If you didn’t watch any games or check any box scores, and you listened to Louisville fans talk about their coach, you would think he is John Wooden. You would think he has beaten John Calipari into the ground every time they play. I mean, you would think Pitino would have more than one win over Cal since he’s been at Kentucky if you listened to the way they grovel at his feet. That’s why you can never take a Louisville fan seriously. They are delusional. Not only about their “hall of fame coach” they brag so much about, who happened to spend his hall of fame years coaching in Lexington. Not only because they seem to think they belong with the college basketball blue bloods, even though they are severely lacking in the banner department. Just so you know Louisville fans, elite programs don’t go 30 years without winning a title. No, there are a million other reasons Louisville fans are delusional and the number one reason has to be the fact that they think they are equal to Kentucky. Excuse me while I try to control my laughter as I write the rest of this. The Kentucky-Louisville rivalry is the best rivalry in all of sports when it comes to passion, intensity and just how much fans have invested in the games, but make no mistake, since John Calipari has been at Kentucky this hasn’t been a back and forth rivalry. It has been complete and total domination. Yes it’s the best rivalry in sports. It also may be the most one sided rivalry in sports.
6-1
That is John Calipari’s record against Rick Pitino and the dirty birds ever since his jet landed in Lexington. Two of those victories were in the tournament, one in the final four and one in the sweet sixteen. The one time Rick finally pulled one out over Cal? Rick had a National Championship team and Cal had an NIT team. Rick was at home. And Louisville still had to fight like crazy to pull out a close win. Louisville fans like to bring up Cal’s past or simply fabricate things about him that only fellow delusional Louisville fans will believe, all so they can continue to lie to themselves and not have to admit that deep down they know the simple truth. John Calipari is a better coach than Rick Pitino. Shout it from the mountain tops because it is no longer a secret. Three Final Fours in four years along with a National title with a team of freshman speak very clearly. Yes, Rick may overachieve with his two star recruits and make a few runs every once in a blue moon, but if you are looking for consistent success at the highest level, along with the best assembled talent college basketball has ever seen, you need to take a look at the coach in Lexington.
In the past five seasons Kentucky has OWNED Louisville on the basketball court. For a rivalry that is the best in college sports, isn’t the other side supposed to win every so once in a while? And in what world is the coach on the winning side given less respect for his coaching ability than the one taking home five losses? A world in which media shares the same delusions Louisville fans do and want to continue to tell themselves that Rick Pitino does things the “right way”. So they want to tell me that gathering elite talent, and teaching that talent in less than a year to play as a team and win at the highest level in the sport isn’t the right way? Fine. Say what you want. But John Calipari does things the winning way. Especially when it comes to playing Louisville.
Looking at the trajectory of both programs from this point forward it seems that Louisville could be headed for a rough stretch of years in the near future. With Russ Smith graduating (it can be argued he is the second best player in the program’s history), Montrezl Harrell leaving for the draft and Luke Hancock graduating as well, Louisville will be losing their three best players. It could even be their four best players if point guard Chris Jones chooses to leave as well. Let’s face it, Rick got lucky with Russ Smith. Russ was criminally underrated as a 2-star recruit coming out of New York because of his small size, which is still a concern and will be the main reason he won’t have a very long NBA career. Players with that amount of talent don’t go that underrated very often and Rick simply can’t reload in one or two years like John Calipari can. Rick can recruit all the foreign big men he wants, but he still won’t be able to replace Montrezl Harrell who fell in his lap after Seth Greenberg was fired at Virginia Tech, if he didn’t get fired Louisville wouldn’t have had any big men worth a damn this year.
At this point Pitino simply can’t keep up with Cal, Coach K and Bill Self on the recruiting trail and it is going to take a long time and a lot of luck for him to be able to get his program back to the level of the past few years. Does Rick retire this off-season? I don’t believe he will, but if he were to walk away it would not shock me. Not one bit. I see a few down years and maybe even a couple NIT appearances in the future for the Cards. If Rick doesn’t choose to step away in the next few years, and his teams struggle there is a chance he could get run out.
So with Louisville trending downward, Kentucky’s trajectory couldn’t be heading in a more opposite direction. This year could end in another National Title for UK and at the very least will end with a Final Four banner hanging in the rafters in Rupp Arena. As for next year, Kentucky could return Alex Poythress, Dakari Johnson, Marcus Lee and the Harrison twins all of which have blossomed into stars during this tournament run. Add into the mix Trey Lyles, Devin Booker (he is a sniper), Tyler Ulis and the mutant that is Karl Towns and Kentucky instantly becomes the favorite to will the title next year as well. The only team that could really challenge them for that spot would be Duke, and that’s only if Jabari were to return. So while Louisville ponders losing their coach and fears NIT appearances in the coming future, Kentucky locks up a banner this year and looks to be the favorite to hang more in the coming years. As long as John Calipari is the general of the Big Blue Nation all I see is number one rankings, Final Fours and trophies down the road.
Looking at how each program is trending, not only is this wonderfully vicious rivalry one sided now, it looks like it will stay that way long into the foreseeable future. It should be fun to see how the delusional Louisville fan base tries to rationalize even more losses handed to them by John Vincent Calipari. I suppose they should get used to it.
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