On Cal and Changes

A few weeks ago, I was driving through rural Johnson County on an overcast Friday afternoon. As I sat at a stop light, I saw a kid who looked to be eleven or twelve getting off the school bus. In the dead of winter, he was walking slowly and dribbling a ball. It was a scene I've encountered hundreds of times: a young Kentuckian who loves basketball. The mountains, the humble homes, the simple love of the game -- it could have been a vignette set at any point in the last fifty years, or a lithograph hanging on a devoted fan's wall. It simply was the embodiment of the Commonwealth's love of basketball. Yet, as I looked back at the kid one last time before my light changed, I was overcome with the sense that, while Kentuckians' devotion to basketball hasn't changed in decades, the Wildcat Fan perspective has changed dramatically in recent years. In 2012, as fans of the Number One team in the country, we really aren't kids walking up a dirt road dribbling a basketball. 

The Coach Cal era has brought a totally new viewpoint to the Big Blue Nation. Anyone who follows college basketball in even the most casual fashion knows that John Calipari's coaching and recruiting styles have caused quite a stir. When Coach set out to revitalize the storied University of Kentucky basketball program, we knew we were in for some changes. As fans well-schooled in the x's and o's of the game, we anticipated the dribble-drive offense to be a dramatic departure from the tried-and-true zone we all knew and loved. We expected a flashy recruiting style, one which took recruits from "blue chip" to "blue and white" before transforming them into big-money NBA stars. 

And yet, even with those expectations, we couldn't have possibly been prepared for the transformation that the Kentucky basketball program would undergo. We'd seen amazing players in blue and white before, but who could have expected to see Anthony Davis break Shaquille O'Neal's season-blocks record when a month of conference play still remained? We have a history of success in the NBA, but who could have anticipated five first-round draft picks in 2010? The answer to both of these questions is, quite simply, "anyone who gets the Coach Cal game." 

Coach Calipari has changed the face of Kentucky basketball so dramatically in the past three years. Most of the time, I’m totally on board. If big changes mean big rewards, then I'm all about shaking things up.  But, when Coach tells us that the SEC Tournament barely matters, I do a bit of a double-take.  What about the decades of CatLanta and Blue Orleans bumper stickers, coach?  What about all the opportunities to lord our victories over Billy Donovan? I immediately ask.  It's our birthright, our destiny, our obligation to win the SEC.

Now, intellectually, I know that Coach is right. We're basically guaranteed a One Seed no matter the outcome in NOLA this weekend.  But, I'm willing to bet that, for most UK fans, winning the SEC Tournament still means a lot.  It's our turf.  It's traditionally our title to win.  We may have broadened our perspectives, but we haven't changed that much.