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Cal makes it official
The news broke over the weekend, but it was confirmed Tuesday evening as John Calipari announced that he will be leaving Lexington.
His final exit was in many ways filled with the mixed results that defined his 15 years in Lexington.
"(The) program probably needs to hear another voice," Cal after closing an extremely successful decade and a half leading Big Blue Nation.
And he's almost assuredly right.
Early March exits — be them in the SEC tournament or from the Big Dance — have left BBN frustrated. And hurt. And bewildered.
And flatly, just ticked off.
It will be curious how Calipari's same good-bye press conference in which he said there were too many people to thank and too many moments to recall will be viewed by the UK fans who have ridden the roller coaster with Cal that has produced the most talent over the last decade plus of any program in America with checkered results.
To that balance — he went 410-123 in 15 years, which is right at 77% and an average of more than 27 wins per but only had four Final Fours and one title — was this report that Cal asked UK AD Mitch Barnhart to match the heavy Arkansas offer.
"So Col. Jessup, I'm curious. Why the two orders."
Was it a need for a new voice — which seems fair and a little more self-aware than Cal's M.O. — or was it truly that you wanted a raise after your third straight March meltdown?
(Side note: Not sure if this could have turned out better for Barnhart all things considered when you realize that more than 3/4s of BBN had had their fill of Cal, he gets to hit reset without paying the $33 million buyout, and it's not like he's trying to lure someone to North Montana State Community College and Technical School. This is still Kentucky.)
Either way the deal is done, and one of the four greatest basketball programs in the sports history has a monumental hurdle in a landscape that is unknown and certainly appears unforgiving to the elite bluebloods.
Moreover than the ever-growing balance across major college football and basketball, the lure that the tradition and the facilities and the professional pathway and all the bells and whistles of a UK hoops or an Alabama football will continue to be superseded by NIL money.
Because while Calipari took a step backward in program pedigree by playing footsie with Arkansas, his NIL bankroll just exploded.
According to this AP story, the basketball-only NIL initiative at UK has raised all of $50K with a goal of getting to at least $1 million.
The Arkansas names like Walton and Tyson and Jones would pull that out of the ashtrays of their servants' vehicle when Cal asks.
And he will and needs to. Yes, Cal has a ring, and Cal is in the Hall of Fame, but this is a chance to put positive final chapter on a career that has really spun out of control over the last third of his time in Lexington.
Masters, Amen
So the Masters starts tomorrow. Yes, I am excited.
Yes, I will almost assuredly be working from home. Feel a cough coming on to be honest. Dang allergies.
We are having our Masterfully Mastering the Masters Contest, Masters degree optional again this year. It's one of our most popular.
Rules are simple: Pick five golfers, top four scores count, and you get a point for the finish of your best four (First = 1, T-Fourth = 4, etc.) and the low score wins. Deal? Deal.
With that, let's explore the top three story lines this week, and my entry (and picks) for this week.
I think we need to take Tiger off the table in terms of story lines, right? Of course he is the biggest cat in that arena and his contention would make Augusta Caitlin Clark-level must-see on Sunday. But c'mon, dude drew the bad end of the weather stick for the first two rounds, and his Steve Austin-level surgically repaired lower body simply can't last 72 holes at the golfing Everest that is the East Georgia hills at the mecca in Richmond County.
Top story line. Can Rory complete the modern career Grand Slam. The club that has done the career Grand Slam is wicked elite, especially when you realize that guys like Gene Sarazen and Ben Hogan were doing it before the Masters became the Masters. The only two to do it that I can remember seeing play competitive rounds are Jack and Tiger. (Gary Player is the fifth member of this five-man team picture.)
Rory could be one of those guys, and if he had not imploded on the back nine those many moons ago, he already would be. And at 34, the clock may not be fully ticking right now, but it's about to start.
Scottie Scheffler against the field. Been since Tiger's heyday has there been a more universal favorite considering Scheffler is the World No. 1 and has two wins and a runner-up in his three events leading into this one.
If the putter finds the mark, is everyone else playing for second.
Lastly, please let the LIV guys make a run. The tension is good for the game, in my mind.
Oh let a Bryson or a Patty Reed get in the final group with a Rory or Scottie and let the angst build and the fist pumps fly.
The Masters is good times. That would be great times.
As for my picks, you have to include Scottie in my mind. Have to.
Scottie is top 10 in SG: Off the tee, SG: Approach and SG: Around-the-green. That's stout.
Only one other player can make that claim — Zander Schauffle. So add him to the card, too.
I'll take Brooks and Rahm from the LIV ranks, even though Rahm won last year and repeating has been a tall order through the years here.
Finally, give me Hideki Matsuyama.
And if that feels like a lot of chalk, know this: According to The Athletic, of the 117 golfers who have finished in the top 10 of the last 10 Masters, all of 20 of those cats were ranked outside the top-50 in the world, and three of those dudes were LIV guys Brooks, Phil and Patty Reed last year.
The Masters is almost always a chalk event.
Final Final Four wrap
The college basketball season ended. It was filled with headlines and noticeable trends.
UConn became the third team since 1980 to go back-to-back, winning all six tournament games by double digits. Again.
Side tangent: This story offers some insight into the brilliant approach UConn coach Dan Hurley has to recruiting in the modern era where portalling is a verb and the transfer options are major college free agency. Hurley, who is of course rumored to be high on UK's wish list, says he avoids "neon players" who he believes will not buy into his program.
"Have they played on seven different travel teams? Have they transferred to four or five different high schools? They tell on themselves, they drop hints. You get the wrong kind of people in that inner circle around your players, they'll sink your program."
It's brilliant and more important than ever because if a kid is willing to switch AAU teams or high schools, who's to say they are going to hit the portal if they are getting enough minutes in their mind. This will be imitated by a slew of power programs in my mind.
Anywell, I also loved the stat that UConn is now 6-0 in NCAA title games. That's cool.
But the biggest takeaway has to be the final TV numbers as the men's title game drew almost 4 million fewer viewers on average than the women's title game (14.8 million for the men; 18.7 millions for the women).
Wow.
This and that
— Tough night for Plays, because we had 3-0 in our sights until the Yankees' allowed two cosmetic runs late and the Braves turned a 6-0 lead at the start of the eighth into a nail-biting 6-5 win that failed to cover the run line.
— Speaking of the Braves, man, you know of all the rule changes over the last couple of years, we can't sleep on the value and improvement to the game the changes with the rules to encourage more stolen bases. Because Ronald Acuña Jr. is not only must-see when he is in the box, he's "don't-touch-that-dial" awesomeness when he's on base too.
— You know the rules. Here's Paschall on UT's new LB coach and his giddiness of working with the Vols top tacklers.
— You know the rules, part II. This story is a must-follow friends, but it is quite clear that the rest of the state was a) fine to let Baylor School and McCallie do as they pleased until they actually started dominating football and b) is now trying to level the field in the wild-wild-west that has always been the free-spending Div. II private ranks under the faux facade of fairness. And of course, TFP sports editor Stephen Hargis has all the stuff you need to know.
— This is likely for the best. Whatever the next plan for "The Game of Thrones" franchise was has been vanquished.
— Yikes, a Washington football player has been arrested after allegedly raping two women last fall. The attacks allegedly happened during the season, and reports have the player playing in at least one Huskies game after the allegations were known. If proven true, former Huskies coach and current Alabama boss Kalen DeBoer has some questions to answer.
— Here's more on Morgan Wallen's arrest. You know Forrest Gump was right, stupid is as stupid does.
Today's question
Which way Wednesday starts this way: Which will have more success over the next five years in SEC hoops, Arkansas or Kentucky?
Which major college program would be in the biggest panic if their coach left tomorrow?
Which individual sports event would you want to win the most? (You know my answer.)
Which Masters hole is your favorite?
Answer some Which ways, ask some which ways, and we need the contest picks end before they tee off in the morning.
The Titanic set sail on this day in 1912.
John Madden would have been 88 today.
What other real sports celebrities who would make the Rushmore of video games. Go.