Not Jerry Tipton's Friday Basketball Notebook

The 2013-14 season is quickly approaching, and Big Blue Nation holds its collective breath. John Calipari’s Kentucky team will go to war this year relying only on what a few “experts” are calling “the greatest recruiting class ever assembled,” a couple of sophomores, and a few older guys. Is this a recipe for success? We shall see. But probably not. Unfortunately for Kentucky, only one team has ever won the national championship using this formula, and this happened way back in 2012. To stay apprised and educated, follow me on Twitter @NotJerryTipton. Here’s the weekly notebook: *I'm Comin' Home: During last Friday’s Midnight Madness festivities, CBS’s Seth Davis tweeted that “Nobody can beat Memphis fans when it comes to support and enthusiasm.” Predictably, he took heat from Kentucky fans for making this remark. However, upon closer inspection, it’s hard to argue with him. Consider: The Tigers routinely almost sell out their home arena night after night, even though the program has won just a single NCAA Tournament game in the past 4 seasons. And while every Kentucky home game is a sellout, the Cats have been to two Final Fours in the past three years and won a national title during that time. In other words, UK fans are bandwagon. Also, basic math supports Seth’s argument: Memphis’s average home attendance last year was approximately 16,000. Memphis’s population is 655,000. This means that 0.024% of the population of Memphis attends the games. On the other hand, Kentucky’s average home attendance was roughly 24,000, despite a population of 4.4M, which means that only 0.005% of the Commonwealth’s populace bothers to show up to the games. What this all means, statistically, is that Memphis fans are 5 times more passionate than Kentucky fans. Looks like someone owes Seth Davis an apology. *Feeling Good Again: Kentucky spent $400,000 on Big Blue Madness. As many pundits are probably pointing out privately, this is a tremendous waste of resources. For that amount of money, for example, UK could have bought laptops and other supplies for various schools in the area. Or, it could have provided thousands of local children with raincoats and galoshes. Better yet, it could have funded much-needed repairs on Kentucky’s highways and byways. But by opting to spend nearly half a million dollars on what amounted to a high tech laser light show, it called into question its priorities. Sure, the 24,000 UK fans in attendance, not to mention the hundreds of thousands watching from home, probably enjoyed the show. Unless they have a conscience, that is. One has to ask, is the enjoyment of one single state for one single night worth that kind of money? No wonder Louisville chose not to have any kind of season-opening celebration. Presumably, they decided to anonymously donate their $400,000 to various local charities. *All I Have Is Today: While several NBA scouts and pundits were in Lexington last week for the festivities surrounding and leading up to Big Blue Madness, several “experts” who watched UK’s practices opined that James Young will be a top 5 pick. This does not bode well for Kentucky. Julius Randle, another UK freshman, is also projected to be a top 5 draftee. Apparently excited UK fans are unaware that the last team featuring a pair of top 5 picks — last year’s Indiana Hoosiers —failed to advance beyond the Sweet 16. And those two players, Cody Zeller and Victor Oladipo, had a combined 5 years of college experience. Kentucky’s two players have yet to even play a college game. So unless IU’s Tom Crean is just a terrible coach, John Calipari will be hard-pressed to guide this particular band of one and done mercenaries to the Final 4. Lastly, it should be noted that the last non-Indiana team to feature a pair of top 5 picks was in 2012. And while that team did win the national championship, one could argue that this is simply the exception that proves the rule. * On this date: On this date in 2007, anticipation and excitement surrounded the Big Blue Nation, as the Billy Gillispie era was set to kick off.