Magoffin County avenged an early season loss to Perry County and picked up their first ever Sweet 16 win, 54-47.

Lyon County came from down 41-34 with 5 minutes left to stay alive against Ashland Blazer 45-43. Future Wildcat Travis Perry went 1-7 on threes.

Magoffin most likely gets future Wildcat (hopefully) 7'1" Malachi Moreno next, assuming Georgetown Great Crossing gets by Spencer County tonight.

Lyon plays the winner of Adair County versus Marshall County. Lyon beat Adair 98-48 last month, and Lyon would probably be favored by 20 against Marshall County as well.

I think Lyon will settle in now that they know they will be in Lexington for a few days. Here is the Sweet 16 program.

Some of you older fans will remember this guy from back in the day. He’s back with another UK song that all of us can relate to.


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That was Cal’s go to all year long and the closer to the tournament the more he repeated it.

After going 0-2 in tournament play this year I can say with confidence he is full of shit. This team was not built for March

We are on the precipice of the complete collapse of collegiate sports as we’ve known it throughout our collective lives. The vast overwhelming majority of these guys have no tie or buy in, it’s all about getting to the next level, not just here, any program, there are thousands of positions overseas for a solid Div I player. NIL, the portal, money, corruption, politics, etc., destroyed anything and everything we loved earlier in our lives. Today’s attitude “I‘m gonna get mine” no matter the impact to everything and everyone else, it’s me, me, me...

Listen this might be a longshot but the Field of 68 mentioned this last night. SMU just fired their coach yesterday, they are in Dallas have a lot of money and is in Dallas. They are also going to the ACC. This could be a situation where they could buy Cal out of here. I don't think it's going to happen but hey I can dream.

Article about him mulling changes going forward. the changes need to be what moving company he is gonna use. Because reading it he is talking himself back into the groundhog hole.

Almost any other school would want Cal bc they would be enamored with the recruits and think maybe it would be different there. And maybe it would. Maybe he will go somewhere new and be rejuvenated and have a chip on his shoulder and some fire. But he is worthless here and now.

This gets him out of UK. This also means the class goes with him, because make no mistake. Recruits don’t come here because it’s KENTUCKY. They don’t care about the winningest program, the banners, the tradition, etc. They were in 1st grade or so when we won the last title in 12. They don’t care or remember. They care about one thing. They see Calipari and half the league’s all-stars. They see draft picks every year. Most don’t even care about wining. College is a means to an end. That’s the culture he’s created here.

But you can’t be worried about losing players/talenr, because what good has having all the talent done for Kentucky anyway? We all know the (lack of) results. He hasn’t been the same in years. We haven’t been Kentucky for years, yet he still calls us the gold standard.

He’s combative with fans and media. He’s incredibly stubborn. He thinks he’s above reproach. He doesn’t have has his reams mentally prepared to play or execute a game plan. He makes zero in-game adjustments.

I’m pretty sure any earnings if makes if accepts another job go against the buyout. So let’s all hope some other school, Michigan or whoever, calls and offers him a massive contract because they think he’s the answer for them.

He is washed at Kentucky.

Menawhile you make Stevens. Donovan and Wright all tell you no. If they do we get a coach who can recruit at Kentucky better than (Baylor, Auburn, Gonzaga, etc.) here. A guy who is hungry and actually coaches his ass off. Hit the portal and things can turn around quicker than you think.

I’ve been saying it for years, but last night surely was (and seems like) it was a breaking point for the last group of fans who supported him.

We have to part ways, somehow, someway. This is Kentucky basketball. It’s being ruined and it can’t continue.

we will have no trouble with Oakland …. I am concerned about Texas Tech, if that’s who we play … but if we make it through the weekend … I love
this team!!!L GBB🏀

I’ve seen parts of this argument in various places, but never all of it together.

Here's my thesis: based on what we knew in 2019, Cal’s contract made a ton of sense, as long as we were willing to overlook that Cal and Kentucky have never had the same priorities. It blew up on us because the different priorities stopped complementing each other.

Cal was the best coach for the one-and-done era of college basketball. His priorities aligned with the best way to win in college basketball for that era. And in 2019, we went all in on him, not knowing that college basketball was about to radically change. It's not about playing style. It's not about stubbornness. It's about priorities. They happened to align in 2019. They don't now.

The one-and-done era lasted 13 seasons. It started with Kevin Durant in 2006-07. It ended with Zion Williamson in 2019. The transfer portal and the extra COVID year killed the one-and-done model. This isn’t just about assembling a more mature team. Even on an individual basis, the young kids coming in aren’t able to immediately have the impact they could for that short era. We’re back to pre-2006, when upperclassmen reigned.

Look to first-team All-Americans for proof. From 1990 to 2006 (17 seasons), there were zero freshmen on those teams. They were 78% upperclassmen. Nearly half were seniors.

Compare that to the one-and-done era. From 2007 to 2019 (13 seasons), there were 16 freshmen on those teams. There were more seasons without a senior All-American than without a freshman. College basketball had never before had a freshman as Player of the Year. During that era, three freshmen took that award (Durant, AD, Zion).

Now compare that to the post-one-and-done-era. From 2020 through this season (5 seasons), there has only been one freshman first-team All-American. They’ve been 84% upperclassmen. Over half have been seniors or graduates. Upperclassmen have been more dominant in the past five years than in the pre-one-and-done era.

Cal’s priorities and fans’ priorities are the same now as they’ve always been. But they used to complement each other. Now they don’t. Fans’ top priorities, in order: win NCAA tournament games, win SEC tournament and rivalry games, win at Rupp. Cal’s top priorities: NBA draft picks and La Familia. From 2007 to 2019, the best way to win in college basketball was with young future NBA draft picks, so fans and Cal were all happy. But now the priorities diverge.

The problem isn’t Cal’s stubbornness to stop with the one-and-done strategy—as if he's just refusing to play zone. The problem is that one-and-done is a key part of him achieving his ultimate aims (La Familia), but it's become an obstacle to fans' aims (winning now). The problem is that Cal has always had different priorities than the fans. Now it shows, and neither is willing to shift their priorities.

Cal was here for 10 of the 13 years in the one-and-done era.

Through that stretch, he got us:
• 1 championship
• 1 runner-up
• 4 Final Fours
• 7 Elite Eights

Then we signed him to the lifetime contract in 2019, not realizing COVID + transfer portal were about to bring an end to the era. We locked in to the best coach of the one-and-done era right as it was ending. If there was a mistake then, it wasn’t about locking in the person we had reason to believe would win the most in the next decade. The problem was locking in to someone we knew had a different set of priorities than our fanbase.

Kentucky head coaches' records in their last 126 games at the school:

- Rick Pitino: 110-16 (.873)
- Adolph Rupp: 104-22 (.825)
- Joe B. Hall: 92-34 (.730)
- Tubby Smith: 91-35 (.722)
- Eddie Sutton: 87-39 (.690)
- John Calipari: 80-46 (.635)

Turrible !!! #FireCalipari. worse than Tubby and Eddie S ?? with the talent he has wasted . Our guy is a national joke

That’s all. MITCH !!!!!

Mind you, as early as 2001 people were pushing to get rid of Smith, by 2002 it was a chorus, only briefly interrupted by the 2003 team. I was a long time member of the TSF, and had to constantly refute factually inaccurate posts about Tubby's performance (thank you Jon Scott!)

I get that Calipari should have had some grace period after the 2010-2015 run, but either Tubby should have had more than he got or Calipari less than he's gotten. Many people complained about Smith's "steady decline" despite the fact that, well, he won a title his first year, and nobody wins every year, so there's really only one way to go. But he was up and down, not a steady drop, as 2003-04-05 were better than 00-01-02. Yes, he did have two bad years in 06-07, and the fans were in revolt. But many fans were eager to ditch him long before then. Calipari has had higher highs and lower lows, but they're tied at one each for the absolute pinnacle of college bball.

It's enlightening to see Tubby's entire 10 year career beside Calipari's last 10 years, comparing SEC regular season championships and the post-season tournaments. Smith exceeds Calipari's performance in 11 of 25 matchups, to 4 for Calipari with 10 equal outcomes and two washes due to COVID.

Great game last night. One of the better transfers we've had over the years. Wishing him all the best in the future.

GO CATS!!!
WOOOO!!!!!

I'm not sure if players hop on this board. If so, we're begging you, whether Cal is back or not, return to UK next year. Cal didn't value you. But we know you outperformed Livingston, Edwards, and Tre Mitchell but for whatever reason Cal buried you. Come back and be the dude you were against Kansas, night in and night out. Demand 30mpg if Cal is back. Any other coach will naturally give you 30mpg.

That the newest member of the Legion of Doom ( newest iteration ) "Basketball Bennie" would've been the one to bring him down ?

They said you were washed
They said you couldn’t coach
They said you didn’t know your X’s and O’s
They said it was time for you to be fired
They said you were just a recruiter

……..They were all right

Old: Come to Kentucky and I’ll get you into the first round of the NBA draft.

New: Come to Kentucky and help me get out of the first round of the SEC and NCAA tourneys.

no legitimacy to this but one betting site is willing to create odds (out of thin air). Source - BetKentucky.Com

Just like all the other millions of boys born into this BBN world, I've been a fan since birth, love UK basketball and loved March madness every year because we were always in the running to make a deep run! But thanks to Cal, I honestly don't enjoy basketball no more, and there is nothing fun about March madness. Really hard to put into words my true feelings about the state of our basketball program, and Cal has us by the balls and he's not getting fired and he's not quitting. This sucks!

What he explains seems pretty elementary.

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Because there will be a huge talent black hole in the NBA if Cal isn't there to develop all of its players and get them ready for professional basketball. Can you imagine how bad it will be with the NBA not having anywhere to get players? It will be unwatchable and unmarketable.

And never mind all the poor kids out there who will never make it to the NBA if Cal isn't here at UK to masterfully prepare them. We need to think of the children. And the NBA.

I think the guy is burned out. He began his D1 head coaching career in 1988. 36 years ago. How many can do a job at the highest level for nearly forty years? For the last 15 years he has been in the biggest boiling pot in college basketball.

He went from "I can't hide you" to "I’m not trying to take anybody’s heart away"

He basically said it himself during his 2018 Big Blue Madness speech:

"But let me say this: It may feel like yesterday, but one look at me and you can tell what it's done to me. You people have beat me up. For some reason, it hasn't affected Ellen. But I've aged in dog years!"

I think his Little House on the Prairie and sitting with his dogs statement was a joke but humor always has a seed of truth.

His diminishing results show he is toast. When he came here it was all about March performance and championships. We have our March results and there is no way to get around the numbers.

There are a few questions: Will he hang on for ego or the money? Will the school try to buy him out? Will the lower bowl at Rupp still be mostly full next year if he is still our coach? Guess we will get to see.

A program with a storied history, locked behind a dusty display case with its trophies. On the college basketball landscape, I think that's where we're at.

It seems like there may be a pretty big name in store, based on what Barnhart is telling the folks that donate to the women’s cause. I read it on KSR this morning, and I’ve also heard from someone that is a what you would call a booster of women’s sports that I know pretty well ( Mitch / UK actually talk personally …and fairly often….to the select few that consistently support the women with $$. ) . It’ll be interesting to see who they get.