I'd Kill For UK To Have The 7 Year Run Bama Has

[ZaytovenCat]

Bama has 4 titles in 7 years. I was pulling for Bama hard last night but afterwards felt a little down because the "what if" started running through my head. I know fans like to say Cal = Saban but that's not really close to being true anymore. Cal = Saban in recruiting but that coaching by Saban last night is superior.

And before anybody says basketball is different because of the ncaa tournament, keep in mind we've been in or within 1 game of the Title game 4 of the 6 years Cal has been here. We are right there, difference is Cal doesn't finish it like Saban has.

Honestly just 2 out of 7 would be enough to calm the ones like myself that feel like a golden opportunity is being wasted. The one title took having one of the more transcendent players in recent history to get. But a few of the other teams have been absolutely freaking loaded, including one of the most talented teams in college history last year.

I know the troll patrol will come running all pissy and mad but I don't really care. This isn't really a Cal bashing post. More of a "what could have been" type post.

 

[CUT-NETS]

Bama has 4 titles in 7 years. I was pulling for Bama hard last night but afterwards felt a little down because the "what if" started running through my head. I know fans like to say Cal = Saban but that's not really close to being true anymore. Cal = Saban in recruiting but that coaching by Saban last night is superior.

And before anybody says basketball is different because of the ncaa tournament, keep in mind we've been in or within 1 game of the Title game 4 of the 6 years Cal has been here. We are right there, difference is Cal doesn't finish it like Saban has.

Honestly just 2 out of 7 would be enough to calm the ones like myself that feel like a golden opportunity is being wasted. The one title took having one of the more transcendent players in recent history to get. But a few of the other teams have been absolutely freaking loaded, including one of the most talented teams in college history last year.

I know the troll patrol will come running all pissy and mad but I don't really care. This isn't really a Cal bashing post. More of a "what could have been" type post.

Sums up how I feel perfectly. And let the troll patrol commence....

 

[NCukcat62]

Sums up how I feel perfectly. And let the troll patrol commence....

You are crap.

 

[NCukcat62]

Before it is all said and done, Saban will be the greatest football coach of all time. Cal just needs to keep doing what he's doing.

 

[ZaytovenCat]

Why is he crap? For wishing we had more titles when we've been RIGHT THERE? I thought all fans wanted more titles.

 

[Smashcat]

Bama has 4 titles in 7 years. I was pulling for Bama hard last night but afterwards felt a little down because the "what if" started running through my head. I know fans like to say Cal = Saban but that's not really close to being true anymore. Cal = Saban in recruiting but that coaching by Saban last night is superior.

And before anybody says basketball is different because of the ncaa tournament, keep in mind we've been in or within 1 game of the Title game 4 of the 6 years Cal has been here. We are right there, difference is Cal doesn't finish it like Saban has.

Honestly just 2 out of 7 would be enough to calm the ones like myself that feel like a golden opportunity is being wasted. The one title took having one of the more transcendent players in recent history to get. But a few of the other teams have been absolutely freaking loaded, including one of the most talented teams in college history last year.

I know the troll patrol will come running all pissy and mad but I don't really care. This isn't really a Cal bashing post. More of a "what could have been" type post.

I'd guarantee Cal would have that kind of run if our players stayed 3-5 years and we only had to play two games in the NCAAs.

 

[CUT-NETS]

You are crap.

Case in point

 

[LineSkiCat14]

Football is different. There's only 10% of teams who can even be competitive with Bama. While Kentucky there's at least 30% of teams who can pull the upset. Not to mention, there's no OAD. You have groomed talent, there aren't as many dire mistakes in personnel.

 

[ZaytovenCat]

And yea I agree of Saban. He's already arguably the best. It's him and Bear. Saban is a machine. Was cool seeing him smile last night. Never seen him that happy.

 

[NCukcat62]

Why is he crap? For wishing we had more titles when we've been RIGHT THERE? I thought all fans wanted more titles.

You obviously don't know who cut-nets is. I agree with your sentiment about wishing we could do that but oh well. Cal is amazing.

 

[LineSkiCat14]

How many Football championship teams weren't the top 1 or 2 best teams? Are there any? Maybe one or two that were top5 and just got "hot".. maybe?

Now how many title winners in college basketball weren't a top5 team? How many weren't the best team?

Big difference. College basketball is way more volatile for so many reasons.

 

[ZaytovenCat]

The one point I do concede is Saban getting to have his guys at least 3 years. More margin for error.

 

[NCukcat62]

The one point I do concede is Saban getting to have his guys at least 3 years. More margin for error.

Not only that but he gets a top 2 class every year.

 

[TNCatfanforever]

We needed at least one more title in the past 6 years...we were the best team the past two years....

 

[ganner918]

We all wish we'd won every game we'd lost, and yeah matching success that's happened twice in history (4 titles in 7 years twice now in football, also only been done once in basketball by UCLA) would be absolutely amazing. But this is like dancing with the hottest woman in the room and being disappointed that she's not a supermodel. Getting to a Final Four 4 out of 6 tries and performing as expected (2-2 in the semi, 1-1 in the final) against other top teams isn't a golden opportunity wasted, especially when we quite likely will continue getting these opportunities, even if maybe not 2 out of every 3 seasons.

Did some people so buy into the hype that they actually expect to win a title every other year and are disappointed if it doesn't happen? Did we actually create the expectation that Calipari WOULD carry us past UCLA in titles while he is here, to the degree that it nags us that we might not do it? Remember how dreary things had gotten before this? And look back to the Pitino years - we all remember those as golden times, and in 6 post probation years we made 3 Final Fours "wasting" two of them.This has been a phenomenally fun 6 and a half years of basketball and it's still going on. We've got more winning to do, more Final Fours to reach, and hopefully more titles to win. Stop lamenting what might have been and enjoy this damn ride.

 

[ZaytovenCat]

You obviously don't know who cut-nets is. I agree with your sentiment about wishing we could do that but oh well. Cal is amazing.

I know who he is. Just happen to side with him on this subject. Cal is amazing. I agree with 95% of things Cal does but it's that 5% that could separate us from having 2-3 titles instead of 1.

 

[LineSkiCat14]

We needed at least one more title in the past 6 years...we were the best team the past two years....

The first year with the Twins? That's pretty debatable. We became the hottest team, absolutely. But by that logic, was Uconn the best team in their title years? I don't believe so.

The thing with Kentucky is that they've been the most talented team, every year aside from 2012/13, under Calipari. 6 out of 7 years, Kentucky was #1 in talent (and maybe even 2012/13). If you give Kentucky a 2-3 year trajectory with these teams, they are the best team, hands down. At some point, any Kentucky team would become the best team, almost automatically, given the NBA talent. The key is when they out it all together.

So I'm not quite sure about the 2014 squad. Most talented team, sure. If the NCAAT was in June, we'd have rolled. But I'm not sure they were the best team of that year.

My picks (counting the year when the title took place): 2010, 2012, 2015. Those are definites in my opinion. A strong case can be made for 2011, but a lot of eggs were laid that year. 2013 is a definite no. 2014 is a possibility.

 

[MdWIldcat55]

Two points:

1. Possibly beginning this year with a Ulis-Murray fueled run, but more likely beginning next year with the greatest assemblage of talent I think I've ever seen, John Calipari could have a run like Saban's last six years -- and at the end of it he'd still be two years younger than Saban is today.

2. You'd kill for a run like Saban's. Fans of 250 college basketball programs would kill to have won a championship and to have been to the Final Four in four of the last five seasons while seeing guys like John Wall, Anthony Davis and Karl Towns wear the school colors.

In other words, you (and the 'Ignored Content' poster in this thread) sound like somebody born into Phil Knight's Nike fortune crying because you weren't born into Bill Gates' Microsoft fortune.

 

[Mojocat]

The one point I do concede is Saban getting to have his guys at least 3 years. More margin for error.

Your "one concession" is not a minor thing, it completely eviscerates your argument. Saban is an awesome coach, but trying to compare success in college football and basketball is worse than comparing apples and oranges. One, Saban doesn't lose most of his roster every year. Two, Saban isn't trying to win with teams dominated by 18 year olds. Three, Saban doesn't have to work his way through an unpredictable 6 round tournament every year (and for 4 of his 5 titles, no tournament at all).

How often does the best team in a given year when the national championship in football?

How often does the best team in a given year when the national championship in basketball?

Free advice: choose your friends and enemies wisely, and if you find CutNets/Zipp/whomever agreeing with a point you're making, it's time for self-reflection.....

 

[ganner918]

Your "one concession" is not a minor thing, it completely eviscerates your argument. Saban is an awesome coach, but trying to compare success in college football and basketball is worse than comparing apples and oranges. One, Saban doesn't lose most of his roster every year. Two, Saban isn't trying to win with teams dominated by 18 year olds. Three, Saban doesn't have to work his way through an unpredictable 6 round tournament every year (and for 4 of his 5 titles, no tournament at all).

How often does the best team in a given year when the national championship in football?

How often does the best team in a given year when the national championship in basketball?

Free advice: choose your friends and enemies wisely, and if you find CutNets/Zipp/whomever agreeing with a point you're making, it's time for self-reflection.....

Maybe it's easy to forget it, I don't know, but the talking heads consensus prior to 2012 was, "This will never work, it doesn't matter how much talent they assemble. A team led by freshmen will never win the title. Freshmen point guards can't win titles." We won it once and the narrative changed to "They have the best talent so every year anyone but Kentucky is the champion is a failure."

 

[Bungalow Bill]

It's so much harder to win the BB championship. We've had a great run under Cal. One of the best in our great BB history. I hope we get more championships with him and he retires from here because it's going to be a tough act to follow and a lot of people won't realize how good we've had it until he's gone. These are historic times at UK.

 

[UKCatsFan10]

Killing someone for it seems a bit excessive... Maybe just a good beatdown would do.

 

[Hoskins21]

Comparing winning a championship between college football and college basketball is beyond stupid. Given it came from @ZaytovenCat, I'm not surprised. I'm looking forward to his Malik Newman rant later tonight.

 

[WildMoon]

Give Coach Cal Anthony Davis for 3 years....with Demarcus Cousin...in his first year.

 

[63in62]

Bama has 4 titles in 7 years. I was pulling for Bama hard last night but afterwards felt a little down because the "what if" started running through my head. I know fans like to say Cal = Saban but that's not really close to being true anymore. Cal = Saban in recruiting but that coaching by Saban last night is superior.

And before anybody says basketball is different because of the ncaa tournament, keep in mind we've been in or within 1 game of the Title game 4 of the 6 years Cal has been here. We are right there, difference is Cal doesn't finish it like Saban has.

Honestly just 2 out of 7 would be enough to calm the ones like myself that feel like a golden opportunity is being wasted. The one title took having one of the more transcendent players in recent history to get. But a few of the other teams have been absolutely freaking loaded, including one of the most talented teams in college history last year.

I know the troll patrol will come running all pissy and mad but I don't really care. This isn't really a Cal bashing post. More of a "what could have been" type post.

Spot on, but who would you rather have, Cal or Tubby? Cal came hear when we had been driven down to the level of an "also ran" team and put us back on the top of the hill. Her did it by attracting the best players in the country - almost all of which have there mind on the NBA not 4 years of college. Mix a little, make that a lot of immaturity and a ton of inexperience with fame and fortune waving in the background and you have Kentucky as it is today. Instead of seeing the glass half empty let's see it as half full because even though Cal does not win it all every year despite having the best talent, he is doing a good job with what he has. But no criticism to you, I feel your pain. Just sick about last year with 3 seven footers, one of which was the first draft pick another first string AA with the tallest, deepest team in history loosing after 38 wins. It hurts everybody as well as Cal. He just has nobody to complain to.

 

[WeWant9]

Maybe it's easy to forget it, I don't know, but the talking heads consensus prior to 2012 was, "This will never work, it doesn't matter how much talent they assemble. A team led by freshmen will never win the title. Freshmen point guards can't win titles." We won it once and the narrative changed to "They have the best talent so every year anyone but Kentucky is the champion is a failure."

This is so true. It's a pitfall fans, including myself, fall into. It went from "you can't win the big one with freshman!" to "oh, you can't win the big one with freshman?"

 

[wcc31]

Not me. Four titles in 7 years really doesn't appeal to me.

Great post as usual, Zay!

 

[BostonCat2001]

hope you can find happiness in what we have, are, and going to accomplish.

 

[GLR5555]

Not only that but he gets a top 2 class every year.

Not even Top 5 this year.

 

[jrpross]

One college basketball coach ever has had that kind of run. John Wooden, who his own players admit, was spreading cash around like a politician.

 

[sluggercatfan]

Sums up how I feel perfectly. And let the troll patrol commence....

I'm also in this boat!!

 

[Bobcat94]

Bama has 4 titles in 7 years. I was pulling for Bama hard last night but afterwards felt a little down because the "what if" started running through my head. I know fans like to say Cal = Saban but that's not really close to being true anymore. Cal = Saban in recruiting but that coaching by Saban last night is superior.

And before anybody says basketball is different because of the ncaa tournament, keep in mind we've been in or within 1 game of the Title game 4 of the 6 years Cal has been here. We are right there, difference is Cal doesn't finish it like Saban has.

Honestly just 2 out of 7 would be enough to calm the ones like myself that feel like a golden opportunity is being wasted. The one title took having one of the more transcendent players in recent history to get. But a few of the other teams have been absolutely freaking loaded, including one of the most talented teams in college history last year.

I know the troll patrol will come running all pissy and mad but I don't really care. This isn't really a Cal bashing post. More of a "what could have been" type post.

I don't think it's really fair to compare the 2 sports. For one you have to build much more depth and players stay 3-4 years where in basketball they are gone after 1 year leaving the better programs starting over almost every year. Big difference when you have a program full of the best athletes that stay and become mature better athletes. I think both coaches are recruiting at pretty much the same level it's just that due to the makeup of the NFl players don't leave until at least their Junior or Senior years.

 

[sluggercatfan]

Football is different. There's only 10% of teams who can even be competitive with Bama. While Kentucky there's at least 30% of teams who can pull the upset. Not to mention, there's no OAD. You have groomed talent, there aren't as many dire mistakes in personnel.

How can this be... When the majority of this site says every year that we are going to dominate because of our number 1 recruiting classes every year

 

[St.PatterSoN-54-]

Apples and orangutans.....

 

[sluggercatfan]

I don't think it's really fair to compare the 2 sports. For one you have to build much more depth and players stay 3-4 years where in basketball they are gone after 1 year leaving the better programs starting over almost every year. Big difference when you have a program full of the best athletes that stay and become mature better athletes. I think both coaches are recruiting at pretty much the same level it's just that due to the makeup of the NFl players don't leave until at least their Junior or Senior years.

This statement is not true either... Because if I am not mistaken all the teams that have beaten us with our supposidly recruiting superiority are teams that have had players stay multiple years

 

[CalCat57]

I'd guarantee Cal would have that kind of run if our players stayed 3-5 years and we only had to play two games in the NCAAs.

Exactly. Apples and oranges.

 

[sluggercatfan]

I'd guarantee Cal would have that kind of run if our players stayed 3-5 years and we only had to play two games in the NCAAs.

BUT...Cal is NOT going to have players staying 3-5 years because that is not the way he has drawn it up...he is recruiting guys to come here stay one year and then be out of here... either you want it this way or you don't, but that is the game plan that Cal has drawn up on how he wants to run this program and to be quite frank most of the time you're not going to win a national championship doing it this way, but he has put us in contention almost every year so we just have to roll with the flow

 

[Jkwo]

When you say "I'd kill to have the run bama is having", you sound like the spoiled multi-millionaire kid who goes to the school with the one billionaire kid. You get driven to school in an Aventador, and he gets flown in on a private jet. Cal is having a historic run that has only been matched 3-4 times in history, while Saban is rewriting the record books.

Cal is not Saban.

Saban is the greatest CFB coach of all time. He's better than Bear Bryant, because he's doing it in 2015 where FB is a gajillion dollar enterprise with massive TV contracts in which every major school is trying to get a foothold. If we're doing the apples and oranges thing, what he's doing is more impressive than Wooden in the short-shorts era and K doesn't compare to him, either.

He's won 5 of the last 11 championships, for goodness sake. And he's only been a head coach for 20 years - K has been for twice that long.


NOBODY compares to Saban, including Cal.

If you look at his numbers, Cal is in the top 20 of CBB coaches of all time. That's probably being conservative. If he stays for 8 more years and wins 2 championships in that time with 1 or 2 other F4s (totally possible given his current rate), he's a top 5 CBB coach of all time by accomplishment. But he still wouldn't be Saban - and that says way more about Saban than Cal.

Saban is the greatest college football coach of all time, and we don't have a basketball corollary, unless you want to talk about Phil Jackson or Gregg Popovich. Pat and Geno don't count, because WBB has no parity at all.

 

[stenchymouse]

Basketball is a different game.

Any basketball team can lose to anyone on a given night.

In football, that's just not the case because of the speed and physicality of the game.

In football, it's hard to deal with a team like Bama that has the sheer numbers of elite players and a great coach to boot.

With all that said, Bama still had to catch some breaks to win last night.

In the mid 2000's, we'd have all been saying that we'd give anything to have the run that Cal has been on for the past 6 years!

 

[Ugoff]

People who criticize Cal for only winning one championship in 4 final 4's need to realize that we wouldn't have the OPPORTUNITY if it weren't for Cal. The motivation for this nonsense is dubious at best. Did people sleep through the first decade of this century?