Jay Williams calls Kentucky the "Dallas Cowboys of college basketball"

The Dallas Cowboys haven’t won a Super Bowl since 1995. That was their last appearance, too. Hell, they haven’t even been to the NFC Championship Game since then.

Kentucky, as you know, won the title in 1996, then again in 1998, and again in 2012. Seven total Final Fours in that span.

Clearly identical resumes, right? If you ask ESPN’s Jay Williams, maybe.

“They’re the Dallas Cowboys of college basketball,” he said on College GameDay this morning. “… Every year we’re going to hype them up because they have all the draft picks. Every year we’re going to talk about Cal. Cal is one of the best to do it, but is he on the same level of Bill Self?”

Mind you, Williams’ comment came alongside about four or five others that had the college basketball world buzzing for all of the wrong reasons. He’s walking clickbait — remember when he pulled DJ Wagner is going to transfer to Louisville rumors out of his rear end?

His fellow panelists quickly put him in his place, Jay Bilas responding “they’ve won a title since the Cowboys have.”

Three, actually.

Bilas, Seth Greenberg and Andraya Carter shared their respective rebuttals with a clear consensus: Stop panicking about Kentucky this season. The Cats are flawed, obviously, especially on the defensive end. But you’re blind if you can’t see this team’s otherworldly upside.

“He’s got a lifetime contract — he isn’t going anywhere,” Bilas said of Calipari. “They haven’t had continuity this year, their big guys weren’t playing early so they had to play a smaller lineup. They do have older players in Antonio Reeves and Tre Mitchell, they just haven’t all been healthy at the same time. Their offense is national championship good, they can score 90 points falling out of bed. Their guards are big-time scorers, four of their top-five scorers are guards. It’s all about their guards. But their defense is on the bubble right now.

“I think they’re going to continue to get better. If they get 10-15% better by the time we get to the end of the regular season, they are going to be a force in March. The question of whether they can do it this way and be successful — they have done it this way and have been successful. They’ll continue to be successful. It’s not like all of the older teams are playing way better. They are not, they’re not.”

Greenberg called his shot with the Cats, as well, agreeing that a run is very much on the table with plenty of runway to go before worrying about this ship sinking.

“Figure out lineups, figure out who plays well together, get them to defend. I think Kentucky is going to flip it. I think Kentucky is going to go on a run in the NCAA Tournament,” he said. “They may not play great tonight, but you’ve got four weeks to tighten up the defense. They will be a team that nobody wants to play against in March.”

Carter looked at Kentucky’s current resume and how the reality of the losses aren’t as bad as they appear on paper. The record is underwhelming and there are several games the Cats would like back, obviously, but there is still plenty to love about this group.

“It’s also not like Kentucky is getting blasted. Their worst loss is South Carolina, and we’re starting to see what South Carolina is. Everybody was freaking out about three home losses in a row, but the three home losses were by an average of six points,” Carter said. “It’s not like they got the brakes beat off of them. They’re still competing. They have to clean up the defense, have to make strides, but they’re not getting waxed. It’s not like they’re not playing hard.

“They’ve got to shore up some things, but they play hard and score and they’re not getting blasted. I think fans should just relax a little bit.”

Slow your roll, Jay.