I have always wondered why the refs seem to dislike us so much. I think Cal made it worse with his attitude, but it goes back further than that. Anyone have any ideas. I would really appreciate some insight.💙💙
My buddy explained it to me this way years ago, and I haven't seen it proven wrong-
In basketball they use UK to get other SEC teams into the tournament conversation and off the bubble. It helps with ratings and revenue from the tournament and ads. There's little we can do to change it, because there is no accountability.
In football they use UK to help push other SEC teams into better bowls and higher rankings. The difference with football is that, if we show we can play disciplined football and overcome our mistakes, we haven't gotten shafted so much. We've gotten a fairly called game occasionally when we do so. There's nothing we can do to change it, because there's no accountability.
Part of it is how a coach treats the officials.
Part of it is how we play.
Part of it is how officials have been treated off the court and on.
The biggest part of it is who we are playing when and how it affects conference revenue.
There are also officials that absolutely hate UK no matter who we are playing.
Networks dislike UK because they have a small supporting audience. Viewership is high, but most root against UK because of how the media portrays Kentucky.
It also, as my friend surmised years ago, is because UK integrated the SEC. You don't hear the networks talking about Mississippi schools, coaches, programs, or fanbases as racist like you do UK. Same goes for EVERY other SEC institution. Why not?
Only reasonable answer is what separated UK from the rest of the SEC. They caused the entire conference to integrate.