Fourth post from an ESPN Conversation regarding Pitt's hiring of Todd Graham and where Tulsa goes from here:

ORU_Sooner (1/10/2011 at 3:17 PM) Report Violation

As a Tulsa fan, one would hope this is not true; However, it would not be the worst news for Tulsa. Due to the continual success of the program, the Tulsa program is left with many options; they may be able to persuade the return of Steve Kragthorpe (who many believe is responsible for the resurgence of Tulsa Football), or a variety of other highly regarded under-the-radar-coaches.

Careful Tulsa; you are askin' for a Krag draggin'.

Citizens of the College Basketball Landscape:

This FanPost is a warning to all of you that have grown up loving the game of college basketball.  It has come to my attention that there is a subtle and well trained con artist making a fairly decent attempt at altering the way in which we define and recognize achievement in the sport of NCAA men's basketball.  I would not think it necessary to report these suspicious behaviors had the con man in question not begun to show signs of (1) obsession to repeat the offense and (2) a fetish to aim for larger programs and conglomerates of fans.  Furthermore, while the seriousness of these attempts was not thought to be as severe at the Universities of Massachusetts and Memphis State, the con artist has most recently set his brash aim on the most storied and entitled college basketball program in the history of this earth.  With sincerest regret, I write to inform you that this program and its fanbase have taken the bait that is the John Calipari brand of Basketball, and I fear that the University of Kentucky, as well as its glorious fanbase, may never be the same as a result.

What follows is an exposing of the deplorable steps that Mr. Calipari has taken in his attempt to bring down this proud and storied program's expectations of real achievement while, at the same time, cashing the richest coaching checks in all the land.  The intention of this exposition is to equip other programs with the ability to reject this seemingly harmless rubenesque figure as he tries to swindle his way into your beloved basketball program.  Frankly, as a result of my investigation, I can't help noticing this guy's affinity for jumping ship as soon as the waters get rough, and I wouldn't want to see anyone else's program become the rescue boat for this swindler.

FILE.

Sting Operation:  The Duping of the University of Kentucky

Con Artist:  John Calipari  (Alias: Coach Cal)

Target(s):  Program, fans, cash

My investigation has led me to some examples of human frailty I thought I may never have to witness.  In the hours and days after the University of Kentucky's loss to West Virginia University in the East Regional Final of the 2010 NCAA Tournament, I have seen on Kentucky blogs, heard on radio talk shows, even witnessed first hand during conversations with fans, a desire to praise their team's efforts throughout the season.  References have been made to the team's 35 win season, their reemergence into the national spotlight, their exciting style of play, their memorable players, their regular season and conference tournament titles, their number one seed (I fear that I could go on for pages with ease, but the further examples would no better illustrate the sting than these observations already do).  These examples should be addressed separately.

-While it is true that Calipari's team did win 35 games, it is important to note that they did not win one against a great team.  This team's best wins came against Vanderbilt (who would later be granted a 4 seed into the tournament, but would waste that seed by losing to the 13 seed Murray State) and Tennessee (who would later be granted a 6 seed into the tournament, and would advance to the Elite Eight round of that tournament with wins over San Diego State (dismal), Ohio (putrid), and Ohio State (impressive) before losing to Michigan State.)  In fact, for the purposes of this exposition, it is important to document that the first time this team faced another foe with similar talent and ability, Calipari's Cats struggled to compete over the course of a forty minute contest.

-While it is true that Kentucky did reenter the national conversation of college basketball, this reemergence was just as much a result of the team's lack of success over the course of a decade as it was the team's success over 5 months.

-While it is arguable that this Kentucky team did play one of the more exciting brands of basketball over the course of the season, this brand was unable to answer the threat posed by a more disciplined and learned basketball team during the most important single elimination tournament of the year.

-While it can not be disputed that the fans' memories of this "memorable team" are all they will be able to draw from as each of the important parts of this team leaves this temporary stop on their way to their real goal of becoming an NBA player, it will be interesting to measure the worth of these memories as a result of the team's inability to properly advance to its expected spot in the tournament.

-And while it is true that the University of Kentucky was able to claim championship over its regular season and tournament in its conference, playing in a conference that is ranked outside of the top 3 in a down year in college basketball is hardly an applaudable feat.

The average college basketball fan can understand these points.  But, where John Calipari has succeeded is in his ability to blind Kentucky fans from comprehending.  Instead, Coach Cal has instilled a new set of standards for judging achievement.  35 wins in a watered down schedule is not success.  Returning a program from relative non-existence to visibility is not success.  Playing an athletic style of basketball that fails to beat great teams is not success.  Injecting a fanbase's psyche with NBA in waiting players who will stay in school as long as Carmelo Anthony but are not talented enough to deliver the goods is not success.  Winning in the lowly SEC is not success. These so called "successes" worth heaps of praise from this helpless fanbase are fool's gold.  And these poor fans think they've struck it rich.  Because Calipari's team won 35 games, and made the tournament, and ran fast and jumped high until West Virginia sent them home, and was comprised of 18 year olds now interviewing agents, and dominated an again depleted SEC; because of these accomplishments, Calipari would have you believe that the season was a success.

Why wouldn't he?  His job depends on his fanbase, regardless of where he is coaching, recognizing success in these forms.  It can't be in the form of trips to the Final Four.  The NCAA will tell you Calipari has never been to one.  It can't be in the form of a National Championship.  Calipari's brand of basketball has never reached that pinnacle.  It can't be in the form of players who establish long term relationships with the University they attended and represented.  Most of the talent Calipari recruits will never stay at the school long enough to truly endear themselves to the fanbase.  Instead, Calipari will replace the outgoing talent with new incoming talent.  And he'll convince the fanbase that the players came to their school.  But the students don't come to Kentucky; they come to Calipari.  And they don't come to Calipari to get to the Final Four; they come to Calipari to get to the NBA.

I implore the current victims of this con artist, the "beneficiaries" of this new outlook and perspective on accomplishment and success, to understand three things: others have been where you are, they got through it, and you will get through it too.  You won't get through it with national championships or without impending controversy, but you will get through it.  And when you do, your University will be $4 million per year poorer than when you started, but the beauty of this man's con is that you will be so happy that he is gone, the money won't matter.

FILE CLOSED.

I am starting to become a very nervous University Of Louisville Cardinal fan, and what follows is a series of disjointed insights that, when compounded together, help to explain my anxiety.

1.  I believe that this UofL basketball team's shooting skills will rival those of the Final Four team of Garcia, Dean, and O'Bannon.  The long range shooting potential that exists between Jerry, Preston, Marra, Delk, Edgar, Kyle, even "Rock," is exciting just to think about.

2.  I believe that this UofL basketball team's rebounding skills will rival those of the team that lost Garcia, O'Bannon, Miles, and Otis and entered the Big East.  That team's inability to rebound was painful to watch, and I fear that this year's team will struggle mightily on the boards.

3.  After considering those two points at the same time, I am beginning to think that the key to our team's success will be the guards' ability to play together, sub in and out seamlessly, and score score score unconciously.

4.  On a busy sports night across the land (World Series clincher, NBA games coast to coast, etc.), 20% of Sportscenter's Top 10 Plays was dedicated to your boy, my boy, OUR BOY Peyton Siva.  Coming in at #7 was Peyton coming from the other side of the lane and jumping 26 feet in the air to block a Bellarmine shot.  At #2, Siva reverse slamming a Jerry layup that rolled off the front of the rim.

5.  Here is my concern.  I hope that every person affiliated with Cardinal basketball gets a chance to see the Top 10.  The fans, the coaches, Peyton himself along with his teammates, everyone.  Well... everyone but one special player that has become so near and dear to our hearts.  I hope that Edgar "Get fouled,score the bucket, check to make sure that you're ready for the camera, pose for the camera during the middle of a Sweet 16 game" Sosa forgot to pay his cable bill and never gets the opportunity to witness Siva's national media exposure (which Edgar so violently craves) before we even tip the ball off when it counts.  My concern is that this team's success hinges on the ability of our guards to play unselfishly, to think team, to make the extra pass, to not dribble into the lane without a plan and cross your fingers for a bail out foul, to play team defense; ultimately, to do all the things that seem to come so naturally to freshman Siva, but seem to escape senior Sosa.  I am willing to bet that if you sat and had lunch with Sosa and Siva together without having any previous knowledge of either, you'd be able to tell in less than a minute which was the senior and which was the freshman.  In other words, I am sure that during his time at UofL, Edgar has matured into a great young man.  But I'm also sure that Edgar Sosa did not come to Louisville to pursue a degree in Upstaging a Freshman in Maturity Level at a Hypothetical Lunch; he came to get better as a basketball player.  

6.  I'm just starting to think that by conference time, playing Peyton a majority of the game will be the high percentage choice, and I just don't know how either Edgar or Pitino will react to that reality.  And if this scenario does in fact become a reality, Edgar's ability to adjust to a role playing spot up shooter in his senior year may be the difference between a good year and a special year.  I just hope that this year, Edgar's last, is the year that he begins to make mature decisions on the court for the betterment of his team.

I want to begin by taking just a sentence or two to acknowledge and thank Mike and the cast of regulars that pepper this site with one liners, fan posts, and even full game breakdowns that all effectively act as commentary gold.  Because of the Card Chronicle, this has been the most entertaining and fully developed season of Cards and college basketball that I have ever experienced.

With that being said, I can't believe that my first true impulse to add to this tangled web of information and emotional purging comes to me by the hands, or rather the foot of a Marquette Golden Eagle.

I've never liked Dominic James for all the obvious reasons. First, he established himself as the floor leader of one of our more bitter rivals in Marquette.  Second, he did it as a freshman, solidifying his place alongside Laettner, Prickett, and Diener as a guy who would seemingly take a decade to graduate from college.  Third, he was a pretty good ball player on both ends of the floor; lightning quick, good handles, good defense, decent shot.  And finally, because he always seemed to have better than "pretty good" games against UofL.

So when I heard at halftime of the UConn / Marquette game that James was out indefinitely with a foot injury, and later, that indefinitely meant the end of his college career due to a break of the fifth metatarsal in his left foot, I was surprised by my immediate thoughts.  As a fan, I instantly began to analyze what the injury meant in terms of the rivalry rejuvenation on Sunday, and once I came to the conclusion that Marquette might now have its hands more full than it did before the UConn loss, I felt a bit cheated.  I have been looking forward to this particular matchup all year; I thought in October that Pitt was a good matchup for us, UConn a bad one, but even after watching Marquette's team, the core of which is comprised of 3 senior guards, I really had no idea how UofL and the Golden Eagles would handle each other. While I still fear what Marquette could do at the White Out, I honestly don't fear it as much. And if I feel cheated, I can only imagine how Dominic James feels.

Which brings me to the aforementioned feelings of confliction that now reside deep inside my gut.  Yes, I despise Dominic James for all the reasons outlined above, but venturing deeper into my soul, I come to find why I like him even more.  The reasons to like James are far more obvious than the reasons not to.  First, he's a true leader. James leads on the court with his play, not his mouth.  His threes are assassins, but of the silent variety.  He doesn't argue every call.  He tries as hard as he can to beat you; when he does he's content, when he doesn't he's gracious. Second, he makes his teammates better.  McNeal and Matthews were not national names like James was coming out of high school.  But, over the course of four years, James' decision to spread the ball instead of hog it is what ultimately put Marquette in the position to do great things this year, until the injury.  Finally, he's a senior.  Men like Dominic James and Terrence Williams are slowly becoming a dying breed.  Sure, both have tustled with the idea of leaving early for the NBA, but both listened to reliable sources and made good decisions, even when it meant acknowledging weaknesses in their games.  Once those decisions were made, they both fully committed to their teams and communities.  

Seniors like these should be cherished by the teams' fans, but also by the game's fans.  College basketball needs sturdy players like James to solidify its place as the best sport in America.  It is a shame to see an injury like this interrupt the last chapter of a great collegiate athlete's career, especially when this instance can now be the example that the agents and friends at home need in attempting to convince the next T Will or DJ to leave early.

"Go Cards" as always, but I hope that on Sunday Dominic James is on the floor when his team is warming up an hour or so before the game.  If he is, I might take the time to walk down and tell him all the reasons that Cards fans hated seeing him check into games, but why they hate seeing him on the sidelines even more.