I am not going to try and argue with you because no matter what I say, it will be wrong. Why? Because you are a Kentucky fan and anything that anyone says about your program that isn't rosy is straight up blasphemy. Here is my two cents though: I would say to both of you that you were too busy worrying about someone talking negatively about Kentucky to read the article carefully. Where did I say that UK has no tradition? Where did I say that recruits come to UK ONLY because of the tradition? UK has a great tradition, but what I am saying is that your fans and the media shove that down everyone's throats constantly even when you haven't been any good for the past 10 years. Whenever any team beats UK that the fans think shouldn't, all I hear from UK fans is, "How many national championships do you have? Winningest program ever. blah blah blah". Just because you have tradition, doesn't mean you are better than a team that has beaten you 6 of the past 8 times the teams have played. Take the loss and give the other teams some respect. Wake up and realize that UK basketball isn't what it used to be. The glory days are gone, and everyone else is catching up. Come back down from your pedestal, and enter the real world. To answer your question, at Vandy, we never say "that is how it should be" when we beat you. We are just happy to beat you and your delusional, arrogant fanbase in hopes that eventually you will wake up, come back to reality, and give us some respect instead of blaming your loss on the refs, our benches, or claiming it as a fluke. I guess that is too much to ask though based on what the first poster wrote about Vanderbilt. Also, I would hardly say that Vandy has an academic tradition. I think as early as 7-10 years ago or so we had like a 45% acceptance rate. Is Vandy a great academic school now? Yes, and that is what we brag about. We don't brag about the past. We brag about what we are doing now. Another thing, last time I checked, Tubby Smith was a pretty good recruiter at Kentucky. Didn't he recruit your two best players last year in Meeks and Patterson? Didn't he recruit Rondo? Yeah that's what I thought. Hasn't he made Minnesota basketball a good program? I don't care if it is the Big Ten. I hate the Big Ten too, but face it, they were better than the SEC this past year and have a team in the Final Four. As you pointed out, he also beat the number one overall seed in the tourney coached by none other than the coach whose players he inherited and won the national title with. Newsflash: It wasn't only the players who won that championship. The most talented teams don't always win. Why? Because coaching is important. If you were the coach of that team, you wouldn't have won a title even with Pitino's players. I am tired of Tubby getting bashed by UK fans. Tubby Smith is a great coach and a great person, and he was undeservedly treated horribly the last few years he was at UK, all because you weren't winning titles. In fact, I think Tubby would be a great fit to replace Cal in Memphis. Tubby was too nice and too much of a stand-up guy for UK I guess. Lastly, no one is saying that UK doesn't have the facilities, the coaches, etc. They have an incredible arena and have bought a great coach although I will say that I think that Rupp is a little overhyped BY THE FANS AND MEDIA. Maybe it is that you haven't had much to cheer about, maybe it is because I haven't been there for every game for the past 10 years, maybe it is because the arena is spread out, but for as many fans as you have in that arena, Florida makes more noise than you do with half the crowd. Is there a relationship between tradition and other things? Probably. You have a great arena and facilities because of the money boosters are willing to give because of your tradition. I can see that, but the fact is that the other things should matter more than what your team did in the 40's when a kid decides whether or not to come to UK. If he likes the coach, likes the facilities, likes the psycho fans, then all the more power to him for going to UK, but I don't want to hear about going to UK for their tradition. The only reason Cal came to your program was because of your tradition, your brand name, the fact that the media can't get enough of you. You and I both know that, and the simple fact is, if you are a great coach, you are a great coach no matter where you are coaching. You yourself said that you thought Cal already was a great coach before he has even coached a game at UK. Well, if only the media and others weren't always dogging Cal for only winning at small programs and hyping up UK basketball for what they did in the past, he would probably still be in Memphis. Cal shouldn't have to come to UK to prove himself, which we all know is the reason he went there. UK hopefully got their guy this time, but when/if he hasn't reached the Final Four in three years, please don't start calling for his head. The Cal hire was simple in my mind. Barnhart was desperate; he needed a quick fix to save his job. Cal has been successful and had the number one recruiting class possibly of all time. Barnhart decided to throw a ton of money at Cal in hopes that BUYING a championship might work. Pathetic. How else do you explain the fact that UK had absolutely no interest in Cal two years ago? He was the same coach then as he is now. Like I said, I am done. That is all I have to say. I refuse to argue with UK fans because it isn't worth my time. If you still don't like the article, that is fine; you are UK fans; I wouldn't expect you to agree with me, but I guarantee you that people outside the media and the Blue Nation, agree with what I am saying; you all are just too busy in your delusional trances to realize what is actually going on in reality.

Read the article closely, and you'll see that the main point here is that tradition shouldn't be the end-all, be-all when it comes to a team and its ability to attract recruits and top coaches like Calipari. You say Kentucky's history certainly qualifies you and other fans to use the term "tradition" and I would certainly agree, and so does David Shochat, given how great the team has been...in the past. I would also say that no one should care when a team's hardly been an elite squad over the last five years, and I can't remember the last time a team coming off an NIT berth had a 72-hour media frenzy about who would be their next head coach.

It should be, as the column states, what have you done for me lately. The Wildcats have the same number of wins (84) as the "basement-level" Commodores, as you call them, over the last four years. And Vandy's got a Sweet 16 berth and a 6-2 record against Kentucky to boot. Sooner or later, you need to start doing well NOW and stop resting on your laurels, however rosy they may be. Luckily for you and the rest of Blue Nation, the national media will always have your back in that regard and you'll keep staying undeservedly relevant even coming off a lousy year, and this column points out just how ridiculous that is.