.
They also have a record of finding cushy jobs for parents of players like Duhon and Boozer in the past.
And isn’t it odd that a man in his sixties has no grey hair ?
He’s the Mitt Romney of basketball coaches, a completely plastic phony.
116.
MCA1
@TheColourfield: Right. Analysis from anyone who would refer to the man as “rat face” is to be taken with no grain of salt, I’m sure. How many press conferences do you think Mike Krzyzewski has given over the years? And you can probably point to maybe three in which he’s said something that could be characterized as thin-skinned. It’s on record that Chris Duhon’s mother communicated with the athletic department and the NCAA about impropriety before accepting her job. Boozer’s mother worked for the U.S. Forest Service and simply relocated after both her kids ended up in college in the Lower 48; his father took an admin. position at some company that undoubtedly was less prestigious than his more executive level programming job in Alaska. I mean, that’s all you’ve got? And the next words out of your keyboard better not be “Myron Piggie.”
You don’t have to worship the guy, and you can persist in thinking he’s a “phony” or a “douchebag” as those are subjective, anyway. But that’s some pretty weak sauce. He wins, his program’s never been in trouble with the NCAA (and spare us the conspiracy theories), his kids have always tended to graduate at a high level and appear on average to be well-rounded, responsible young men when they leave the program. You can hate the level of exposure, but it’s just silly to hate on Krzyzewski himself – you know he represents what amounts to class in the cesspool of college basketball.
@John Cole – you can definitely hate all you want. Your site. I hesitate to click through to what is likely the appendix to Josh Levin’s ANNUAL rant about how much he hates Duke, which Slate keeps allowing him to do simply because it touches the right page-hit buttons. The guy has absolutely zero interest in representing anything Duke basketball-related in an honest way.
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Neutron Flux
Kansas.
asiangrrlMN
I’m rooting for both to lose. Is that possible?
Sir Steve
Injuries.
Chup
Death to all semipro sports.
The Dangerman
K a scumbag? Perhaps, but Caliperi’s a proven cheat (see Memphis and Rose’s SAT).
Hate Kansas and hate Kentucky more. That said, I think Kentucky wins easily tonight. I don’t really care who wins as I expect to start drinking heavily right around tip time.
danimal
Rooting for UK, the ones in blue.
Spaghetti Lee
I hate Kansas. I know Kentucky is a scummy program, but Lord help me if Kansas wins it all I don’t know what I’ll do with myself.
pragmatism
Scotch.
El Cid
I just want to see how they use the new Stand Your Ground rule, where you can use your firearm when you feel like your life and/or victory is in imminent danger.
TheColourfield
I actually hate Coach Cal more then Rat Face K so go Kansas.
(But I think Kenfucky wins)
rikyrah
don’t care.
hope it’s good
Jade Jordan
Calipari is more scummy than Coach K. He cheats and when the program gets caught and is put on probation he leaves and goes to another school. Rinse and repeat.
GO KANSAS JAYHAWKS
Schlemizel
I have no idea what you guys are talking about. The actual championship series starts Friday with Union/Ferris followed by BC/MN.
gex
@El Cid: Heee! That would make our sports even more Roman Empire-like! We have to do something while everything burns.
ETA: In this case, the player that commits the charge gets to shoot the player that had established position. Does he still get two free throws?
CT Voter
Calipari is scum–although straightforward scum who happens to be exposing the shamelessness of the NCAA, so, really, tough call tonight.
El Cid
@gex: Who has time to learn fiddlin’?
David Koch
Kansas can’t lose.
They either win tonight, or they win in the future when Calipari and Kentucky are sanctioned for violating recruiting rules and their win is vacated.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
Being from there, my reflexive response is to root for UK. But it’s an ethical issue for me, so I won’t. (See, stuckinred, I can see the big picture). I can’t really want Kansas to win – that would be embarrassing. Injuries is the witty but silly response, so I guess that leaves me with a meteorite.
In other words, I’ll just finish some work tonight.
Raven
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q): It’s not interesting enough for me to stay up half the fucking night so VCR it is.
Mr Stagger Lee
UK is a cheap one and done program, that attracts idiots, who are not interested in schooling, just like Alabama in football.
Hell it’s the SEC(except Vanderbilt, the token brain school)
As for the women, might as well give the trophy to Baylor.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
How long till football season?
Anoniminous
If the referees would take the losing coach out to the top of a pyramid, rip open his chest with obsidian knives, offer his heart to the Sun God, eat it, flay the skin, and force the President of the winning (quote) Institution of Higher Learning (unthequote) to wear the skin for a month …
I’d be vaguely interested.
Otherwise? nah
But Other People’s Mileage Varies and I see no reason to be a snit nor snob about it … so …
For them wot care, I hope you enjoy the game.
Schlemizel
@Sir Steve:
Times I feel like that I always hope for a meteor. I think of Keith Jackson calling it during a Notre Dame/Michigan game: “Hold the phonnnnne! theres a giant space rock making its way past Touchdown Jesus and streaking to the 50 yard line! Whoa, Nellie! Looks like the end of the world as we know it!”
Clime Acts
ROCK CHALK JAYHAWKS KU!
Fuck all the loser/haters here.
Dave
It’s a simple equation, really. If Kentucky wins, my buddy wins 2nd prize in the office pool, about $150. He’s already said he intends to spend the winnings on a bottle of Johnnie Walker blue label, and intends to share it with several people on our project team, myself included. So I stand to gain directly and alcoholically if Kentucky wins.
Throwin Stones
Anyone know how to revert back to the mobile version?
Raven
And Meyers Leonard just declared for the NBA draft so that is great for him and not so great for the Illini.
J.W. Hamner
@Jade Jordan:
Calipari’s “scuminess” is why I’m rooting for him… he reveals the farce that is “amateurism” and the “student-athlete”.
Mr Stagger Lee
Oh God Phil Knight of Nike was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame. PUUUUUKE!!! Oh by the way I want Kansas to win, but it won’t happen, hand the one and done idiots the trophy like Baylor in the women’s program.
The Dangerman
On Anthem, what the hell was that? That may have been the fastest mute ever (I didn’t see Roseann Barr live).
I think we can all win if the roof springs a leak and they have to cancel. Or the NCAA makes Kentucky’s entire team ineligible at halftime and they have to dress the Cheer Squad.
Corner Stone
Kentucky wins. Just as any semipro team should against an NCAA team. Nobody is hanging with Kentucky.
I don’t know why people are banging on Calipari. He’s doing exactly what the NCAA has asked him to.
Face
Lets NEVER repeat that Natl Anthem abortion by….who? Thats was atrocious
The Dangerman
@Face:
The Fray. Never heard of them previously, will likely never hear of them again. Perhaps the actual act was delayed in traffic and they just pulled a few guys from the stands. That really was the suck.
Raven
ugh, they’s christers, I take it back.
Punchy
Cheerin for KU but little chance they beat this semipro Yookay team. Teams a monster
Zandar
Hey Cole? Yeah, eat my ass. Haters gonna hate.
Also, I was really hoping Ohio State would have beaten Kansas so I could root for Kraken to win tonight, but no, stupid Buckeyes had to go screw it up.
SBJules
@Jade Jordan: I have to agree that Coach Calipari is more scummy than Coach K. So I’m for Kansas. Barack’s mother was born there after all.
Corner Stone
Whitey gettin’ his ups!
Corner Stone
Hard foul!!
Raven
Jammed shoulder.
Corner Stone
Get up gunfighter! C’mon Kid Gilchrist!
Raven
Weak call.
Mark S.
@asiangrrlMN:
@efgoldman:
Ta-da!
Raven
Why wasn’t that a jump ball too?
Poopyman
Not watching. After today’s SCOTUS ruling I’m sure strip searches will be involved somewhere. Besides, I don’t give a shit.
Southern Beale
C-A-T-S CATS CATS CATS! GOOOOOOOOO CATS!
We’re rooting for Kentucky/ Husband spent better part of a decade getting two degrees there.
MikeJ
Being a Mizzou fan, I should hate KU, but I grew up in Memphis[1] and hate the shitheel KY coach more. Besides, the morons making a big deal of the “boarder war” sicken me.
[1] TN, not MO, as my dorm room door said on move in day.
Punchy
Withey fouked and no call. Skinny beanpole on UK gettin all the calls. Bullshit
gex
OT: I really miss not having a listing of the most recent comments in the sidebar. Or am I not seeing it? It’s harder to figure out where everything’s happening and stay prompt in conversations.
urlhix
Kentucky by 13. And I’ll be long asleep by the end of the game. S-E-C!
belle
NEVER dook. never rat face.
so go Kansas, they beat UNC when UNC was injured, so maybe them, also they are Roy’s old team.
I am horrified how my social life just stopped last week, when the Tarheels lost. well. there is next October to wait for.
scav
@asiangrrlMN:
If they can’t both lose Then The Rules Are Wrong!
General Stuck (on self glorifiication)
None of last years frosh went pro, like the year before. Having grown up there, I said at the end of last season, that one and done shit won’t fly very long at KY. We will see if that holds this year, though Davis is so far above the college level, he probly should go. @Southern Beale: GO CATS!!
The Dangerman
I feel a run coming; this thing could be over by the half. Kansas doesn’t have the horses.
Ira-NY
How good could this Kentucky team be if it stayed together several years? Wow!
Raven
Well, I’ll catch the rest in the morning.
burnspbesq
@Schlemizel:
I like your attitude. Go Dutchmen!
That’ll tide me over until the lax final four on Memorial Day weekend.
plynch22
Interesting take on how Coach Cal does it, from a basketball recruiting web site I frequent. It’s anonymous but sounds legit:
How Cal does it
From someone connected…
I am writing this due to the number of posts that accuse several major programs of cheating and the follow up posts that ask why doesn’t the NCAA do anything about it. First let me say, that I have coached at some of the biggest HS basketball camps in the country and I have family and friends at every level of basketball from NBA GM’s to college coaches, high school coaches, agents themselves and journalists at ESPN.
What I am writing is not a guess of what’s going on in college recruiting it is a fact. Several years ago cheating as a college coach meant your school was paying HS or Junior College players to sign with them. The going rate for top 20 talent was around 50k cash. Some schools like Missouri got caught and many others did not.
Things started to change when the NBA first made the rule allowing kids to be drafted straight out of HS. This rule gave agents an incentive to start cultivating relationships with HS players and coaches and “handlers”. Once those relationships were made, agents became the power brokers of college basketball. However, this didn’t really impact the game until the NBA once again changed the rules and stated that a player must at least wait one year after his class graduates to be drafted.
This rule meant that the agents had to find college coaches that would take the player’s they had great relationships with and not try and turn the player’s toward a competing agent while that player played for that coach. This is where I know every top ten program play’s the game if you will. You do not get several McDonald all american’s without understanding how this works.
Now here is where Coach Cal up’s the ante. While many coaches will do what I mentioned above most will still try and keep the player’s in college as long as possible or at least until the player is definitely ready for the next step. Coach Cal does the opposite and the agents love it. Coach Cal’s message is you have one year here and then I am kicking you out. The agents love it, because they get the player back earlier which helps in two ways, the obvious one being agents make money when players sign contracts and two the shorter period of time a player is in college the less chance another agent will be able to sway them to their agency. The player’s love it because they know starting spots will definitely open up for them and Coach Cal is going to give them heavy minutes and do all he can to push them to the NBA.
Added on top of this is the fact that it is UK and Coach Cal is considered by those of us in the game to be a good coach and there you go, UK get’s just about any player they want.
Don’t get me wrong, there are other coaches who agents believe do a good job preparing player’s for the NBA, only most of them have a conscious and won’t push a player out of the program whether they are ready or not. If you notice this year’s UK team has a couple of sophomores, the main reason for that is the NBA lockout. Jones is definitely gone last year if it was a normal year and maybe even Lamb although occasionally agents will let Cal keep a player there if the player has a chance to move up from a second rounder or free agent to a first rounder because first round draft picks get guaranteed cash and second rounders most often do not. Player doesn’t make money neither do the agents.
It should be noted not all agents play this game, however several of the biggest one’s do and Coach Cal is tied in tight with them.
Now the question is, is this cheating or not, in many cases player’s or their families or handler’s get a line of credit ( there are many times the player doesn’t even know about it)
to me this is obviously cheating by the agents, but where do the colleges come in. I can tell you the college coaches have nothing to do with the cash and don’t want to know if a player received any benefits or not from the agent. Yes, they all bury their head in the sand. But before you crucify them realize they don’t have much of a choice, they do not know who get’s paid and who doesn’t usually. They don’t break any current rules, all they do is say to player’s when they are ready to leave ” ok you like Andy Miller ( NBA agent ) go for it, sign with him” and really don’t get in the way.
Now, is their other types of cheating going on, a little bit not anything huge. Example might be Coach Cal allowing D. Rose’s brother to ride to games on the team plane and stuff like that.
Southern Beale
What’s that circle over the eye thing the UK fans are doing? Never seen that before.
burnspbesq
@Raven:
Has Groce actually signed a contract yet?
burnspbesq
@belle:
Serves you right for your allegiance to the wrong shade of blue.
And you’re still stuck with the worst bunch of coaches in all of D1. Ol’Roy and Sylvia? What a joke. Larry Hat? Please. Breschi? Bwahaha.
K, P, Cut, and Dano. Now those are coaches.
Nellie in NZ
I’m jumping in here to say that I am out of touch with American sports (it seems to be rugby, cricket and netball in that order) and in the best of times, I’m not well informed about sports.
But I taught at Kansas for 20 years and had some stellar students who were on the team and really pleasant guys. So, what does it mean when someone calls Kentucky a semi-pro team? Compliment? Insult? Or accusation? Of what?
BGinCHI
@plynch22: This is amazing and sounds pretty believable.
But here’s my question. Where the hell do they get the money for this? It can’t come from a University operating fund (too risky), so it has to come from some alumni fund or something, right?
Two more things.
Fuck Kentucky.
And the Kansas starting five contains no player who is from Kansas. Pathetic.
KIlkee
@Mr Stagger Lee: The Irish have a way of surprising. But probably not this time.
55
Scumbag? WTF? You do realize that Jon Calipari is coaching tonight?
Haters, all idiots.
Marcellus Shale, Public Dick
@Schlemizel:
save ferris.
besides union is a bunch of thugs.
my sole reason for rationalizing rooting for kentucky
Derenda, Oh My Me
Marcellus Shale, Public Dick
@Schlemizel:
save ferris.
besides union is a bunch of thugs.
my sole reason for rationalizing rooting for kentucky
Derenda, Oh My Me
burnspbesq
@BGinCHI:
Watch the Kansas high school tournament some year, and it will be obvious why that’s the case. No indigenous talent at all.
plynch22
@BGinCHI: Yeah, couldn’t agree more on the F UK and no players from Kansas sentiments.
When money’s involved I think it’s coming from agents who see it as an investment more often than not. And the agents hang around the programs that they know will look the other way. That’s when big money is involved. If it’s small-time money, or helping a parent get a job near campus so they move across country to watch their kid (because, as you point out, they’re not going to their home state school), that stuff comes from boosters.
Corner Stone
KU can’t beat Kentucky off the dribble in a half court game. They can’t out rebound them inside. They’s shooting like ass from the mid range. And KU can’t hope to run with Kentucky in a wild shootout.
So, I’m sure there’s a formula here how KU wins this game. But, ummm, not seeing it.
Mr Stagger Lee
@plynch22: That is why the NCAA will never completely crack down, there is so much money especially TV money and nobody is going to watch NAIA version of B-ball made up of short White guys or Black players who rode the bench playing for the Dr.Huxtable Middle Class High school. Noticed some of these schools are cutting back on academics and raising tuition and maybe dropping the wrestling or gymnastics , but not the football or the Basketball programs. The NCAA may jump on the occasional USC or Ohio State, but those schools were acting the fools publically, and needed to be slapped down, but noticed when they gave Auburn a pass for paying Cam Newton’s dad $100,000 to play ball, because Auburn knows how to keep the fences mended and tracks covered like the rest of the SEC.
burnspbesq
@Marcellus Shale, Public Dick:
Nonsense. They’ve had 101 fewer penalty minutes than their opponents this year. Physical, but disciplined about it.
jl
Knickerbockers, KO in third round with reverse suplex.
Corner Stone
@gex:
Pour one out for your dead homie.
Corner Stone
Holy crap! Somebody set up a marker. An actual Senior is in the game for Kentucky.
Corner Stone
@Mr Stagger Lee: We bash this around once in a while. It has to evolve to some kind of stipend or annuity for kids playing for these schools.
Cacti
Can’t stand Calipari. He’s a wannabe NBA coach who didn’t have the chops to make it in the Association.
Ditto for Rick Pitino.
Spaghetti Lee
@The Dangerman:
I like the Fray. I’ll happily admit that they’re not really that talented or unique, but I have a weakness for that kind of music. I also like Augustana and Coldplay.
But I don’t know who the hell would hire them to sing the National Anthem, given that they specialize in fuzzy mid-tempo guitar ballads with a singer who alternates between mumbling and moaning. The national anthem should in my opinion always be sung by someone with a traditional sort of singing voice.
Spaghetti Lee
@Corner Stone:
I also like the idea a modest stipend that would hopefully allow the kids to resist bigger, more corrupt bribe offers, and maybe coax some into staying instead of going for a pro sports payday. But I wonder how people who complain about the unpaid-labor nature of college sports think will they’ll magically get cleaner if they start paying the athletes outright. If you think the big-name schools are too dominant now, you ain’t seen nothing yet.
Marcellus Shale, Public Dick
@burnspbesq:
what sport are we talking about again, and i will tell you why you are wrong.
Cacti
@Spaghetti Lee:
I think the NBA should encourage pro-prospects who aren’t academically “college-ready” to play a year or two in Europe.
That way, the ones who want to be in college are in college, and the ones who want to get paid are getting paid.
Southern Beale
Wingnuts will throw a hissy fit over Obama’s interview on the NCAA in 5… 4… 3…
OMG HOW DOES HE FIND THE TIME! IRAN COULD BE NUKING US ANY SECOND!!!!!
sylvainsylvain
@burnspbesq: Perry Ellis, out of Wichita, will start for Kansas next year.
Corner Stone
@Spaghetti Lee:
But there’s a sort of self selection going on, at least in NCAA football. So many talented kids from all kinds of high school programs are looking at FSU or OSU and saying, “Why would I ride the pine for 2 or 3 years when I can go to a mid major or a lesser tier “big program” and be a stud for 3 years?”
The coaching and nutrition and conditioning and all that has become so widely available, and better, that these kids with natural talent and “want to”, can make a difference at other programs than USC or Meechigan, etc.
Lamont Cranston
No player with the opportunity should pass up the chance to make even the league minimum for the sake of staying in college.
What happens when you have a career-ending injury in your next game? You can always go back to college if you want to.
Requiring a year of indentured servitude from guys before they can enter the NBA is just criminal.
p.a.
calipari was in the 2nd wave of AAU/5Star coaches who helped ruin college basketball. (Rick ‘tabletop’ Pitino was in the 1st wave.) the NCAA are bums who make billions off the sharecropper/athletes, but Cal is scum.
go KU. I guess…
Corner Stone
In NCAA football, for example, we’ve just got to find a long enough pry bar to wedge the fucking money grubbing BCS bloodsucking pig fuckers off the underbelly of these kids’ effort to get them to some sort of playoff. Where it’s not a joke anymore if a Boise St (esque) team is considered worthy for a Natl Champ slot.
Who the fuck wanted to see the god awful rematch of LSU v Bama?
Corner Stone
Really Bill Self? You’re going to let Kentucky settle into a half court offense?
This is going to be a short but painful 2nd half for KU.
Corner Stone
Suh-loppy.
bogdan
God I love Canada. While the US is moving back into the 50’s Canada is going full blown Amsterdam!
http://www.canada.com/life/thirds+Canadians+support+legal+brothels+poll+finds/6399289/story.html
Mark S.
Does Kentucky ever pass the ball to Davis?
gex
@Cacti: Rick was silly enough to prove it to the world. Hee!
Corner Stone
The dagger!
Karen
Maybe it’s because I’m a woman but tell me why do towns (for example, Kentucky) riot when they WIN? I can understand being poor losers but why trash a town when you WIN?
Is it a guy thing and I just wouldn’t understand?
MikeJ
@Karen: I’ll never understand what they do in Kentuckytown.
Corner Stone
Just the fact that some no talent chump like Pitbull is a multi-millionaire music entertainer.
Future generations will not wonder what caused our downfall.
MCA1
C’mon, Cole, you can do better than that. What on earth qualifies Coach K as a “scumbag?” Just because Duke pounded the stuffing out of WV in the Final Four two years ago doesn’t give you license to be as shallow and insufferable as a Carolina or Kentucky fan. You’ve got to earn that skill at projection and self-delusion over decades.
gex
So, I’m reading some NFL news and I’m trying to understand what the point is for Sean Payton to appeal his punishment to Gooddell who is the guy who set the punishment.
I don’t see what the point is of having that process whatsoever. Unless the whole point is to make the first punishment be the one people remember when this is hot in the news and then later reduced to a slap on the wrist when people are frothing over something else.
Spaghetti Lee
OK, seriously, what the fuck? UNC, OSU, now this? Is there some rule that you have to shit the bed when playing Kansas in the 2nd half?
John Cole
@MCA1: A.) I reserve the license to be as insufferable an asshole as I want on every topic imaginable.
B.) The prosecution rests.
David Koch
Over/Under Kentucky-Calamari scandal emerging forcing them to vacate title = 3 years
different-church-lady
Isn’t it April?
joe73112
@TheColourfield: I musta missed it, whats wrong with Coach K? (not that I am a fan, just wondered)
Corner Stone
@David Koch: Who gives a shit?
Corner Stone
I, for one, am shocked that a team that started 3 frosh and 2 sophs in the National Champ game ended up winning.
burnspbesq
@sylvainsylvain:
And Kenny Cole will be the first guy off the bench?
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@burnspbesq: To be followed no doubt, by Calvin Klein.
burnspbesq
@MCA1:
This.
burnspbesq
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q):
Is that a rotation or a closet?
gex
@burnspbesq: I’m surprised they didn’t recruit Hilfiger.
Rekster
@Schlemizel: right on!!!
The prophet Nostradumbass
“Rick Santorum’s campaign is essentially being run like the comments section on a birther website” – Rachel Maddow.
Heh.
Paul in KY
Yeehaw!! Burned my first couch last night! Wonderful team. One of our best ever!
Nerlens & Shabazz, come on down to UK & have some fun!
TheColourfield
@joe73112:
Sorry for the late reply,
He’s a monumental phony. Duke is always saying they do things “the right way” but rat face is notorious for being a thin skinned douchebag.
They also have a record of finding cushy jobs for parents of players like Duhon and Boozer in the past.
And isn’t it odd that a man in his sixties has no grey hair ?
He’s the Mitt Romney of basketball coaches, a completely plastic phony.
TheColourfield
@joe73112:
Sorry for the late reply,
He’s a monumental phony. Duke is always saying they do things “the right way” but rat face is notorious for being a thin skinned douchebag.
They also have a record of finding cushy jobs for parents of players like Duhon and Boozer in the past.
And isn’t it odd that a man in his sixties has no grey hair ?
He’s the Mitt Romney of basketball coaches, a completely plastic phony.
MCA1
@TheColourfield: Right. Analysis from anyone who would refer to the man as “rat face” is to be taken with no grain of salt, I’m sure. How many press conferences do you think Mike Krzyzewski has given over the years? And you can probably point to maybe three in which he’s said something that could be characterized as thin-skinned. It’s on record that Chris Duhon’s mother communicated with the athletic department and the NCAA about impropriety before accepting her job. Boozer’s mother worked for the U.S. Forest Service and simply relocated after both her kids ended up in college in the Lower 48; his father took an admin. position at some company that undoubtedly was less prestigious than his more executive level programming job in Alaska. I mean, that’s all you’ve got? And the next words out of your keyboard better not be “Myron Piggie.”
You don’t have to worship the guy, and you can persist in thinking he’s a “phony” or a “douchebag” as those are subjective, anyway. But that’s some pretty weak sauce. He wins, his program’s never been in trouble with the NCAA (and spare us the conspiracy theories), his kids have always tended to graduate at a high level and appear on average to be well-rounded, responsible young men when they leave the program. You can hate the level of exposure, but it’s just silly to hate on Krzyzewski himself – you know he represents what amounts to class in the cesspool of college basketball.
@John Cole – you can definitely hate all you want. Your site. I hesitate to click through to what is likely the appendix to Josh Levin’s ANNUAL rant about how much he hates Duke, which Slate keeps allowing him to do simply because it touches the right page-hit buttons. The guy has absolutely zero interest in representing anything Duke basketball-related in an honest way.