Calipari

Sometime Sunday during Kentucky's press conference leading up to Monday's National Championship game, esteemed Boston Globe columnist Bob Ryan asked John Calipari about possibly winning his first national title. 

Calipari dodged it better than Floyd Mayweather when asked to fight a real opponent.

I'm not sure how many times a person can say “It's not about me” until it actually is about them, but John Calipari is probably in that neighborhood, if not parked in that imaginary driveway.

A top 10 -if not top five- coach just one game away from his first national title, of course people wanted to know how it would feel. But Cal wanted nothing to do with it.

“It's about these players,” he'd say. “It's a big deal to my friends and family because they want it so bad."

And maybe he truly believes that. He's said publicly that Final Fours and National Titles aren't a deal breaker for him or his legacy. He even called the 2010 NBA Draft “The best day in school history” when five Kentucky players were selected in the first round.

He told a warm and fuzzy story Sunday about how sending 50 players to the NBA would trump any personal accomplishments.

But he can do both. He just did. 

And what did he have to say?

"It's over now.  I can get about my business of coaching young people and not have the drama of all the other stuff."

The NCAA should apologize for interfering Calipari's boys-into-men routine with its pesky little tournament.

My theory on why Cal won't acknowledge his personal accolades might be more off than Kansas' shooting against his Kentucky defense Monday night, but I don't think so.

Calipari knows most people don't like him, and he doesn't like that.

So he tells us its all about the kids. And his family and friends and the fans and his dog and everyone else but him, because that's what nice people are supposed do.

Except when it backfires, and everyone knows you're full of it.

Towards the end of Calipari's stint at Memphis he was spitting out guys to the NBA on a regular basis. He had more top classes on the way but decided to leave for Kentucky. Of course he did, because when you're a head coach at a Conference USA school and Kentucky gives you a contract, you sign it. But the NBA players were coming to Memphis and his apparent Utopian dream of watching high school players turn into Lottery picks was a reality.

Derrick Rose, anyone?

Maybe Calipari left Memphis because he thought the NCAA was sniffing around. Maybe he wanted to coach at one of the best schools in the country. Maybe both, but definitely one.

But apparently admitting he actually did something for himself wouldn't help his public persona. Unfortunately for Calipari, he tries so hard to be liked that it backfires in every city but the one he coaches in at that time. So he tries harder and it only gets worse.

John Calipari went to Kentucky to get the best high school players each year and guide them to the NBA, there's no denying that. But he also went to Kentucky for nights like Monday when he could sit atop college basketball with the sport's all-time winningest program. The sooner he admits that, the better. It can't hurt.

He won't, though, because it's not about Calipari. Don't believe him? He'll tell you again. And again. And again, four times to be exact in his post-game press conference.

“You're not answering my question John. How would it feel?” Ryan asked.

“I don't know what else to say.” Of course not, because it's all about the kids.

Yeah, right.

This is How it Should Be

You won't find a pair of college basketball fanbases more rabid than Kentucky and Kansas.

Both will be in New Orleans for the Final Four this weekend, a sign that there is in fact a basketball god somewhere. And just for good measure, the little guys weren't invited this time. Sure, VCU, Butler, and George Mason were nice stories. But Cinderellas are like a good movie with a terrible ending, and the Final Four is no place for a terrible ending.


-With all due respect to Detroit and Indianapolis, New Orleans is not Detroit or Indianapolis.

                                                            Detroit

                                                          Not Detroit

-We have 4 BCS-conference schools and 2 Blue Bloods for just the second time since 1997. Louisville would be atop the next tier of all-time programs, just outside Blueblood status and Ohio State has been to the Final Four three times now since 1998.

-Rick Pitino and his white suits will be in the Hall of Fame really, really soon.

Bill Self and John Calipari will probably join him at some point, and Thad Matta has become a top 15 coach at Ohio State.

-Kentucky and Louisville is one of the best rivalries in the sport, possibly third after Duke-Carolina and Kansas-Missouri.

-Rick Pitino and John Calipari don't like each other, which is always fun. Last October, Calipari said Kentucky is "the only real program in the state," conveniently forgetting the school with then 8 Final Fours and 2 national championships. Pitino responded with this:
"Four things I've learned in my 59 years about people: I ignore the jealous, I ignore the malicious, I ignore the ignorant and I ignore the paranoid."

-As noted, Kansas and Kentucky are the two best fanbases in the country. Kansas fans took up about 85% of the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis last Sunday against North Carolina. Mizzou, Iowa State, and Kansas State were the only road games I remember this season where KU fans weren't the majority. Kentucky fans apparently consumed even more of the Georgia Dome last weekend as well, and both fanbases will be ever-present on Bourbon Street this week.

-There's Bill Self, who's looking to become just the 5th active coach with multiple national titles. This KU team, whose bench consists of a walk-on, a former walk-on, and a transfer from Loyola-Marymount had no business being this good this year. It speaks to a few things: 1) Self is that good. He's won a ridiculous 8 consecutive Big 12 Regular Season titles and has won 83% of his games at KU. Self has coached more seasons at KU than he has losses in Allen Fieldhouse.  2) The Law of Averages: When you're a top seed nearly every year (1 seed 4 of the last 6 years, lower than a 3 seed just once in Self's tenure) the Final Four appearances will start to add up. Self's pace is just 1 year behind Coach K with his 2nd Final Four and 1st National Title. K achieved those numbers in his 8th year at Duke, Self is in his 9th at KU. That's not to say Self is the next Krzyzewski, but the pace he's on is blistering.

-Ohio State's Thad Matta is in his 8th season in Columbus and while he's not normally mentioned with the elite coaches in the country, he could change that perception with a couple of wins in New Orleans. He coached the Buckeyes in the Title game in 2007, losing to Florida, and is slightly favored to knock off Kansas on Saturday, which I think he will.


Cinderella is fun on those drunken Thursday and Friday afternoons of the first round. But now she's where she should be, watching the final games at home like everyone else.