by Kent Sterling The road to this Final Four was paved in one of two ways. Kentucky coach John Calipari has developed a system to acquire as much talent as possible, enacting it immediately upon arrival in Lexington, while the other three either built or continued a culture of excellence that regenerates each year. Indiana […]
by Kent Sterling “Hey, their money spends good!” is the best Indianapolis basketball fans can mutter as Kentucky fans make the trip to Indy for its coronation this weekend. Thirty-nine years ago, Indiana University completed its mission of winning a National Championship with the last undefeated season in college basketball. Without much else to celebrate […]
by Kent Sterling Normally, I’m not a fan of Quixotic causes, but a couple of potential rule changes would make college basketball a lot more fun to play and watch, and neither have anything to do with the shot clock. Sadly, neither have any chance at all to be implemented. I still rage against the […]
by Kent Sterling There was no chance – none – that Montana State would be able to compete with Kentucky, much less beat them. After destroying #5 Kansas 72-40, holding the once proud Jayhawks to three second half field goals and a measly four assists for the entire game, Montana State was only going to […]
by Kent Sterling The fewer people at the conference table, the better the chances for a good strategy being enacted. That’s a pretty good rule of business. Yesterday, the NCAA voted to allow members of the Big Five conferences to sit at their own smaller table. That move will allow members of the ACC, Big […]
by Kent Sterling For the majority of college athletes, the NCAA does its job quite nicely. Athletes earn degrees and learn the incredibly important lessons that the adversity of competing provides. The school gets notoriety, a marketing platform, and a campus esprit de corps. Players get education. Nice. But rules aren’t written to provide cover […]
by Kent Sterling It’s time for the big money schools to declare independence from the NCAA. Schools not in the big five conferences (Big Ten, ACC, SEC, Pac 12, and Big 12) are served very well through their membership to the NCAA. At that level, the term student-athlete is entire appropriate. The chances of a […]
by Kent Sterling Kentucky is just too big and athletic for UConn to beat tonight, or so I believe. The work Kentucky does on the offensive glass makes them a very tough team to put away. In every game in this tourney, the Wildcats have outpaced opponents on the offensive glass for a total advantage […]
by Kent Sterling “Calipari doesn’t like the (one-and-done) rule anymore than you do!” a relentless wave of Kentucky fans write in their comments to my posts critical of Kentucky basketball coach John Calipari. They also write that Calipari just recruits the kids destined for the NBA better than anyone else, and to hate Kentucky for […]
by Kent Sterling With every word out of John Calipari’s mouth at the Midwest Sweet Sixteen in Indianapolis, I lost more faith in humanity. During a time when honesty matters less and less in government and business, Calipari is setting a course for the sub-basement where truth is not acknowledged as a concept. His assessments […]