D.B of the Week - Kentucky Basketball
What a great story it was going to be - the undefeated Kentucky Wildcats.
The shirts were ordered...they were ordained....hell, they were talking about being anointed as the greatest college team ever!
One basketball mind, Larry Brown, said that they could contend for a spot in the NBA Eastern Conference Playoffs!
Well, another basketball mind, Sam, my son, didn't buy into it:
"They aren't going to win it," he said. "They're overrated."
I thought it might be a nice story.
Their coach, John Calipari had taken a group of All-Americans, molded them into a team, taught them to be unselfish. Work together and you can do it!
Go undefeated!
Except I hadn't watched them play much at all.
In one of the early tournament games Kentucky was winning by 5 at halftime. The reporter cornered Calipari as he headed to the locker room.
"We're winning," the coach snapped. "Aren't we up by 5?"
"That was a little cocky," I said to Sam.
"That's how they are," he said. "The whole team is arrogant. That's what's going to ruin it for them."
Still...nice story...could they do it?
We watched the Notre Dame game together. Kentucky was behind all game but won it with a clutch shot down the stretch. They praised themselves, mostly, after the game.
Suddenly I wondered:
"Maybe they shouldn't be so full of themselves," I said. "Notre Dame was the better team."
"Oh, they're going to get theirs when Wisconsin plays them," Sam said.
During the week I listened to the undefeated talk...there were just two more games...a mere formality...
...except it wasn't.
Sam was right.
Wisconsin was better.
(Jake had also picked Wisconsin to win it all...so both kids have great pools).
Yet...where does the D.B. of the Week come in, you ask?
Well...it was after the game.
The Kentucky players didn't shake the hands of the Wisconsin players as they left the court.
Strike One.
Calipari was short and nearly dismissive in a couple of his interviews...that tone...as if it were an aberration...agitating anyone who clearly saw that Wisconsin was flat-out better (as Notre Dame also had been).
And then the Kentucky program clinched the D.B. of the Week honors when one of the Harrison Brothers was asked about Wisconsin's terrific player, Frank Kaminsky.
"F*&# that N&*@a" Harrison said, under his breath, while sitting at the Press Conference.
Strike Two.
It's a college sports program!
What are you teaching?
How to be a prick?
I get it...the kid was upset...they throw that n*&%@ phrase around easily, but man...your team is a reflection of your coach and the entire deal is a reflection of the program.
Maybe it's time to start paying these folks...because that display had little to do with education.
Then...to top it all off...
The Kentucky fans...
Rioted and blamed the refs.
Strike Three.
(It was a poorly officiated game, but Wisconsin was also victims of the bad calls).
In the end, my boy was right.
They got too cocky.
Then they got their asses kicked and then they acted poorly.
That's usually how it goes.
D.B.'s of the Week.
The shirts were ordered...they were ordained....hell, they were talking about being anointed as the greatest college team ever!
One basketball mind, Larry Brown, said that they could contend for a spot in the NBA Eastern Conference Playoffs!
Well, another basketball mind, Sam, my son, didn't buy into it:
"They aren't going to win it," he said. "They're overrated."
I thought it might be a nice story.
Their coach, John Calipari had taken a group of All-Americans, molded them into a team, taught them to be unselfish. Work together and you can do it!
Go undefeated!
Except I hadn't watched them play much at all.
In one of the early tournament games Kentucky was winning by 5 at halftime. The reporter cornered Calipari as he headed to the locker room.
"We're winning," the coach snapped. "Aren't we up by 5?"
"That was a little cocky," I said to Sam.
"That's how they are," he said. "The whole team is arrogant. That's what's going to ruin it for them."
Still...nice story...could they do it?
We watched the Notre Dame game together. Kentucky was behind all game but won it with a clutch shot down the stretch. They praised themselves, mostly, after the game.
Suddenly I wondered:
"Maybe they shouldn't be so full of themselves," I said. "Notre Dame was the better team."
"Oh, they're going to get theirs when Wisconsin plays them," Sam said.
During the week I listened to the undefeated talk...there were just two more games...a mere formality...
...except it wasn't.
Sam was right.
Wisconsin was better.
(Jake had also picked Wisconsin to win it all...so both kids have great pools).
Yet...where does the D.B. of the Week come in, you ask?
Well...it was after the game.
The Kentucky players didn't shake the hands of the Wisconsin players as they left the court.
Strike One.
Calipari was short and nearly dismissive in a couple of his interviews...that tone...as if it were an aberration...agitating anyone who clearly saw that Wisconsin was flat-out better (as Notre Dame also had been).
And then the Kentucky program clinched the D.B. of the Week honors when one of the Harrison Brothers was asked about Wisconsin's terrific player, Frank Kaminsky.
"F*&# that N&*@a" Harrison said, under his breath, while sitting at the Press Conference.
Strike Two.
It's a college sports program!
What are you teaching?
How to be a prick?
I get it...the kid was upset...they throw that n*&%@ phrase around easily, but man...your team is a reflection of your coach and the entire deal is a reflection of the program.
Maybe it's time to start paying these folks...because that display had little to do with education.
Then...to top it all off...
The Kentucky fans...
Rioted and blamed the refs.
Strike Three.
(It was a poorly officiated game, but Wisconsin was also victims of the bad calls).
In the end, my boy was right.
They got too cocky.
Then they got their asses kicked and then they acted poorly.
That's usually how it goes.
D.B.'s of the Week.
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