College Basketball that isn't the Final Four

There are three things going on in college basketball that I want to talk about that aren't the final four. I will get to the final four later this week but for now there are three developing stories that I would love to bring up and share my wonderful, expansive wealth of knowledge with you on.

First, John Calipari signed an 8 year, $31.65 million contract to become Kentucky's head coach this morning. It seemed to imminent for a couple of days but its official now. I think this is great for Kentucky. They needed to make a splash and they did. They needed to do it quickly and they did. They picked out the guy they wanted, they went after him and they got him. There was a lot of talk about Kentucky being a top 5 job in college basketball and I do still agree with that to a certain degree but if they wouldn't have gotten Calipari or another big name, that reputation would have taken a serious hit in my mind.

Do I think Calipari is the right man for the job? I am not sold on this yet. I think Calipari is great! He is a great recruiter and is a great coach! But remember fans, he has never coached at a big school. So far on his resume is Massachusetts, the New Jersey Nets and Memphis. He put UMass and Memphis on the map, but Kentucky is a whole different world. I do believe he can handle and will do a good job but people will need to be patient here and this is a whole new experience for Calipari. He will have the talent to win in 2 years or sooner but a school like Kentucky has so much BS and politics outside of the gym that the coach has to deal with that it will be interesting to see how coach Cal deals with it. I think the Cats will be back and will be back soon with the team that is there and potentially the freshmen that Calipari may bring with him. Everyone just needs to give him a LITTLE bit of time.

The second issue that has come up is the recruiting scandal of Nate Miles at Connecticut. I have a couple of things to say about this. First, I suspect this is something that happens more often then we as fans hear about. I am not saying that every major program does it because I truly don't believe that but I suspect that some do. Even if its not the huge programs, I am sure its out there and we don't hear about it. Jim Calhoun and Connecticut were just stupid enough and not cautious enough to get caught. I suspect there will be some probation. I think it should be one NCAA tournament only because the kid in question doesn't even go to Connecticut anymore. They broke the rules and they should have a penalty for that but you are hurting the players more then the people who committed the violations and that's not cool.

Colin Cowherd brought up a great point on ESPN Radio the other day. For all the fans out there who really honestly think Calhoun didn't know about this, YOU'RE ALL IDIOTS! Of course he knew about this and he probably was on the other end of some of the illegal calls and messages. Calhoun is a great coach and all but he screwed this one up and he deserves to be punished for it. Just because he is the coach of you're favorite team doesn't make him Mr. Innocent. You all know that if it were Boeheim or Coach K or Roy Williams you would all be crucifying the guy right now but because its Calhoun you think he did nothing wrong. Wake up!

Just as an interesting quick little third note, all the experts and most fans for that matter, myself included all said that the Big Ten was down this year and was a weak conference but if you look fans, the Big Ten has a legitimate shot at winning both post season tournaments with Penn State in the NIT and Michigan State in the big dance. Wouldn't that be something!