I always got a kick of out of Gregg Doyle, the former Uptown paper sports scribe gone rogue. Ever so calculatedly rogue, usually with a good dose of common sense.
But now Doyle has gone and thrown in with the shock-mavens who say outrageous things they really do not believe just in order to make a splash and draw attention to themselves. That is why I am not linking to Doyle’s latest column which drives straight off the cliff in claiming that the combo of John Calipari and Kentucky will dominate college basketball in the years ahead. (Doyle now writes for CBSsports.com if you are particularly curious.)
The gist:
College basketball as you know it? It’s over. That sport doesn’t exist anymore, because that sport had a semblance of parity. … Until now. Until John Calipari merges with Kentucky. … Once Calipari gets Kentucky rolling — and it won’t take him long — Kentucky will be that team. That dominant team. Every year? Yes. Every year.
This claim simply makes no sense, and Doyle knows it. Calipari has never played in a league as tough as the SEC, for one. Two, UNC and Roy Williams. Not every Top 10 recruit and his family is indifferent to playing for a guy who had to vacate a Final Four appearance due to cheating, as was the case with Slick Cal while at UMass. Boosters, cash, and prostitutes somehow got mixed up with star Marcus Camby. Calipari claimed ignorance and skated away.
Will Cal load up Lexington with one-and-doners roped in from a series of shady diploma mill “prep schools?” Will UK take the court with more talent than in recent years? No doubt. Might even win more games, make a deep NCAA run now and then. But dominate as UK’s Rupp teams did in the 1950s? Never.
And Gregg “I’m Over” Doyle knows it.
