It’s apparently going to happen. Here’s a topic for discussion: If you were Calipari, would you go to Kentucky?
I know what you’re saying- It’s about the money, dummy. Which is of course true, but I’m thinking deeper than that: Why do people gamble happiness for cash when they already have more of it than anybody needs?
To some extent, I suspect, it’s like ballplayers who want to renegotiate so they can be the highest paid in their sport. Purely a prestige/ego thing
In college basketball terms, that argument fleshes out to: There are 5-6 absolute top shelf jobs in the country (North Carolina, Duke, UCLA, Kansas, Kentucky and arguably Indiana), and if you can get one of those you take it.
But each of those got that way because of one person (Carolina/Dean Smith, Duke/K, UCLA/Wooden, Kansas/Phog Allen, Kentucky/Rupp, Indiana/Knight). Wouldn’t the real prestige, in this sport, come from becoming one of those guys, rather than riding their coattails?
People say it’s easier to be in the national title hunt every year at Kentucky than Memphis, but I find that dubious. Calipari had the best freshman in America the last two years, and he supposedly has the nation’s best incoming class. And he has a conference he can beat like a drum for the forseeable future.
At Memphis, a good year is 30 wins and a one or two seed, but an OK one is, say, 24-28 and a 3-4 seed. At Kentucky, the good year’s probably the same, but an OK-to-mediocre one is 17-18 wins and death threats.
How tough a call is that?
