Cats?!

I want to be hugely enthusiastic about a thrilling 2-overtime win today vs. Vandy. The more rational side of my brain is asking why I'm excited about beating Vandy, of all teams, at home in front of a full house. Many moons ago, around the time of the Tubby saga, I stated that Cats fans don't expect perfection and don't expect championships every year; we do expect to play on par with the other great programs (UNC, Duke, IU, Kansas, UCLA). Tubby's teams were pretty good- top 20- but rarely top 5, if Final Fours bears that statistic. So now Orlando is doing well vs. weak competition at Minnesota and making mint while doing so. He's even getting some press while doing so. In UK's zeal to have a dynamic new coach they hired what many are saying is a partyboy drunkard who is working without a signed contact. It's just all bad. 7-7 at this point in the season is easily the worst team since Ricky P's first in Lexington, and that was a team on big-time NCAA sanctions. It all sucks ass. This all the more annoying, frustrating, grating, riling, infuriating...that at the top of the polls we have UNC undefeated at #1 and Kansas undefeated at #3. That's what the great programs are supposed to do somewhat often. Instead I'm supposed to soothe my wounds with a win over former doormat Vandy. It reminds me of the saying that the players from Duke and Vandy can say to other teams, "You might have won today, but someday I'll be your boss." Now they'll be the bosses and they're better b'ball teams. Damn.

At least Cats fans are "making it rain" with apparel purchases. Still 2nd to UNC. You know, I just reread that article on ESPN.com (based on a Forbes list) and it's a good example about how much the national media has a bias for Tobacco Rd. and against my fellow toothless, barefoot Kentuckians. They spend the first 4 paragraphs discussing UNC and Duke, with a 5th thrown in about NCState (#13). Yes, UNC is #1 and Duke 5th. Too bad UK is #2 and Louisville #3, with hated Indiana #6. So let's do some Tex69 Sabermetrics analysis of this.

• 3 teams on Tobacco Rd. (1,5,13) gives an average placing of 6.3
• 3 teams in Kentuckiana (2,3,6) for an average of 3.67. Hmmm, guess toothless rednecks win that one.

And while we're at it, let's compare number of national championships (NCAA, although we could add some NIT ones in there back when it was equally prestigious).

• Tobacco Rd. (UNC-4, Duke-3, NCState-2). That gives us a total of 9.
• Kentuckiana (UK-7, IU-5, UL-2). Hmm, a total of 14. We supersede the vaunted Tobacco Rd. again. Looks like we're doing pretty well, don't you think. The Wizard of Westwood is still king, but I'll take this as the actual hotbed of basketball. I would say super strongly that the one thing they very much defeated the locals in is the number of players sent to the pros. UNC was the most underachieving program of all time with respects to the number of future pros that only brought Mr. Forever Dean Smith 2 championships, one by luck. Some of Coach K's magic seems to have diminished, but he's still filling the NBA with first-teamers.

This is why I didn't watch the 2 overtimes today. I take it all too personally and that makes me a loser. Didn't ride today either, but I did fill 4 bags full of leaves and another 2 trashcans full too.

I'm still going. Looked up some results comparing traditional powers. Here are the years and the 'Trads' involved in the Final Four, with UL thrown in to boot.

2007 UCLA (3/4)
2006 UCLA (3/4)
2005 UNC-CHAMP, UL (3/4)
2004 DUKE (3/4)
2004 KANSAS (2ND)
2002 KANSAS (3/4), IU (3/4)
2001 DUKE-CHAMP
2000 UNC (3/4)
1999 DUKE (2ND)
1998 UK-CHAMP, UNC (3/4)
1997 UK (2ND), UNC (3/4)
1996 UK-CHAMP
1995 UCLA CHAMP, UNC (3/4)
1994 DUKE (2ND)
1993 UNC-CHAMP, KANSAS, (3/4), UK (3/4)
1992 DUKE-CHAMP, IU (3/4)
1991 DUKE-CHAMP, KANSAS (2ND), UNC (3/4)
1990 DUKE (2ND)
1989 DUKE (3/4)
1988 KANSAS-CHAMP, DUKE (3/4)
1987 IU-CHAMP
1986 UL-CHAMP, DUKE (2ND), KANSAS (3/4)
1985 none
1984 UK (3/4)
1983 UL (3/4)
1982 UNC-CHAMP, UL (3/4)
1981 IU-CHAMP, UNC (2ND)
1980 UL-CHAMP, UCLA (2ND)
1979 none
1978 UK-CHAMP, DUKE (2ND)
1977 UNC (2ND)
1976 IU-CHAMP, UCLA (3/4)
1975 UCLA-CHAMP, UK (2ND), UL (3/4)
1974 UCLA (3/4), KANSAS (3/4)
1973 UCLA-CHAMP, IU (3/4)
1972 UCLA-CHAMP, UNC (3/4), UL (3/4)
1971 UCLA-CHAMP, KANSAS (3/4)
1970 UCLA-CHAMP
1969 UCLA-CHAMP, UNC (3/4)
1968 UCLA-CHAMP, UNC (2ND)
1967 UCLA-CHAMP, UNC (3/4)
1966 UK (2ND), DUKE (3/4)
1965 UCLA-CHAMP
1964 UCLA-CHAMP, DUKE (2ND)
1963 DUKE (3/4)
1962 UCLA (3/4)
1961 none
1960 none
1959 UL (3/4)
1958 UK-CHAMP
1957 UNC-CHAMP, KANSAS (2ND)
1956 none
1955 none
1954 none
1953 IU-CHAMP, KANSAS (2ND)
1952 KANSAS-CHAMP
1951 UK-CHAMP
1950 none
1949 UK-CHAMP
1948 UK-CHAMP
1947 none
1946 UNC (2ND)
1945 none
1944 none
1943 none
1942 UK (3/4)
1941 none
1940 IU-CHAMP
1939 none


So in the 69-year history of the NCAA basketball championships, the big 6- UK, UNC, Duke, UCLA, IU and Kansas- haven't been in the Final Four only 16 times, and since 1961 it's only been 3x. It's an amazing streak, and one that UK hasn't participated in in spurts. The late Rupp years, the Hall years in the 80s were pretty fallow. The Sutton years of the 80s were a disaster. Really, though, Tubby led us to the longest FF drought, and fans really really love that. All this bullshit being said and listed, I've rarely seen Kentucky teams so bad as these of Gillespie. They're horrible and everyone should be very angry.