See Ya On The Way Back Down

Also posted on the Indy Star blog Tales of a Hoosier Ex-Pat

The Kentucky Wildcats should be congratulated on their 90-73 victory over a tenacious Indiana University squad looking for their 5^th win. Kentucky and Indiana are two teams at different stages. Kentucky is playing at a championship level with the ability to make huge runs. They look a lot like the UNC team that took home the national championship in April, and is my early choice to run everyone they face out of the bracket this spring. They have a chance to make a run at Indiana's undefeated mark (unless my old friend Bruce Pearl has anything to say about it).

Indiana is in year two of Extreme Makeover: College Basketball Edition. It's not so much a rebuilding year, but more of a reconstruction effort so massive, it may qualify for stimulus money. The Hoosiers had some early missteps this year, including an embarrassing loss to my wife's alma mater, Boston University (which she has not let me forget). They did get a huge road win over Pitt earlier in the week. It's not like taking down UNC or Michigan State, but it's a win over a really good team. Indiana has a great freshman in Mo Creek (play on Mo Cheeks), and junior transfer Jeremiah Rivers plays with an energy level that the Hoosier Nation hasn't seen since a young A.J. Moye donned number 2. Plus, Indiana has the energetic young coach it's been looking for since they jettisoned Robert Montgomery Knight.

Next year, Indiana will contend for a Big Ten title. Next year, Kentucky may be under the microscope.

So this part of the post is to the Kentucky faithful. Look, I know that we haven't always gotten along. Actually we really don't like each other all that much, but I beg of you…boot John Calipari as soon as possible.

Please.

I know what you're thinking. I'm a bitter, jealous Indiana apologist who wants to taint the victory with unfounded accusations of wrong doing by bringing in ringers and ineligible rent-a-players.

Calipari is a bad guy.

Really.

His résumé says that Coach Cal has made two Final Fours. In reality, he has had team scrimmage in two "Final Threes". His first star Marcus Camby took $20,000, bling, and prostitutes from an agent (Sidebar: Really, you needed prostitutes…you went to UMass. You couldn't find a cadre of college women who were willing to throw themselves at you…at the same time? You're Marcus Camby, Dammit!). Neither the school nor Calipari were implicated in the scandal. However, the NCAA declared Camby ineligible, each game was vacated, and Calipari bolted to New Jersey. No further investigation was warranted.

Coach Cal found his way to Memphis after failing in the NBA. He started to build up a Tiger program that needed a renaissance. Memphis slowly started to build the dominate program in Conference USA (which isn't saying much. Oooo you beat the crap out of DePaul).Then Calipari recruited a Chicago guy named Derrick Rose. He wasn't too bright, so somebody else took the SAT for him. Oddly enough, the NCAA thought that it sounded like academic fraud. Once again, Calipari was not implicated, but Memphis lost their second Final Four (1985 was vacated as well). There was no further investigation, because Rose left the school to go to the NBA, and Calipari left for Kentucky.

This year at Kentucky, Cal has John Wall. He's an almost definite rent-a-player who will declare himself eligible for the NBA Draft that will either land him in Minnesota or New Jersey (which would be ironic). Calipari says that he's a real student with a 3.something suspect GPA. It's hard to believe him considering Cal's previous educational standards. How do we know that he's been doing his own work? I don't really like making an accusation like that, but if you look at Cal's body of work, it's easy to assume the worst. It wouldn't be that hard to pull off. Just ask Clem Haskins.

This guy is dirty. Sure, he wasn't implicated either time, but these things seem to happen on his watch. For as much as I hate Kentucky, I would really hate to see a program I respect tarnished again. When the Eddie Sutton scandal rained hell on Lexington, I thought that it was sad. Kentucky was a great adversary, and watching that team gutted because someone was unscrupulous was hard to. It watered down a great rivalry.

Look, I know what I am talking about. Indiana hired a guy that smelled of scandal several years ago, and they knew he was a bad guy. They did it anyway. Kelvin Sampson single handedly destroyed a storied tradition, and besmirched a program that prided itself on being clean. Indiana is starting over again. Please, Kentucky, don't do the same thing.

I feel like the guy telling a female friend that the guy she's dating is dangerous, and she's screaming back. "You just don't know him." Then I would say, "Sweetie, I know his kind."

We had Kelvin Sampson.

We can recognize a dirty coach.

If not, then, we'll see you on the way back down.