quote:
It isn't a fair comparison because the sports are so different, but the oft compared football version of Cal, Nick Saban, has 4 national championships in 9 years.

Football is a simpler game than basketball. A stacked-with-talent Bama football team is more likely to win a 4-team playoff than is a stacked-with-talent UK basketball team in a 68-team tournament.

Last year proves that. Bama had to play only two games within 11 days. UK played 5 games within 15 days. Basketball is an aerobic sport and players are more exhausted after a game.

Young players, even those with great talent, take longer to adjust to the faster-paced game of basketball when they transition to the college level, especially mentally. In today's one-and-done game there is far more pressure to mature faster.

That doesn't happen overnight for every player. Anthony Davis is the exception. Skal Labissiere is the norm.

That's not true in football. Talented freshmen have time to adjust to their new environment, depending on upper classmen to carry the load while they adjust.

Imagine a Bama football program rotating players in and out as fast as does the UK basketball program. They might be a tad more successful because of the less demanding requirements of football but the results would not be similar to what they are now for Bama.

Considering everything, I think Coach Cal is superbly matched to the college game as it exists today. Obviously, Saban is equivalently matched with college football.

Coach Cal has said he will retire from UK. I hope he has many more years with us. Having placed his son on the team, I think we're guaranteed at least four more years.