bugatti

As for 2024-2025 UK. Who knows? I'm crossing my fingers.

Spot on. With the portal, I think you could argue Calipari was incredibly successful with it, and if anything didn't utilize it enough. A lot of productivity (All SEC, All American) came from the portal.

For fun, I went back to 2018 to see where UK stacked up against others in FG%. The two outlier years for shooting % were this season (6th in the country) and the goofy COVID season (284th in the country). Averaging out the other years, UK is at 53 out of 363 teams. That would put them around the 85 percentile mark for this duration. Other variables could be considered such as 3 pt %, FT%, level of competition, skill level of own players, etc., but saying UK is traditionally terrible when it comes to shooting the ball is not supported by the data. And these measurements have supposedly been the dark years of UK basketball under Calipari. But perception often becomes reality with these things. My guess is if I did all of Cal's years at UK, they would be much higher than 53rd.

Like last year's class... As I've said, I have no clue what to make of recruiting classes any longer. Unless you strike gold with a Freshman, teams with the most impactful transfers will rise to the top.

This morning I bought tickets for game 2 of the Suns/Wolves series.

If Boston does not make it out of the East, that would be an all-time epic fail. Seldom do you go into the playoffs with a team at minus odds, but here we are. The West is as wide-open of race as I can remember. Going into last night, I would have said the only teams you could cross off would be Sacramento and Golden State (since eliminated). New Orleans may be without Zion (shocker!) so they are on the scratch-off list. So seven teams with a legit shot. That's insane.

Do players still use smokeless tobacco? I assume some do, but figured that was a bygone practice given how in tune pro athletes are with their health today. But yeah, spitting just to spit has always been one of life's great mysteries.

I caught myself watching half an hour of the WNBA draft last night. I am willing to say casual fans are as likely to name as many of the young ladies drafted last night than the young men that will be drafted in June.

I'm sorry, but if a college basketball coach at the high D1 level is not talking about the NBA in some capacity (even limited), they are stuck in 1987 and going to be looped by their competition in no time. Rallying behind school pride and "playing for the name on the front of the jersey" is great for the fans, but it means very little to a kid who was 7 years old when UK won a title.

Interesting. You can sign up for presale tickets for the two games (MSU/KU, UK/Duke) through State Farm's Champions Classic website, so that would be a shock to the several thousand that have probably already gone that route. But this guy did say it on Twitter, so it must be true. The game is also in Atlanta, but I am sure it autocorrected to Chicago. It happens.

I've mentioned this before, but coaching college basketball is a diminishing proposition and not attractive; hence why you see all programs dice rolling these days. It is 2024, not 1994, and college basketball may not exist in 5-10 years.

I do not doubt if Pope goes 42-29 over the next two seasons BBN will be nothing but incredibly supportive and upbeat about things.

One month ago UK was coming off its best game of the year, taking out one of the best teams in the country (UT) in their house. Calipari had his glow, Reed Sheppard was the toast of the town, and people were starting to convince themselves of a potential deep tournament run. If God himself came down from heaven and told me in one month the people that own Tyson Food would be sending a troll package to BBN since Calipari’s is their new coach and two days later Mark Pope will be named the new head coach of UK, I’d called him a damn liar. Or just plain twisted. Life comes at you fast.

All about the hire before the hire… that’s what I keep telling myself at least.

Much of this stuff is semantical. Does offer mean discussing terms or does it mean a contract was written up with pending board approval? These things are discussed and talked about through third parties. I have no doubt he "interviewed," or whatever that means in the context of a coaching search. From there it would be open to interpretation. And frankly, who cares? On to the next candidate.