January 12, 201214 yr I think Darius will play in the NBA. He's versatile, can hit the outside shot, and knows his role. He is the very poor man's Shane Battier. He has been playing some pretty good defense this year as well. I think a poor man's Battier isn't a bad comparison.
January 12, 201214 yr My criticism applies to a number of programs that employ this money-grubbing strategy (and it also applies to college FB as well). And I still say those who use the lame excuse of "they play the NCAA tourney on a neutral site" are missing the point: Road tests make your team tougher and prepare you for anything and everything that could go wrong on the road. Guess you missed my earlier post on this matter in your wild-eyed fanatical fury over me daring say something critical about the Wildcats. So in your mind, it makes sense to have 3 of your hardest OOC games be on the same home/away rotation? According to you, who DOES do a good job scheduling away games? Here are the OOC away games from the current top 25: Cuse @ NCST UK @ IU UNC @ UNC Asheville, UK Baylor @ NW, BYU tOSU @ KU, South Carolina MSU @ East Mich, Gonzaga IU @ Evansville, NCST Duke @ tOSU, Temple Mizz @ ODU KU @ USC Gtown @ Chaminade, Bama UNLV @ UCSB, Wichita, Wisconsin UM @ UVA, Oakland UofL @ Butler, UK Murray @ Morgan St, UAB, Alaska-Anchorage, WKU, Memphis UVA @ Oregan, Seattle, LSU UConn @ ..... KState @ VT UF @ tOSU, Cuse, Rutgers Miss St @ Detroit Gonzaga @ Illinois, XU SDSU @ Baylor, Zona, UCSB, USD Creighton @ UAB, SDSU, St Joes, Tulsa, Seton Hall @ Dayton, Longwood Marq @ Wisconsin, LSU
January 12, 201214 yr My criticism applies to a number of programs that employ this money-grubbing strategy (and it also applies to college FB as well). And I still say those who use the lame excuse of "they play the NCAA tourney on a neutral site" are missing the point: Road tests make your team tougher and prepare you for anything and everything that could go wrong on the road. Just imagine how much better the teams of Jim Boeheim, Rick Pitino, Mike Krzyzewski, Tom Izzo, Roy Williams, Bill Self and Jim Calhoun could be if only they weren't afraid to play true road games. They've only got what, 13 National Titles between them? Surely they know what does and doesn't prepare their teams for the NCAA tourney a lot better than you, me or anyone else on this board. The "money grubbing" that you talk about is just a necessary part of the college game in football and basketball these days. Schools can't afford to pass up home games when they have to have the money to run their athletic programs.
January 13, 201214 yr No more so that you diehards believing every single word that comes out of the coach's mouth, even though it's a well-established fact that the overwhelming majority of college coaches are shady scumbags who speak out of both sides of their mouth. I'm just able to read between the lines and see the world for what it is, rather than some pie-in-the-sky idealism. Is it a fact or just your opinion? The interesting thing is that if UK does stop on of the current series they want to replace it with Kansas, Texas, UCLA, or Michigan St. BTW, I would argue that there is a greater percentage of scumbags in society in general than scumbags in the coaching profession.
January 13, 201214 yr Is it a fact or just your opinion? The interesting thing is that if UK does stop on of the current series they want to replace it with Kansas, Texas, UCLA, or Michigan St. BTW, I would argue that there is a greater percentage of scumbags in society in general than scumbags in the coaching profession. Read the posts in this forum (and the college FB one), and you will find that the general consensus is that all major college basketball and football programs cheat. The poll of the top 100 college recruits also supports this. But go ahead and continue being a true-believer, since you can't bear to face the knowledge that your favorite team's coach, and mine, and everyone else's, is crooked as all get-out. The last sentence of your post is one of the single most naive things I've ever read. And to your first sentence: I'll buy you a 12-pack of your favorite beer if UK drops Louisville, Indiana or UNC and replaces them with any one of the schools you mention. Better yet, I'll do it if UK replaces them with anybody other than a patsy school that only gets to come to Rupp for a beatdown payday.
January 13, 201214 yr Just imagine how much better the teams of Jim Boeheim, Rick Pitino, Mike Krzyzewski, Tom Izzo, Roy Williams, Bill Self and Jim Calhoun could be if only they weren't afraid to play true road games. They've only got what, 13 National Titles between them? Surely they know what does and doesn't prepare their teams for the NCAA tourney a lot better than you, me or anyone else on this board. The "money grubbing" that you talk about is just a necessary part of the college game in football and basketball these days. Schools can't afford to pass up home games when they have to have the money to run their athletic programs. Really? Have you examined the $$$$ flowing in from the TV contracts? Imagine how much more $$$$ that would be if UK and the other majors would play more "made-for-TV" games, rather than crummy games such as UK v. Lamar that nobody cares about, and that isn't even intriguing enough to sell out Rupp.
January 13, 201214 yr 2010-2011 Connecticut-1 OOC road game 2009-2010 Duke-1 OOC road game 2008-2009 UNC-4 OOC road games (3 of which against non-BCS schools, non against top 25) 2007-2008 Kansas-3 OOC road games 2006-2007 Florida-2 OOC road games (1 of which against was Florida A&M) 2005-2006 Florida-3 OOC road games 2004-2005 UNC-3 OOC road games 2003-2004 UConn-2 OOC road games 2002-2003 Syracuse-0 OOC road games 2001-2002 Maryland-1 OOC road game 10 years, 20 out of conference road games, 4 out of conference road games against ranked teams, 10 national championships.
January 13, 201214 yr 2010-2011 Connecticut-1 OOC road game 2009-2010 Duke-1 OOC road game 2008-2009 UNC-4 OOC road games (3 of which against non-BCS schools, non against top 25) 2007-2008 Kansas-3 OOC road games 2006-2007 Florida-2 OOC road games (1 of which against was Florida A&M) 2005-2006 Florida-3 OOC road games 2004-2005 UNC-3 OOC road games 2003-2004 UConn-2 OOC road games 2002-2003 Syracuse-0 OOC road games 2001-2002 Maryland-1 OOC road game 10 years, 20 out of conference road games, 4 out of conference road games against ranked teams, 10 national championships. And the quality of college basketball is worse for all of that.
January 13, 201214 yr Really? Have you examined the $$$$ flowing in from the TV contracts? Imagine how much more $$$$ that would be if UK and the other majors would play more "made-for-TV" games, rather than crummy games such as UK v. Lamar that nobody cares about, and that isn't even intriguing enough to sell out Rupp. Since most college athletic programs have to split television contracts with the other teams in the conference there isn't going to be a significant increase in revenue by playing a couple more road games. And when you have a large arena such as UK, UNC or Syracuse I'd wager that you would give up well over a million dollars for each road game that you play. Schools are struggling with funding at all levels, they aren't going to turn down that kind of payday. But back to your original point that you politely abandoned when the facts didn't support your argument. The coaches that I listed have 13 National Championships between them and they are the type of program that you are critical of for not playing on the road out of conference. It seems to be working for them just fine, don't you think? Look at Zlatan's post: the last 10 National Champions have played a TOTAL of 20 out of conference road games--only 4 of them against ranked teams. Kind of makes your agrument ring hollow doesn't it? You were giving another poster a hard time about their idealist views, I think you should look in the mirror......Oh yeah--"Get off my lawn..."
January 13, 201214 yr And the quality of college basketball is worse for all of that. So you don't think the 8-9 road games played in conference are enough (along with 1-3 OOC) to build the mental toughness you speak of? How many road games are needed for this to be accomplished?
January 13, 201214 yr And the quality of college basketball is worse for all of that. The quality of college basketball has nothing to do with out of conference road games. It has everything to do with players going straight to the pros out of high school in the past and now the one and done rule. Go back and look at the schedules from 20-25 years ago--it was the same thing. The difference was the players all stayed around for 3-4 years.
January 13, 201214 yr Since most college athletic programs have to split television contracts with the other teams in the conference there isn't going to be a significant increase in revenue by playing a couple more road games. And when you have a large arena such as UK, UNC or Syracuse I'd wager that you would give up well over a million dollars for each road game that you play. Schools are struggling with funding at all levels, they aren't going to turn down that kind of payday. But back to your original point that you politely abandoned when the facts didn't support your argument. The coaches that I listed have 13 National Championships between them and they are the type of program that you are critical of for not playing on the road out of conference. It seems to be working for them just fine, don't you think? Look at Zlatan's post: the last 10 National Champions have played a TOTAL of 20 out of conference road games--only 4 of them against ranked teams. Kind of makes your agrument ring hollow doesn't it? You were giving another poster a hard time about their idealist views, I think you should look in the mirror......Oh yeah--"Get off my lawn..." OK, since you clearly are among the UK fans who enjoy watching your team beat the Sisters of The Poor by 100, every single second of it, let's approach it from a harsher angle: Who's missing from Zlatan's list?
January 13, 201214 yr So you don't think the 8-9 road games played in conference are enough (along with 1-3 OOC) to build the mental toughness you speak of? How many road games are needed for this to be accomplished? It's apparently not working for UK and UofL. Seems another method might be appropriate, something other than the Duke model, which UK is clearly emulating.
January 13, 201214 yr The quality of college basketball has nothing to do with out of conference road games. It has everything to do with players going straight to the pros out of high school in the past and now the one and done rule. Go back and look at the schedules from 20-25 years ago--it was the same thing. The difference was the players all stayed around for 3-4 years. Sure it does! How hot a ticket was UK-UNC? Only one of the most sought-after tickets in years at Rupp. Again, nobody cares that UK beats Lamar by 40, and as a result that game ends up only on local TV. Everybody in the country wanted to see UK-UNC, and enough of them wanted to be there that those tickets were some of the hottest ever in Rupp history.
January 13, 201214 yr OK, since you clearly are among the UK fans who enjoy watching your team beat the Sisters of The Poor by 100, every single second of it, let's approach it from a harsher angle: Who's missing from Zlatan's list? If you want to look that up, be my guest. If you prove me wrong, I'll gladly admit it.
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