Not Jerry Tipton's Friday Basketball Notebook

The 2013-14 season is almost over, and Kentucky is still trying to atone for the disaster was the 2012-13 season. John Calipari’s team is trying to do something that no team in the history of college basketball has ever done: Win a national championship relying primarily on 6 freshmen who were McDonald’s All Americans. With disappointing losses to a whole bunch of teams, the team will fail to reach its ultimate goal of perfect season, and will instead try to console itself with a national title. To stay apprised and educated, follow me on Twitter @NotJerryTipton. Here’s the weekly notebook: *The Great Compromise: After the 2010 NBA Draft, which saw 5 Kentucky players selected in the 1st round, John Calipari famously called it “the greatest day in the history of Kentucky basketball.” At the time, many — if not all — UK fans disagreed with him, claiming that they could point out at least 7 days that were better: the days when Kentucky won national championships. However, in hindsight, it turns out that not only was that day not the best day in program history, it was quite possibly the worst day in program history. The 2010 NBA Draft showed recruits that doing a one year stint in Lexington was the safest route to guaranteed millions in the NBA. As such, recruits now show up on campus with one thing on their mind: the NBA. They do not give one whit about college, or their teammates, or college basketball, or UK fans, or blue or white. Sure, most of them tend to return to Lexington after they leave (but not all; whither Kevin Galloway?), but this is likely due to the allure of the Bluegrass region, namely, the horse farms, the bourbon and the castle out on Versailles Road. Still not convinced? Consider: How many of these former Wildcats have moved their families to permanently reside in Lexington? *Sweet Revenge: During Monday’s press conference, John Calipari made the statement that “it’s hard to have fun” playing basketball at Kentucky. UK senior Jon Hood, in a blatant show of insubordination, vociferously disagreed with his coach, saying that he “has had a blast” playing at UK. It isn’t often that you a see a 5th year senior call his coach “stupid” in so many words, but by claiming that he’s had fun in Lexington the past half decade, that’s exactly what Hood did. In what was perhaps not a coincidence, the Cats came out the next game and shot 32% from the field, almost losing to Alabama before being bailed out by a 15-2 run in the second half to barely win by 7. If the preseason #1 Wildcats don’t go on to win a national championship, it just may be that this dustup between player and coach was the culprit. *Please Don't Bury Me: Last week, former UK commit (and current New Mexico State junior) K.C. Ross-Miller got suspended when he threw the ball at an opposing player, thereby inciting a riot on the court between fans and players. This does not bode well for Kentucky. The one ingredient that most UK fans think is missing from the current team is toughness. By having the intestinal fortitude to attack an opposing player even though the game was over, Ross-Miller showed that he isn’t scared of anything or anybody. Most will remember that John Calipari told Ross-Miller to “go the hell away” when he was named the coach, by refusing to honor the scholarship offer that was extended to him by prior coach Billy Gillispie. Seeing as how Gillispie was named National Coach of the Year in 2007, and Calipari was not, maybe the much maligned Texan knew what he was doing after all. * On this date: On this date in 2013, Kentucky was headed for the NIT.