Originally posted by MdWIldcat55:
Originally posted by point1zerorock:
Do you not believe the way the game is played and officiated did not change with the 3 major rule changes of the mid 80's - Tourney field expanding to 64, Intro of shot clock, intro of 3 point line?
Sure. I've been following the game since the mid-1960s, and it has changed every few years. The entire history of college basketball is one of rapid evolution and occasional regression, and while it is okay to say one period or another was more aesthetically pleasing, you can't measure the worth of a program without looking at the entire picture. It's like saying you like the Rolling Stones in the Mick Taylor era. Fine. But the band is what it is because of everything that happened from 1964 to today.
The changes you isolate were simply part of the overall evolution, that in my fan days alone included the mid-to-late 1960s when integration became more widespread, and the late 1960s-early 1970s when Sam Gilbert helped UCLA corner elite talent, and the 1970s when the game became much more physical and the early 1980s when the level of athleticism changed dramatically and the era when players like Kobe and LeBron went directly to the NBA in large numbers and today's one-and-done era brought about by the NBA's 19 and over rule.
I'm sure you are a sincere Kentucky fan, and your analysis is not meant to denigrate the broad sweep of the program's accomplishments. But it does bear the echo of 'analyses' I've seen from Louisville or UNC or Indiana fans that begin AFTER four Kentucky titles, and focuses on some period that conveniently includes all of their program's achievements and about a third of Kentucky's.
