* No one would dispute that University of Kentucky men’s basketball is one of the most storied programs in the country. It was great before John Wooden became iconic at UCLA. But, frankly, how does anyone root for Kentucky basketball anymore? Including hard-core UK Bluebloods as well as all those lifelong Commonwealth bandwagoners.
The UK program, which won two games last week at the Forum, is run by college basketball’s pre-eminent hustler, John Calipari. He makes mercenaries look bad. He had previously presided over renegade programs at Massachusetts and Memphis. Notoriety has been his legacy. When it brought Calipari in, UK knew what it was getting–and what it wanted: success and satisfied boosters at any cost.
Calipari wins, of course, but it requires a Faustian deal as a trade off. He not only doesn’t pay even lip service that universities should try to field teams of “student-athletes,” (It can be done–see Duke, Notre Dame, Brigham Young, Villanova, Vanderbilt, etc.) he makes a mockery of the concept. He basically rents players who have no more interest in getting a degree that LeBron James or Charles Barkley do. He brings in “one-and-done” Hessians to prep for the NBA in Lexington. Sure, big time college basketball is big business, but “Big Blue” used to be able to win without consulting Mephistopheles.
*Bowl reality: We all know about college football bowl inflation. Not even a winning record is required to get an invitation to one. Moreover, bowl game participation can even be a loss leader. That’s what happens when a school’s own fans aren’t willing to dig deep enough for an out-of-town trip–often to a non-descript bowl game that didn’t exist until a couple of years ago. Selling tickets is now a standard part of a school’s quid pro quo for accepting an invitation to a bowl.
Exhibit A: USF. This past season the Bulls went to Charlotte for the Meineke Car Care Bowl. USF didn’t sell nearly enough of its allotted 12,500 tickets, and it had to make up the difference. Ultimately, it cost USF $63,000 to play the game, which it did win, 31-26, over Clemson.
But it could have been much worse. Fellow Big East member Connecticut took a $1.7 million loss on its (Phoenix) Fiesta Bowl appearance. The biggest factor: more than $2.5 million in unsold tickets. And it lost–48-20 to Oklahoma.