NY Post columnist: Kentucky doesn't pretend school matters

[tweeterhawk]

Brutal. But spot on!

Root for Kentucky: They don't pretend school matters

Finally, after all these years, we have an NCAA Tournament favorite we can root for without moral compromise, a team so steeped in unconditional, conspicuous integrity that right-headed folks can cheer as one. Go tell it on the mountain!

Ladies and gentlemen, sports fans of all demographic ages, Nike jersey and sneaker sizes, your University of Kentucky Wildcats!

Finally, a team without false collegiate pretense, a team that plays on courts stripped of scholastic varnish. Finally, a team fronted by a major university that knows we know that this team now annually has the same relationship to college as pigeons do to stone soldiers standing in town squares...

 

[docholihawk]

And yet the NCAA infractions committee looks the other way.

 

[uihawk82]

Not that I like Kentucky and I think Calipari is a di*k and snake oil salesman but I am really not sure they have to cheat to get these great players. they have the swagger and getting great players helps you get more great players who want to win championships.

I will not say they have cheated but history is against them.

 

[PCHawk]

Kentucky cornered the market on 1 and dones like ISU did with transfers.

 

[trj]

Kentucky cornered the market on 1 and dones like ISU did with transfers.

This current Kentucky team really isn't filled with a bunch of 1 and dones. The Harrison twins came back, Cauley-stein came back, Ulis won't take off for a year two. Granted some of these dudes did not like their draft prospects and came back, but it doesn't change the fact that they came back. Calipari has about 10 starters on this team all who would be getting 25+ minutes anywhere else.....To get them TO ALL buy in is amazing to me. He isn't lying to these kids or making false promises, he gets them all on the same page and everybody for the most are happy.

 

[hawkjunkie]

They have a prIvate dorm srrictly for the basketball team (and 4 other "students"), that comes with suites for each player, with plush everything. They have 2 tutors per player, every type of personal electronic one could imagine, chefs 24 x 7, basically servants, etc. They have a documentary on this "public" dorm, that only tells half the story. The living conditions are unreal. I do not think I lived that well on the nicest vacation I have every taken in my life.... The accounting estimate is $300,000 per year per player. I am sure that is an internal estimate. It is amazing that the NCAA allows this to happen.

Who would need to cheat with the NCAA allowing this? Getting paid would simply be a side perk...

 

[deanvogs]

Kentucky cornered the market on 1 and dones like ISU did with transfers.

One strategy gets you to the NC game as a 8 seed.......the other gets you bounced as a 3 seed.

 

[PCHawk]

This current Kentucky team really isn't filled with a bunch of 1 and dones. The Harrison twins came back, Cauley-stein came back, Ulis won't take off for a year two. Granted some of these dudes did not like their draft prospects and came back, but it doesn't change the fact that they came back. Calipari has about 10 starters on this team all who would be getting 25+ minutes anywhere else.....To get them TO ALL buy in is amazing to me. He isn't lying to these kids or making false promises, he gets them all on the same page and everybody for the most are happy.

You sound like a cyclone fan defending transfers. Not ALL of them are transfers!

 

[trj]

You sound like a cyclone fan defending transfers. Not ALL of them are transfers!

Naah, dude I do not have a problem with what Kentucky is doing or even ISU.......As long as you own it and Calipari does I got no issue with it. As for ISU I got no problem with FH or their program it is with the small portion of their fanbase who try to spin it as if they are building some blue blood program with 4 year guys.

 

[Xerxes]

You have to give Cal credit. He doesn't go to players and their parents and pretend he cares about their son's education or promising them national titles.

He basically tells them the only thing that he cares about is getting you to the NBA as quickly as possible. Ultimately thats what every elite high school player wants to hear. Along the already mentioned perks at Kentucky, that's gotta be awfully hard to turn down.

 

[uihawk82]

They have a prIvate dorm srrictly for the basketball team (and 4 other "students"), that comes with suites for each player, with plush everything. They have 2 tutors per player, every type of personal electronic one could imagine, chefs 24 x 7, basically servants, etc. They have a documentary on this "public" dorm, that only tells half the story. The living conditions are unreal. I do not think I lived that well on the nicest vacation I have every taken in my life.... The accounting estimate is $300,000 per year per player. I am sure that is an internal estimate. It is amazing that the NCAA allows this to happen.

Who would need to cheat with the NCAA allowing this? Getting paid would simply be a side perk...

I did not know about this and it does smack as way more than the treatment of other students and student athletes. Is it cheating, probably not.

Iowa could probably do that on a lesser scale but they wouldnt

 

[BryceC]

You should see the accommodations KU has for their guys. It's similar. They have their own huge jet they travel in, etc. To the victors go the spoils.

 

[PCHawk]

Naah, dude I do not have a problem with what Kentucky is doing or even ISU.......As long as you own it and Calipari does I got no issue with it. As for ISU I got no problem with FH or their program it is with the small portion of their fanbase who try to spin it as if they are building some blue blood program with 4 year guys.

I have no problem with it either. I think it's funny that guys who just aren't very smart and have no desire or ability to go through college are forced to to continue playing the sport they love. For a good portion of athletes, the sport they're playing is the ONLY reason they are in college.

 

[HawkeyeMike23]

You go to college to prepare yourself for getting a job, Calipari is great at preparing the kid's he recruits to succeed as professionals.

 

[homes]

And yet the NCAA infractions committee looks the other way.

Maybe, but I don't think they have to cheat to get the players to come there. These kids see the results, and say why not me. Play with other great players, pick up a national championship, or at least play for one, and then move on. Not advocating it, because the vast, vast majority of young men aren't good enough to be at that level (even those many who think they are) and it's a fool's errand for most, but for those in that elite level, a pretty good deal for them.

 

[Seth53]

Brutal. But spot on!

Root for Kentucky: They don't pretend school matters

Finally, after all these years, we have an NCAA Tournament favorite we can root for without moral compromise, a team so steeped in unconditional, conspicuous integrity that right-headed folks can cheer as one. Go tell it on the mountain!

Ladies and gentlemen, sports fans of all demographic ages, Nike jersey and sneaker sizes, your University of Kentucky Wildcats!

Finally, a team without false collegiate pretense, a team that plays on courts stripped of scholastic varnish. Finally, a team fronted by a major university that knows we know that this team now annually has the same relationship to college as pigeons do to stone soldiers standing in town squares...

Good find. Most big time athletic departments are the same way, sadly, but pretend it's academics 1st, sports 2nd. Uh huh.

 

[Seth53]

Also....don't blame the coaches or players.

If you're upset, blame the rules as the NCAA now allows for.

 

[99topdawg]

I'm in the "he's a cheater" corner. Once a cheater, always a cheater. Kind of funny how he took two other schools to the Final Four, bolted right before the investigations, and wasn't there to see the banners taken down.