I'm afraid that we're closer to becoming another Indiana than some might want to admit. I'm sure that 20/30 years ago that the IU fans would have never dreamed that their program would be this bad for this long. If it happened at IU it could happened here...... And considering that
1. Since 2019 UK has a grand total of 1 NCAA tournament win
2. Haven't won a national championship in 12 years
3. Haven't been to the Final Four in 9 years
4. Haven't been to the Sweet 16 in 5 years
5. Haven't been a 1 seed in almost a decade
A change has got to be made at the end of the season, & I'm not talking about changing assistant coaches. CALIPARI HAS GOT TO GO!
Sadly, I agree. A very humbling point that we all probably need to hear to truly understand where we are.
We aren't Indiana, but with respect to all the major traditional blue bloods (UK, Indiana, UCLA, Kansas, Duke, UNC, UConn) we are probably 2nd or 3rd from the bottom on that list when it comes to modern success.
Since our title in 1998, calling ourselves the gold standard or the bluest of the blue bloods has been a downright lie.
Let's note a few stats, since 1999.
UConn - 5 Titles, 6 Final Fours
Kansas - 2 Titles, 6 Final Fours
UNC - 3 Titles, 7 Final Fours
Duke - 3 Titles, 6 Final Fours
Indiana - 0 Titles, 1 Final Four
UCLA - 0 Titles, 4 Final Fours
Kentucky - 1 Title, 4 Final Fours
Obviously, we have fared better than UCLA and Indiana, but our peers in Lawrence, Storrs, Chapel Hill, and Durham have just been better modern programs.
We are Kentucky. We have sky high expectations and always have, but with this very sobering trend...the question is, should we continue to have those expectations? Clearly, the school & athletic department doesn't share them. Are we just being unreasonable at this point?
To add salt to the wound, with the uptick in college basketball investments across the country, those teams all now have either more intimidating home atmospheres and/or better facilities than we do now as well. UCLA obviously being the exception. That is a problem in and of itself.
This trend has gone on longer than simply the last few years under Cal. Teams are really making a dent into our dynasty, and I can't help but wonder if we are all keeping our expectations high in vain.
Do we deserve and can we justify being as P.O'd as we have all been lately? I'm not so sure anymore, and it sucks.