How good is good enough?

Seth Emerson has a fantastic article up about Kentucky's perception of Georgia.  For those considering whether or not Fox has the program headed in the right direction, here's the money quote:

“They’re a quality program. A solid program,” Jerry Tipton, who has been covering Kentucky for the Lexington Herald-Leader for decades, said of Georgia: “Not an upper-echelon program, but not a lower-echelon program either.”

Really gets you swelling with pride, doesn't it?

So you tell me, in year 7, is that good enough?  Or should the standard be raised?

Read the whole thing.  There's a lot of good stuff in there, including a Kentucky coach who can't pronounce Yante Maten's name.  Hopefully he'll hear it enough tonight that he'll never forget...

[DawgNation]

“When we won a couple of those games how we won them...I just didn't think we'd lose."

If there's a silver lining to Georgia's loss to Kentucky in Stegeman last season it's just how painful it made the loss to Wisconsin in the Final Four:

"When we had a four-point lead with five minutes to go (against Wisconsin), I don't think there was anybody in the universe that didn't think we were winning the game, because we always did."

Fortunately, there were at least a few guys in red who thought they had a chance...

[Vaughtsviews.com]

Jaylen Brown to California

Jaylen Brown has committed to California.  Most Dawg fans saw the writing on the wall a while ago and knew he wasn't coming to Athens, so there's no need to be too upset.

In fact, instead of being upset, just find your closest Tennessee Volunteer and remind them that the guy they ran out of town is bringing in two top 10 recruits along with a 4-star small forward and a 3-star wing.  That should make you feel better.

And if you're still in the dumps, just mull this over:

On the flip side, Brown continues a surprising run of misses for Kentucky this spring. John Calipari and the Wildcats have now missed on all of their five-star targets in the last month, including Brandon Ingram (No. 3), Cheick Diallo (No. 7), Malik Newman (No. 10), Stephen Zimmerman (No. 12) and now Brown.

[ESPN]

Recruiting 101

Jaylen Brown's latest blog post at USA Today has some insight into Coach Calipari's recruiting methods:

Like Coach Cal talked about his relationship with Drake, which was cool because I’m a fan of his.

Whatever it takes, right?  Hard to argue with his success.

Reading further, Mark Fox may want to start hanging out with whatever J. Cole is...

h/t USA Today

Is Kentucky beatable?

Spoiler alert:  I don't think Kentucky will lost a single game this year.

Turns out I'm not alone:

"Those guys are unreal," Georgetown coach Chris Briggs told reporters after the Wildcats dismantled the Tigers 121-52 at Rupp Arena. "I told the guys in the locker room, [the Wildcats] could have beaten some NBA teams tonight, there's no question in my mind."

Some NBA teams? Really?

"I knew they were good coming into this game, but sitting out there watching it on the sideline, honestly I don't see how they're going to get beat this year," said Briggs, whose team saw Kentucky shoot 64 percent from the field and record assists on 32 of its 46 baskets. "I don't like to say that, because I know people have off nights, and things can happen and this and that, and injuries and things like that, but if they play like they did tonight, they're an NBA playoff team."

Coach Calipari said in a later tweet that he believes any NBA team would bury his Wildcats, and I happen to agree with him.  That debate, however, is not pertinent.  The question is whether or not any college team can beat them.  My heart says, "Oh, God, I hope so," but my head says no.

h/t ESPN

The Calipari way

John Calipari's message at Kentucky has always been simple:  play for me for a year, and I'll get you drafted.  That message gets another huge boost next Friday when Kentucky will host a televised scouting combine on campus.

This is the kind of muscle that, at least in 2014, Georgia can't compete with.  The key to beating pretty much any Calipari coached team is hoping all the young talent doesn't gel properly, because he only thing that is going to stop him from getting these recruits is a revision of the NBA's one-and-done rule.

In the meantime, though, there's a sure-fire way to get scouts to Georgia games, too...

h/t ESPN

The NBA calls

It is only a matter of time before John Calipari leaves for the NBA.  As it turns out, it almost happened this year.

The article suggests that, had the Harrison twins gone pro, Cal might have gone with them, and that makes total sense.  However, since they stayed, Calipari has a team that is an obvious #1 with a very real chance to win another championship.

Just a guess, but if that happens, he's good and gone.

h/t Yahoo! Sports

A new day

I have mixed feelings about Bruce Pearl.  On the one hand, he's a cheater, a liar, and a snitch.  On the other hand, he's a good basketball coach and an entertainer.

My feelings about John Calipari can wait for another day.

I do not, however, have mixed feelings about their desire to raise the profile of SEC basketball.

Those of you who can remember about a decade ago will know that the SEC is capable of fielding some pretty good basketball teams.  Kentucky, Florida, Tennessee, and Georgia all trotted out quite a bit of talent in the early 2000's.  Throw in Mississippi State, LSU, and even Auburn occasionally and you had a conference that was competitive at a national level.

Fast-forward to today and the SEC is a talented-but-top-heavy conference with big dreams:

"This is as focused as I've seen this league and these coaches and the programs and the ADs in how do we move this ball forward," Kentucky coach John Calipari said. "We had three teams in the Elite Eight, two teams in the Final Four, a team in the national championship game and still ... come on now. Our goal is let's get half of our teams in within the next three years and two of us playing for a national championship."

What Calipari understands is that a good SEC is good for everyone in the conference.  There is a very real chance that Kentucky will go 16-0 in conference next year.  Wouldn't it be better if they did that in a conference that wasn't a national punchline?

Enter non-conference scheduling:

Better nonconference schedules could help. The league hired former NCAA tournament guru Greg Shaheen as a scheduling consultant last year.

Shaheen made his second consecutive trip to the annual SEC meetings this week, giving detailed presentations to coaches and athletic directors. It's essentially scheduling analytics, which show coaches that who they play in November and December affects everyone they play -- fellow SEC teams -- in January and February.

I have to wonder what those presentations looked like.  Did he show Mark Fox an Appalachian State logo with a big frowny face next to it?

This isn't rocket science:

"If every program just took the bottom-feeder off its schedule -- just one bottom-feeder -- then we go from seventh in RPI to second," Pearl said. "What's best for the league is what's best for the upper half of the league. Let's look at the best playing against the best because that's what fans want, that's what television wants and that ultimately is going to get us more teams in the tournament."

The aforementioned Appalachian State finished with an RPI of 336 last year.  Scheduling can be difficult, I know, but Georgia should not be playing teams with an RPI of 336 (and in case you're curious, last year it was Jacksonville, at 331).

Mark Fox has definitely gotten this message.  The non-conference schedule this coming season is tough, but not brutal.  It is good enough to set up a tournament run, and ultimately, having teams in the dance is the best way to raise the conference profile.

h/t ESPN