11.13.2010

Something I Like to See

This is your top four schools for graduating Student Athletes:

1. Notre Dame-99%

2. Duke-97% and Northwestern-97%

4. Navy-96% and Boston College-96%

Another reason I like Navy Athletics is look at where they rank in graduation rates for all D1 sports… Pretty impressive… This is also why I respect the Duke and Notre Dame programs because of what their kids do in the classroom…

Really gets into the argument over the one and dones in college basketball and whether or not you want your school to recruit these types of kids (who are going to only stay one year)… I DO NOT like that Kentucky had so many one and done’s last year but I think at the end of the day most schools would have taken those kids (although UNC said no to John Wall and Duke said no on Bledsoe)…

In the long haul I would like to see Kentucky recruiting kids who are going to stay around four years in most cases but I realize you are going to have to mix in some one or two year players and cannot restrict your recruiting in that way I guess…

Although the Bledsoe thing is over I hold Kentucky accountable for allowing the recruitment of Bledsoe and Orton who proved to be not very good in the classroom… I DO NOT want to see that type of trend continue at Kentucky… This year with the signing of Brandon Knight and even last year with John Wall (who proved to be a good student) encourages me that this is not the case… UK should have taken a pass on Bledsoe and Orton in my opinion… Cal did nothing wrong in recruiting these players and it is up the University to say no!!! A coach is there to win and he is going to recruit the best players he can with the Universities stamp of approval…

Q and A from KSR With My Answers

1) Which player is the most IMPORTANT for this UK Basketball team?a. Brandon Knightb. Enes Kanterc. Darius Millerd. Deandre Liggins

Kanter… With Kanter this is a Final Four type team… Without him they are Sweet 16 or with some luck Elite Eight…

2) Can this team make the Final Four WITHOUT Enes Kanter?a. Yesb. No

No… Next year but this year no…

3) Who will go down as the FAN FAVORITE of this year’s team?a. Josh Harrellsonb. Brandon Knightc. Terrence Jonesd. Jarrod Polson

Knight because he can do it all…

4) Are the constant negative stories concerning the UK program lower your opinion of Coach Cal?a. Yesb. No

People migrate to negative… Look at a UK story on Yahoo and compare the amount of comments to any other school… Cal has a bad rap… He does allot of great things for the community and the commonwealth outside of basketball and he if he was guilty of anything he would be banned from coaching (like Kelvin Sampson)…

5) What is the MOST LIKELY final outcome of this season?a. 1st or 2nd round Exitb. Sweet 16c. Elite 8d. Final 4e. National Championship

Sweet 16…

6) What Joker Phillips the right hire for the progression of the UK football program?a. Yesb. Noc. Too Early to Tell

Yes… Will it work or not is the question…

7) What is MOST IMPORTANT for the Kentucky football program?a. Making Bowlsb. Beating Louisville on a Regular Basisc. Beating Tennessee on a Regular Basisd. Competitive in the SEC

Making Bowls and winning eight or nine games every three years or so…

8) What has been the BIGGEST ROADBLOCK to Kentucky becoming a consistent football power?a. Talent Gap in SECb. Basketball Schoolc. Lack of Huge Coaching Hired. General Attitude of Fans/Playerse. Destiny

Talent pool across the state is thin. Facilities need upgraded, fans that do not understand football and talent gap going up against Bama, Florida, UT, etc… are all factors. Yes UK has beaten every other school in the SEC the last five years (except UT, Bama and Florida) but they are 9 and 23 combined against Teams other than Vandy since 2006 in the SEC…

9) What is your general attitude of the football program for the next 5 years?a. Positiveb. Negativec. Indifferent

Positive… I am an eternal optimist… They need to spend some money on facilities and I am not sure that money is there… Many people did not renew season tickets this year and if prices go up they are going to drive more people out…

10) Are fans justified to boo their team during poor performances?a. Yesb. No
Fans can boo officiating and they can boo a bad play call (a quick slant on 3rd and 20 or pitch play inside the 10 yard line but do not boo players…

Enes Kanter

No surprise to me that he was ruled ineligible… Tough decision for the kid but he was only going to be a one year player anyway… He would have been a great one and could have possibly led UK to the Final Four (he has that much talent based on what I have seen)… He is Dirk Nowitzski with an inside game and will excel in the NBA…

As for the people bashing on UK and Coach Cal over this… You are all IDIOTS!!! This was a no brainer to take a chance on this kid… The worst thing that happens is he cannot play and you move forward and that is what UK will do… Same with the appeal process… You appeal it and the worst thing that happens is they (The NCAA) says no…

As for the people who thinks this is some kind of conspiracy against UK you are also wrong… The decision would have been the same had he gone to Washington but it would just have not gotten as much press coverage… There are also some who question why you would waste a scholarship on this kid who had a slim chance of ever playing and I still say UK lost nothing by taking this chance…

UK has the #1 recruiting class coming in next year and as for the one and dones I do not see any of the freshmen leaving UK after one year this year so HATE on that HATERS!!!

Comments From the Masses

Don't pretend that Enes was planning on staying 4 years to get an education. It was reported last year that Wall, Cousins and the rest of the freshman class bound for the draft stopped going to class in the 2nd semester last year and focused 100% on basketball.

My comment: Daniel Orton stopped going to class after the tournament was over... All the other guys finished... Stop spewing @#$%!!!

The bad thing is the way Calipari recruits they may always have good teams but neverbwin a National Championship because most of these kids are "one and done" so they never mature to win a National title which usually comes with experience.

My comment: He has not won one yet… Since 1998 (UK’s last title year) Nine teams have won National Championships so that means that including Kentucky around 300 other D1 schools have not won an NCAA Championship…

To all you jerks who tried to compare Jim Calhoun to this idiot. I tried telling you Calipari is the biggest cheater in the game but you didn't believe me. Well, here's more proof! The guy is a scumbag! In addition, North Carolina's football program was caught and it's just a matter of time before their basketball program is exposed as well.

My comment: Another Idiot… Calipari or the University is not implicated in any way shape or form… Kanter just like every other player has to be cleared by the NCAA and in this case he was not… No harm done on taking a chance on this talented player…

Get this article off the web page. no one outside of the state of kentucky much cares about uk or their illustrious coach. let the uk people deal with this issue on their own. they should be used to it by now. it will only get worse in "big blow" country.

My Comment: Of all the Sports articles posted on Yahoo today the article about Kanter had the most comments and 90 percent were people from other schools bashing UK… No one cares???

It's not cheating unless you get caught!! Cal got caught this time... (like the time before that, and the one before that)

My Comment: Another idiot… No one cheated…

You cant get them all through Crimiapri LOL Atleast he got caught cheating before the season started. There is nothing that this guy will not do.

My Comment: Another Idiot… No one cheated…

By the way, with Wall and Cousins tearing up the NBA, how is it Kentucky did NOT win the national championship last season?

My comment: Of the 300 plus schools in D1 only nine have won championships since 1998… You tell me??? Hardest thing to do is win that tournament…

Good, hopefully this will take the cats and Calamari down a notch. Can't wait until the whole program is given the death penalty by the NCAA for all of Calamari's cheating.

My Comment: When is that going to happen???

kentucky is a scummy deal. Can't win the big one in modern times. They bring these punks to campus and they don't graduate. Yuk!

My comment: Since 1998 (UK’s last title year) Nine teams have won National Championships so that means that including Kentucky around 300 other D1 schools have not won an NCAA Championship… Since 1995 11 teams (including UK) have won the NCAA Tournament… That means since 1995 300 plus D1 schools in basketball have not…

UK Football

I am thinking about changing my blog name to the “Life of a UK Football Fan” or “Wait until next year” but the Cubs fan have the market cornered on that one…

Expectations… Is it wrong to have a higher expectation??? Should UK fans just be satisfied with a competitive team that is 6 and 6 or 7 and 5 at best??? Should we not expect that every three or four years UK has an experienced team that can win 8 or more games??? Should we expect them to compete year in and year out for an SEC football title??? What is the right set of expectations to have???

I think this year’s team could have gone 8 and 4 and I have no doubt that the 2007 and 2009 should have both gone 8 and 4… That is all I ask just throw me a bone every couple of years and win eight regular season games…

Ugh… This year has been frustrating… Easy year to go 8 and 4 with the way the schedule set up… Will Joker make any changes at the end of the year??? Can UK beat Vandy and UT to get to 7 and 5??? Will UK get over the hump next year???

I am going to do a study this winter and do some real analysis of programs like WVA, Va Tech, UNC, NC State, Boise State, Pitt, Rutgers and Maryland to see how UK football stacks up against these schools and whether or not UK being in the SEC for football is just to tough to overcome… Put it this way if UK were in the Big East or ACC they would compete for the conference titles as they stand today!!! If UK played Boise State’s schedule this year they would easily finish 10 and 2 or 9 and 3…

As for whether or not Joker was the right guy for UK??? He was!!! Although I am disappointed about this year to this point a three game winning streak at the end of the year will go along way for next year… Give the man three years to prove what he can do and prove me and the critics wrong…

The university also needs to step up and spend some money on facilities and that will only come thorough donations or raises in season ticket prices…



Random

- The Cam Newton thing is going to get ugly…

- I think that if Boise State or TCU played in the Big East they could go undefeated this year… That conference is bad!!! Good thing for U of L because there road back to the top of that conference will be an easy and short one…

- Bama will still play a major role in what happens with the National Championship picture… I say they beat Auburn (knocks Auburn out of National Championship Game) and than Auburn will lose to Florida in the SEC Championship Game… I thought Bama would win out and the defeat to LSU was a shocker to me…

- I heard a Bama fan say on the radio the other day that there were allot of high school teams in Bama who could beat Oregon… That is a bit over the top…

- I think TCU is better than Boise State although I know Boise State beat them last year… If Boise State played in the SEC they are a two loss team right now and I think TCU would be at one or two losses also if they played in the SEC... I hope that TCU or Boise gets a shot at Oregon or an undefeated Auburn in the Championship Game…

- Colin Cowherd recently called John Wall (on consecutive days), selfish, all about himself, not a team guy and he will never win a championship… All because he did the “Dougie Dance” during his opening night (Mr. Selfish did set a Rookie Record for assists in game by his third game)… Why Cowherd would spew such a DEAD WRONG characterization of Wall is beyond me… This guy was the ultimate team player and a model student during his only year at UK… I have banned myself from listening to Cowherd… Check this months Sporting News and you will find a different profile of John…

- The Heat are the best five and five team in the NBA… Not really where they thought they would be… Pat Riley put this team together maybe he should be coaching the team also…

- Love the rebuttal by Cleveland fans on the Lebron commercial… Check the link below…

http://www.worldstarhiphop.com/videos/video.php?v=wshh9O4Wu59OJfq5T5FK