Calipari Runs Away From A Kansas Extended Series
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It looks like Calipari has found a way to prevent playing us every year -
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I think that’s Cal as in University of California, not Calipari. The state of California has passed an anti discrimination law that forbids publicly funded travel to states with discriminatory laws on the books. Right now, there’s a law moving through the Kansas legislature that may fall under that definition.
As for Kentucky, we have played UK each of the last three years either in the Champions Classic or the SEC - Big 12 showdown. Unless one of those two events gets nixed, there’s no reason for KU and UK to schedule a series because we will see them at least once every three years, probably two out of every three.
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Kind of funny given how liberal Lawrence is.
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Correct. It was all over talk radio in the KC area yesterday. I thought about creating a thread just for this but decided against it since we have had enough politics already. Having said that, I wish the politicians would stay out of sports altogether…they have enough other things to screw up,
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@BShark Yep. Funny to us, since we Kansans know about that, just like Austin/UTex campus is quite liberal (for Texas…). But, of course, people on the coasts wouldnt know, and likely dont care about us in the Midwest. We are “fly-over” boredom states, to them.
Which is why I love just about every midwestern team that is capable, to go out and shock the world. Force the talking heads to take notice, and talk about KU (or OU or TCU, or WichitaSt, etc…).
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Personally, I think Calipari is “ready” to play anybody, anytime, but would prefer late-season meetings, because his team of all-stars is a more functional product by then, as we’ve seen their development yearly to show that in his system.
Now this particular KY team, in late January, actually cracked a bit under the pressure of falling behind at home, to KU. Bilas commented that their offense became tentative, and they resorted to 1-on-1 attempts at hero ball. Passes picked off. 1-and-done possessions (how ironic…). They lost poise. Will they improve from that by March? That is Calipari’s job.
But I cannot imagine him, with his recruits, shirking away from any opponent. Just as Self’s philosophy of “you came to KS to play in this (big) game…”, Calipari has no choice to embrace similar philosophy, consistent with the level of athletes he brings to KY. I am sure Frank Mason recalls 2 yrs ago in MSG, where KY blew KU out of the gym. Frank Mason took care of business in Rupp, as did Josh Jackson, the best OAD in Rupp that night.
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My mistake… I thought Calipari was kind of reaching by using a law from California… but since he is without a spine, the story fit perfectly.
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Slayer that’s how fake news gets started
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I’m sure this is one way! But it started with the truth… Calipari is a slickster.
I noticed even the link doesn’t work right anymore because ESPN changed their site and looks like they pulled the story.
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Lawrence would likely opt out of that type of law if they could, in much the same way the city of Charlotte tried to opt out of the North Carolina law, but was not allowed to. Austin would probably do the same, as @ralster. Since many metro areas lean more liberal, most larger metropolitan areas would probably opt out of these types of things if given the choice, even here in the midwest.
As for the game on the floor, as @ralster says, I doubt Calipari would shrink from a series with KU or anyone else. I don’t think either Calipari or Self would be interested in playing each other twice in a single season, but as I said above, KU and UK will play nearly every year as long as the SEC - Big 12 challenge and Champions Classic exist.
UK has played UCLA, UNC, Louisville and KU all this season. That’s every program with at least 3 titles except Duke, UConn and Indiana (he’s also played multiple title winners Florida and Michigan State). That doesn’t suggest that he’s avoiding anyone. That’s 6 of the 14 multiple title winners (not including UK itself, of course). That’s basically anyone, anywhere, anytime.
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@justanotherfan I think Cal has to play a tough non con schedule because once he’s in the SUC he’s playing +100 RPI schools. That’s the same with Gonzaga. People applaud their annual tough non con schedule but once they’re in conference season they have little stout competition.
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For me personally, the days of being critical of Calipari seem to have faded, other than wondering if he’s improved his emphasis on FT coaching (Adebayo…). To me, he’s proven his system, but he does exist on a knife-edge of necessity of having to bring in multiple top10 guys that are good enough to play right away, and learn each other by end-February. Always a top10 team.
But, a good veteran team, that also has a few athletes, can expose them if the veteran team plays good all around basketball, and outexecutes in all the statistical categories, which is exactly how KU beat this KY team in Rupp.
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@drgnslayr The link worked for me, but I had to scroll down through about 20 other bb articles.
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SEC won’t stay down forever. South Carolina and Florida are still solid. Tennessee and Vanderbilt have both had strong teams in the not so distant past. Arkansas was a national power within the last 25 years. A&M was really good just a season ago. LSU and Mississippi State have been to Final Fours this century.
I would not be surprised to see three or four of those programs start to rise within another year or two. The SEC has improved its coaching. Barnes at Tennessee. Pearl at Auburn. Missouri will get a new coach soon. LSU probably will as well. I just can’t see those programs all staying down where they are right now.
@ralster KU is a veteran team, but they don’t win at Rupp without Josh Jackson playing probably his best and most complete game on the season. KU had veterans, but it was the young gun that pushed us over the top.
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@JayHawkFanToo “I wish the politicians would stay out of sports altogether…they have enough other things to screw up,”
In states with a constitution that limits the number of legislature session days, there is a line of thought that if you let the crazy lawmakers run amuck, maybe, just maybe, they will bog everything down with personal peeve-motivated crap so that they don’t have time to screw things up across the board.
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@BShark Not any different than liberal Austin, TX (where the nutso legislature meets) and certainly not funny as they are trying to shove through the North Carolina bathroom bill (only more stringent!) here along with so many other “let’s get our base scared” bills.
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@RockChalkinTexas Solutions in search of a problem…
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@justanotherfan The Solutions are too Final, in my view, and depend way too much on trying to redefine what patriotism is. If you support them, you are a patriot. If not, you are an Enemy.
It reminds me of the Mad Magazine parody in the late 1950’s of The Rifleman (a Chuck Connors western, for you youngsters).
Luke and son Mark are walking down the road while Luke is explaining how he is trying to bring peace to the West. An old sodbuster says, “Mornin’, Luke” and Luke turns and blasts the poor guy full of those 3-D see-through bullet holes Mad’s artists were so fond of.
“Why, Pa? Why’d you shoot 'im? ? I thought you were trying to bring peace to the West?” cries Mark.
“Son, there ain’t nothin’ more peaceful than a dead man.”
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@drgnslayr You know what. I totally do not hold that against him. Like, at all.
Although, Kentucky is absolutely not above passing a law just like this.
Personally speaking, I have friends and family that are affected by this horrendously unconstitutional law in Kansas.
It makes me sick.
That being said, I loved playing Kentucky the last 2 years. I think Calipari has grown on me a little bit.
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I’m definitely not supporting discriminatory laws.
But I don’t agree with making student-athletes suffer over politics. They don’t write these laws.
But this thread was a big goof. I was just reading an article about Calipari then found this link, and it was about California, not Calipari. My goof.
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@drgnslayr can’t you erase it or change it? Or at least get his pic off here!
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Just sprinkle some vinegar over his photo and you have salad dressing!
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Here is one for what I don’t have an answer. Wichita is supposed to host games in 2018. Now if UCLA is sent to the Mid West and needs to play in Wichita, will they be able to do it? Will the NCAA cave in and move UCLA to a different city and start a slippery slope from which there is no return? Once it starts where does it stop?
Like I said, leave politics out of sports.
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@JayHawkFanToo NCAA might stop Wichita from hosting. More likely than rescheduling teams from California.
But this thread makes me wonder–
Does the Calif legislature allow their state funds to be used in other states to rent cars that don’t meet California emissions standards?
Can California state funds be used to buy products with “chemicals known to the State of California to cause cancer”?
The number of ways these restrictions could be extended are legion!
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It is just a matter of time before states truly go to battle against each other.
It is already happening to some level concerning cultural and legal issues. And you know it will become a financial war very soon.
And concerning Presidential politics… many are boycotting companies and products over politics. This is happening on both sides.
You can just sense this becoming a major factor moving forward with sports… pro… college… and other amateur sports.
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An official from Cal (the state) responded to a question about schools being assigned to a tournament bracket in one of the affected states that the state would not deny their athletes the ability to participate in a tournament because of this policy.
