Nobody thinks we should make the fnal 4 every year, and you know it. We should, however, be in the legitimate discussion to make the final 4 most years. We should make the 2nd weekend most years. We should win/share either the SEC regular season or tournament most years. We should do this if we're to get back to the UK standards that Cal mentions in every post-season sound bite you can find from him. Let's get back to these standards instead of allowing cal to water down expectations
I really don't know it. Every year the same people are on here complaining about elite 8 losses, sweet 16 losses and lately early round exits.
I’d argue 2016 was the start, the loss to Indiana bumps that year to disappointing. 2017 was a dead cat bounce, then the decline continued in 2018-. That’s my opinion though.
I agree. I consider myself more of a realist, and the loss to #15 and #14 don't weigh as heavily against the season as double-digits in the loss column. Though, this season did end up with 10 losses. The biggest issue with 2023-24 is that we were supposed to be a loaded team, Cal's style, and still ended up with 10 losses, a loss to UNCW, a blowout to USCjr, a first game SEC tourney exit, and first round NCAAT loss to Oakland. All that considered, I consider this season below standard. If we were to only lose Reeves, Mitchell, and Dillingham, I would accept this year and look forward to next year. The problem is, we're already looking at losing Adou, Edwards isn't coming back, and who knows who else will leave? Losing 10 games and then starting from scratch the next year is beyond exhausting.
I'm also a white, Christian, cisgendered, male, so my opinion shouldn't matter to anyone, regardless of facts. Maybe if I get to 1,000 posts "my truth" will matter? See how arbitrary and irrational you sound?
Bro c’mon, that’s an all time ridiculous take. What does a 2 or 3 seed matter when you piss down your leg against a 14 and a 15?
That 13 team wasn't good. The team was already 17-7 when Noel went down. Finished 21-12. Ryan Harrow was a trainwreck.
Using this metric, here are the acceptable seasons at UK:
I'm going to assume UK would have made the Sweet 16, or better, in 2019, because that team had the make-up of a Calipari team that would have done so. That means, we've missed the Sweet 16 in four straight tournaments. Here is how that compares to other schools:
You don't give Joe B enough credit.
I was just using the above poster's metric, that an acceptable UK season consists of:
Pitino becomes what Coach K is known for is he doesn't leave Kentucky. K only had two titles when Pitino left in 1997. Pitino had just won in 96, lost in OT in the 97 championship, and his roster won it again in 98. He was the hottest name in college basketball. If he didn't desire the pros, he would've stayed here and would have been an absolute icon, better than K, imo.
I agree w all of these...except 2014 team, how can going to title game not be acceptable
29-11
ANY SEASON UNDER 30 WINS IS UNACCEPTABLE. That means that we should at minimum be winning the SEC, SECT and at least a Sweet 16 matchup
You're absolutely right. In 121 years of UK basketball there have been sixteen 30-win seasons. The other one-hundred and five seasons were unacceptable.
I literally did the same thing. I was like what is the point of rehashing this stuff, it's over. Only when I got to your post did I realize lol.
I'm surprised 2020-21 isn't down in the 60s or 70s, only one point lower than 1989-90.
I tried to be as accurate as I could considering metrics and other criteria to simulate games versus other teams. An 80 is an abysmal rating compared to an 88 for example. However, an 80 has you as essentially a high tier mid major level or bottom level power four squad. The 2021 team finished top 50 in KenPom, was a good defensive team and had plenty of athleticism at multiple positions. They lost a lot of close games In heartbreaking fashion and were better than their record (which isn’t saying a lot). The first Pitino team played a weaker schedule and outplayed their own talent by a considerable margin. According to my system, the 1990 Kentucky Wildcats (my all time favorite team) would beat the 2021 team more often than not but most of the games would be close.
Sadly it took the COVID season and the St. Peters loss for me to wake up fully. I mean we were a 2 seed and boat raced Kansas at Kansas and North Carolina on a neutral floor. That's the champion and runner-up. Plus had TyTy and Wheeler not been injured we could've made a run.
That's actually a pretty cool scale, especially for someone whose first memory of UK was the loss to Duke.
Thanks, man. I actually see I posted an outdated version of that. I have the ratings for 1989 and 2021 backwards on there. It came from a systematic approach to rate all the players and teams. I do it every year actually. That’s how I project how good I think a team will be based on a scale that weights individual players. For example, the 2025 Wildcats finished as follows:
