The 2001-2005 teams didn't have talent? Please. Those were the years that most of those games were played as well. And unless ESPN is wrong, I'm not. If your argument is that games against Lamar, Loyola, etc. aren't exactly the most entertaining things to watch in the world, no one would disagree, but to suggest that UK would have more success by simply scheduling more out of conference road games is completely unfounded.

 

So you're going to try and tell me there's no benefit whatsoever in playing a tough road contest? There's nothing about overcoming adversity that helps a team? Wow.

So you're going to try and tell me there's no benefit whatsoever in playing a tough road contest? There's nothing about overcoming adversity that helps a team? Wow.

 

You're putting words in my mouth.

 

By the end of this season, UK will have had nine chances to overcome adversity. How many do they need? You obviously cannot go an entire season without playing any road games, but this argument is about scheduling out of conference, which has been shown by recent history to have no bearing on postseason success. What difference does it make if a game like this happens in the middle of December or in the middle of January?

Please don't play the "other teams are doing it" card. You can't go around claiming to be the kingpin of college hoops and fall back on lame excuses like that. You guys are supposed to be above what everybody else is doing.

 

And again, I called them out, too.

 

So if other power schools don't want to play home and home series with UK then the Wildcats should just go ahead and play all of them on the road each year with no return game...... I'm sure that is the way to go.

 

Zlatan has shown the number of out of conference road games played by the last 10 champions. It averages 2 per season. If it is working why change it? Do you get a super duper championship if you play 5 road games out of conference?

UK's out of conference road opponents from 2001-2010 (0 final fours during this time):

Duke, Indiana X4, Gonzaga, North Carolina X4, Louisville X4, Marshall, UCLA, Michigan St, West Virginia, Georgia St., Kansas, Memphis, Houston.

 

They played a lot of road games, and amazingly it didn't result in tourney success. You simply cannot make the argument that there is a correlation between how many out of conference road games you play and how far you go in March. The facts do not back it up in any way, shape, or form.

 

Your concept of "road games" is highly imaginative, and, as I expected, you threw some neutral site games in there and called them road games to suit your argument. Kentucky never played at Duke, Gonzaga, Marshall, UCLA, WVU, Ga. St. or Memphis St. during the time you cite. Did you really expect me to not check?

I'm done. Jim has had everything he has posted shot down so he keeps trying to spin it a different way.... With no actual facts to back up his argument. Look I get that you would like to see bigger name matchups in the out of conference games. But that isn't the way teams are winning championships and it isn't the way money is made and until it is then the power teams aren't going to play that way. Now get off my lawn!

So if other power schools don't want to play home and home series with UK then the Wildcats should just go ahead and play all of them on the road each year with no return game...... I'm sure that is the way to go.

 

Calipari's pretty media savvy. Guarantee he could shame them into changing their ways. If not, play some "lesser-thans" for the long-term benefit instead of worrying about some perceived loss of prestige.

 

Zlatan has shown the number of out of conference road games played by the last 10 champions. It averages 2 per season. If it is working why change it? Do you get a super duper championship if you play 5 road games out of conference?

 

Again, that method's not working for Kentucky, as they have nothing to show for their softie scheduling. Clearly the "rugged" SEC isn't adequately preparing them for the NCAA tourney rigors. May be time to adopt the Denny Crum philosophy, which worked quite well.

I'm done. Jim has had everything he has posted shot down so he keeps trying to spin it a different way.... With no actual facts to back up his argument. Look I get that you would like to see bigger name matchups in the out of conference games. But that isn't the way teams are winning championships and it isn't the way money is made and until it is then the power teams aren't going to play that way. Now get off my lawn!

 

What more facts do you need than the one that there have been no banners hung since 1998? The current method of dodging good teams isn't paying off with championships, and the crummy SEC isn't doing a very good job of preparing the team for the NCAA tournament. Maybe a more innovative approach than "everybody else is doing it" would be appropriate for the alleged kingpin of college hoops?

I thought that we should've pushed the ball a bit more as a couple times when we got the ball and went up the court Auburn's transition defense was lagging a bit behind and we got some easy buckets out of it. I think we should've made it an issue to up the tempo a bit more but it seems we slowed the ball down quite a bit at times. Regardless, a win is a win and I'll take it.

 

Based on how we played tonight, I fully expect an L this weekend @Tennessee but hopefully I'll be pleasantly surprised.

 

I'm thinking Cats by 17.

Not sure where the concerns for rebounding are coming from....They're the best rebounding team in the SEC. :confused:

 

15 point victories on the road scare people........ Only in Kentucky.

Your concept of "road games" is highly imaginative, and, as I expected, you threw some neutral site games in there and called them road games to suit your argument. Kentucky never played at Duke, Gonzaga, Marshall, UCLA, WVU, Ga. St. or Memphis St. during the time you cite. Did you really expect me to not check?

 

Yea, I thought I remembered them playing Gonzaga in Maui and WVU in Vegas, but ESPN had them as road games. Not sure why. But contrary to your belief I did not intentionally do that. Based on that, there were probably less road games played by the national champions than I have listed. ESPN's mistakes aside, do you really consider Calipari leading UK to an elite eight and a final four in two years after inheriting an NIT team to be not working? I mean, the only argument that you've presented is that UK's method of scheduling isn't working, but it seems to be doing just fine. Do you honestly believe more out of conference road games would have lead to UK going farther than it did in either of those two seasons? Would UK have shot better than they did against WVU or would Brandon Knight have played a better game against UConn?

What more facts do you need than the one that there have been no banners hung since 1998? The current method of dodging good teams isn't paying off with championships, and the crummy SEC isn't doing a very good job of preparing the team for the NCAA tournament. Maybe a more innovative approach than "everybody else is doing it" would be appropriate for the alleged kingpin of college hoops?

 

This is year 3 of Calipari's tenure. He inherited a team coming off of a 22-14 season and the NIT. He went to the Elite 8 in year 1, the Final Four in year 2 and has probably his most talented team this season. It shows stupidity to compare this coach to the previous two. How many teams have been more successful in the NCAA tourney the past two seasons than UK? Besides, I thought this wasn't about UK and you have no facts to support your weak argument that you have to schedule tough road games out of conference to win a championship. It has been clearly demonstrated that that isn't the case. Go ahead, tell us the last team that won the NCAA tourney because they were toughened up by their rigorous road non-conference schedule.

Kevin McHale is not walking through that door.............

This is year 3 of Calipari's tenure. He inherited a team coming off of a 22-14 season and the NIT. He went to the Elite 8 in year 1, the Final Four in year 2 and has probably his most talented team this season. It shows stupidity to compare this coach to the previous two. How many teams have been more successful in the NCAA tourney the past two seasons than UK? Besides, I thought this wasn't about UK and you have no facts to support your weak argument that you have to schedule tough road games out of conference to win a championship. It has been clearly demonstrated that that isn't the case. Go ahead, tell us the last team that won the NCAA tourney because they were toughened up by their rigorous road non-conference schedule.

 

Since this isn't about UK, it must mean that any team that hasn't won a national championship since 1998 hasn't done so because they played too soft of an out of conference schedule.

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.

 

Jim are you really Karl Marx?

Again, that method's not working for Kentucky, as they have nothing to show for their softie scheduling. Clearly the "rugged" SEC isn't adequately preparing them for the NCAA tourney rigors. May be time to adopt the Denny Crum philosophy, which worked quite well.

 

If you want to trace the source of Denny Crum's philosophy look no further than the fact that he was able to get players into UL that could not get into the schools in the other conferences. Proposition 48 came out in 1986. Refresh my memory....how many Final Fours did Crum's scheduling lead Louisville to after it's inception? I'll wait, but I'm sure you won't answer that one.

 

Georgetown is another school that dropped from the elite after the implementation of proposition 48. Same reasons. It wasn't about the scheduling.

Edited January 13, 201214 yr by AverageJoesGym