Succeed and Proceed -- or lose

I basically always made the excuse for Bo Ryan when it appeared that his Wisconsin team did a lot in the regular season and the Big Ten tournament, but went out too early in the full NCAA tournament.

I said it was a college coach in a pro basketball tournament.

The fact of the matter is now clear tonight.  This Kentucky team, which had no business sniffing the national championship, is probably now favored and I will predict will win the title Monday night over Connecticut (itself the best basketball factory college ball has had this millenium -- both genders into consideration).

John Calipari's system and methodology has won over the remaining college programs in this tournament.

(So much so that -- and how much in jest one Kentucky fan saying this has to be in some debate -- a tweet tonight said that, in fact, players who STAY for four years (said about the Florida team that, though they were considered, by far, the most complete team in the tournament, got ran over in a 30-minute display by Connecticut) are the ones who are ruining college basketball.)

Let's understand how a person at UK (or a UK fan) can come to this conclusion:

As reprehensible as it is, when you sign the letter for Calipari to play at Kentucky, you have ONE YEAR.

You have precisely two tasks at the University of Kentucky:

1. Win a national championship
2. Declare for the NBA Draft

Anything else is superfluous.  Yes (as Calipari and the Wildcats found out last year), the margin for error in this kind of methodology, this "Succeed and Proceed" (their response to "One and Done U"), is quite small.

But the fact remains that, barring another rabbit out of the hat by Connecticut, Kentucky is going to win it's second national title in three years -- a second national title completely without any pretense of education in a school setting.

Fail at the first of those tasks, and you probably don't get another meaningful shot in Calipari's program.  You might warm the bench, you might be "encouraged" to transfer.

But, make no mistake, this is his fifth year at the school.  His third Final Four.  All but certainly, at least in my opinion, his second national title in three years.

In the first four years of his time at Kentucky, SEVENTEEN Wildcats have been drafted into the National Basketball Association.  That famed press conference after his first Kentucky title two years ago -- the one where all the starting five and the sixth man all declared for the draft at the same press conference?  All six got drafted.

He has coached three of the last six #1 draft picks.  (And if Kentucky wins, with Embiid's injury (the player from Kansas), I fully believe it might be four out of seven.)

Add his last two years in Memphis, and, in six years, TWENTY-TWO Calipari players have gone to the NBA through the draft.

No uncertain terms, his methodology is going to win out, as long as he has succeeded in getting the players of the caliber he desires (read: NBA draft caliber, and probably would've gone to the draft if not for the one-year exclusion).

Basically, "Succeed and Proceed", or lose.  Period.

It basically works wonders in the dusk of the NCAA era.  If the NCAA lives, he gets to have the best talent, because he, unlike most other schools, makes no pretense of offering an education -- your task is to be ready for the NCAA tournament and NBA draft, and you have one year to do so.

He gets and gives the best of both worlds to the NCAA.  They get the talent they otherwise would not see, and then can exploit them for cash (the best argument I've been given that the NCAA will survive the black eyes it's been given the last couple of years).  The program and talent get the exposure the NCAA provides through media partners and the tournament to keep the well-oiled machine going.

If the NCAA dies, he's a step ahead of the game as far as the next step is concerned.  He already has a minor-league NBA feeder program in place.  It's his entire modus operandi at Kentucky (and may well have been formed in his latter years at Memphis!!).  You go to Kentucky to get ready for "the big show".

And THAT is why Wisconsin lost tonight -- a college team lost to a pro team.

And that's why, even if the NCAA survives now, a big-money program is out of it's mind if it does not adopt this "Succeed and Proceed" model.

Do it, or you lose to it.