Yikyak ain't the only place we've got UK's attention

[Buzzyboy]

I can't understand knocking UConn for recent success anyway. There's so much more parity in college basketball now than there was back then, and there are way more teams that participate. The tournament has gotten harder to win, not easier. UConn is excelling in an era where there really aren't any gimme games.

5 of Kentucky's championships came in an era when less than 64 teams participated, including in 1948 and 1949 when there were only 8 teams in the tournament. 4 of their championships came in an era when the game was still largely segregated.

I agree wholeheartedly and your argument about national championships being appreciably less challenging many years ago is totally valid. Fifty and sixty years ago there was only a handful of schools considered elite and recruiting top talent at one school was so much easier. That and the fact that the top rated schools in each region usually had a home court advantage until the Final Four and there was appreciably fewer teams in the tournament so it was less likely that a fluke team would upset the applecart and ruin a season. I know John Wooden was a great coach but his road to championships was so so much easier than it would have been if he was playing in this era. It certainly helped that he had a booster who paid many of the elite athletes of the day to attend UCLA that contributed to his UCLA dynasty. When you're playing with a crooked deck, life is a lot easier. I recognize he would have had success even without that booster help but not nearly the success that he did. Some of those same things pertain to Adolph Rupp who had a distinct advantage over other programs of the day in getting the very best athletes to come to Kentucky. What Jim Calhoun did in Storrs is just about unprecedented. Except maybe by Geno Auriemma.

 

[UConnSwag11]

 

[Buzzyboy]

I obviously love Calhoun, and I think it's much, MUCH closer than the general public realizes ... but come on.

Four titles and a 11 Final Fours in this era is incredible. No matter how much prior success Duke had and how much ESPN hypes up Duke, it's hard to put anyone besides Wooden ahead of K.

How hard was it in 1980 to get an elite high school basketball player to come to Durham??? I would say, not very hard. They already had appreciable success in college basketball and were considered one of the big name basketball schools. The facilities that they had, even then, were exceptional for that era and the aura of a Duke diploma meant everything. In his first fifteen years, how many kids left school early for the NBA or for any other reason. NONE! I'm not suggesting that he isn't a really good coach but to compare what Duke's standing in men's college basketball on a national level was then and compare it to what UConn's standing in men's college basketball was when Calhoun came in is a joke. What was the likelihood that UConn would get a top 100 player to come to Storrs when he first arrived here and yet, has Coach K ever had someone who wasn't a top 100 player on his roster???? Not likely except for maybe walk on's and I don't even know if Duke has walk on's. I have serious reservations thinking that he could have ever done what Calhoun did if he had gotten the UConn job instead of the Duke job. He's had a massive amount of McDonald All-Americans at Duke, so many more than Calhoun had that it's a joke and yet, Calhoun has won more championships in the time he's been in Connecticut than has Coach K. What I'm saying is since 1985 how many championships has JC won and how many has Coach K won!

 

[tzznandrew]

I obviously love Calhoun, and I think it's much, MUCH closer than the general public realizes ... but come on.

Four titles and a 11 Final Fours in this era is incredible. No matter how much prior success Duke had and how much ESPN hypes up Duke, it's hard to put anyone besides Wooden ahead of K.

Eh. K is great, even though it's easy to forget sometimes, but Duke had resources and history that UConn didn't. Duke had made Final Fours and played for championships.

It's not easy to do what K did, which makes it obvious he should be in the HOF.
It's near impossible to do what Calhoun did.

 

[James]

no idea what this thread is about but calipari stinks at in game changing and thats all that matters. the loss of that gigantic Dominican on his staff will hurt massively.​

 

[CL82]

I obviously love Calhoun, and I think it's much, MUCH closer than the general public realizes ... but come on.

Four titles and a 11 Final Fours in this era is incredible. No matter how much prior success Duke had and how much ESPN hypes up Duke, it's hard to put anyone besides Wooden ahead of K.

Tate George holds on to the ball and I think we get the jump on Duke by getting a NC sooner, and that helps us with recruiting. That said Duke under K and UConn JC were both on the verge of breaking out at the same time. JC and K were close in ability. I don't begrudge the order as to how anyone chooses to rank them since I view them as 1 and 1a. That said, I would not trade JC for anyone. What a ride we've had and I think we are better positioned in MBB going forward.

 

[Palatine]

If Vitale shilled for UConn like he shilled for Duke, Calhoun would have won ten championships.

 

[Durks07]

Duke was something before Coach K and that's one of the reasons I don't think his success at Duke measures up to Calhoun's. There was really nothing in Storrs before Calhoun, except a decent regional program with horrible facilities. Duke had considerable success prior to Coach K coming to Durham.

There was more than just that...

Always never forget the cows...

 

[donyell34]

I like the banter and back and forth with other fan bases; especially now wih our 4th we can ride the wave. We don't have to grasp at straws like the orange and make something out of nothing ( helm's) . Those that are so called " blue bloods" can keep it . Every fan of all the programs that hate us know no in there hearts what we are .Gregg Anthony thinks we are"tradition driven programs and elite" Jim Nant z called us a blue blood so take that you horse f'ers.

 

[UconnFanNVa]

Basically the argument on that board is that all of our chips will mean more 50 years from now. So in time we will qualify as a blueblood. I don tlike the term and dont really care for it. They say it themselves, Uconn is the most successfull college basketball program in the most recent 20 years..... i'm fine with that. And there is no reason to believe that wont continue to be the case going forward.

 

[KingOPancakes]

Basically the argument on that board is that all of our chips will mean more 50 years from now. So in time we will qualify as a blueblood. I don tlike the term and dont really care for it. They say it themselves, Uconn is the most successfull college basketball program in the most recent 20 years..... i'm fine with that. And there is no reason to believe that wont continue to be the case going forward.

Exactly. As Jay Bilas said in the vid someone posted to this thread earlier, "The question isn't whether UCONN belongs with the bluebloods, it's if over the past 20 years, does the rest of the college basketball elite belong with Connecticut".

 

[CAHUSKY]

Exactly. As Jay Bilas said in the vid someone posted to this thread earlier, "The question isn't whether UCONN belongs with the bluebloods, it's if over the past 20 years, does the rest of the college basketball elite belong with Connecticut".

 

[61cygni]

I'm fine with staying as the most successful program in the lifetime of whatever the incoming class of freshman is.

 

[David 76]

Blue-bloods have heritage and pedigree. They are often snooty and inter-bred.

We aren't blue-bloods. Don't want to be. We are, however, the best basketball team of the past 20 years.
We are not Rod Laver. We are Jimmy Connors and John McEnroe. No pedigree or elite posturing. We had a junkyard dog of a coach and got no favors from anyone.