Lyons will be a Wildcat. An Arizona Wildcat, that is.
When all is said and done more is said than done.
Bennett will likely be a partial qualifier, which means he isn't eligible to play in the SEC. However, UNLV accepts partial qualifiers, so I'm assuming Bennett will be a Rebel.
Got this from another site. Based on the 7 most successful programs ever (UK, UNC, UCLA, Duke, Kansas, Indiana and Louisville) here is the total number of OOC scheduled games each has played versus each other since 2000):
Kentucky - 45
Indiana - 20 (13 of those versus UK)
North Carolina - 18 (12 of those versus UK)
Louisville - 15 (13 of those versus UK)
UCLA - 10
Kansas - 10
Duke - 6
Those are some mind-boggling numbers.
If you include the 80's and 90's, the gap between UK and the other six schools becomes even wider. UK has always scheduled one way while the rest of the top schools scheduled another way. Those other schools were never criticized for it, but now that UK is apparently going to start scheduling the way everyone else always has, they're taking heat for it. It's ridiculous.
I dont think so. You are forgetting about a few things here. Starting with 1980.......Duke was nothing, UCLA had fallin' on hard times after the '80 season, and Kansas had fallen off the map until 1988.
I looked up IU's schedule dating back to 1980. Here are the number of times IU played the top teams on that list in OOC match-ups not counting the NCAA or NIT.....
UK........32 times
Louisville.......6
UNC.........5
Kansas....5
Duke......4
UCLA......1
The rest of the schools scheduled one way and Kentucky scheduled another? UK is now doing what the other schools have been doing for years? Not so fast my friend. IU played Notre Dame year in and year out back when they were a powerhouse in the 70's into the early 80's. IU played Cincinnati the year they both made it to the FF back in '92. IU had UCONN on their schedule for a couple of years. IU started playing Butler when the rose to prominence. IU was playing Southern Illinois when they were good. IU had a series with Mizzou. IU had a series with DePaul. IU had a series with UNC-Charlotte. IU played a long standing series against UTEP.......etc.
All I am saying is the college landscape changes from year to year. Dont hang hats on those upper tier programs when they were down. I noticed that UK played Kansas in a series in the early 80's. Kansas sucked.
Kentucky is no different than any of the "traditional schools" out there, save Duke(they are in a class by themselves when it comes to scheduling for the past 10 years).
The wife is calling. I love these kind of discussions. Will check back in tomorrow.
UK also had a longstanding series with Notre Dame back then, when the Irish were strong. We played home-and-home series with Kansas when they were strong as well. UK has always scheduled this way. We have occasionally had home-and-home series over a period of years with programs such as Michigan State as well, and I'm talking since Izzo made them a top ten program. No other school has ever scheduled top programs on a regular basis at the rate UK has, and the numbers in this thread bear that out. I'm not suggesting we are above everyone else schedule-wise. My point is, we are being criticized because we are going to start scheduling the way everyone else always has.
I read somewhere awhile back that Duke has scheduled something like two games in the past twenty years on a ranked OOC opponent's court. I might have the numbers wrong, but it was something ridiculous like that. But of course, does the national media ever call out Coach K for it? We both know the answer to that. Just like nothing was made of the Corey Maggette scandal at Duke. Some coaches and programs are untouchable when it comes to media scrutiny. See the current academic fraud scandal at UNC for yet another example.
OK, I'm getting sidetracked -- my apologies. I do applaud IU for being second on that list I posted though. I just hope the UK/IU series is back on the schedule very soon. It's the best college basketball border rivalry in the country and no one else is even close.
This is interesting:
http://www.kentucky.com/2012/05/08/2...#storylink=cpyIn this position, Calipari is mirroring the stance his BFF Rick Pitino (sarcasm) took when he was Kentucky coach.
When Ricky P. inherited the UK job (1989-90), Kentucky was annually playing Louisville, Indiana, Notre Dame, North Carolina AND Kansas.
Pitino quickly shed the home-and-homes with UNC and KU. He began playing Indiana at neutral sites.
Kentucky replaced Carolina and Kansas with one-time games against the likes of UCLA, Maryland, Massachusetts (with Calipari and Marcus Camby), Clemson and Purdue at neutral sites.
It will be interesting to see how they fill the void of the IU series. If it's against ho-hum opponents in neutral sites a-la Duke (St. John's, Valpo, Washington, Oregon, Iowa State, Temple), then bah-humbug.
When all is said and done more is said than done.
"Kentucky was annually playing Louisville, Indiana, Notre Dame, North Carolina AND Kansas."
LOL ... think about that for a minute. Seriously, think about that.
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