Giving Calipari Credit

I've never been a big John Calipari fan. I know he can coach, but I've never been able to ignore the trail of violations and vacated Final Four appearances he's left at other schools. His biggest defenders will say he's never been officially accused of anything, and they're right. There sure is a lot of smoke there, however, even though I have yet to see the fire. To his credit, Calipari has kept his distance from the smoke and never gotten burned.

Love him or hate him, you can't deny that John Calipari
has a system that works and now won him a title.

He had never won a title until Monday night. Now, he has one. All I can do is salute the guy, and I'm actually going to give him credit for doing it.

I don't like "one and done" guys any more than anyone else. However, the NBA has forced this situation on college basketball. Guys like Anthony Davis and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist have to go to college somewhere. So, why wouldn't they want to go to Kentucky to play for a guy who has sent several players to the NBA?

People (and I admit I'm in this group sometimes) like to hate on the Yankees and Red Sox for spending a ton of money to contend and win championships, but they aren't breaking any rules. They are just taking full advantage of the system in place. That's what Calipari is doing.

These top prospects need a place to play until they are eligible for the NBA Draft. Calipari has a system in place in Lexington that allows these guys to come in for a year, win, develop and move on to the league to make room for the next crop. Love it or hate it, that is well within the rules of the current system.

Calipari himself has said he hates the NBA's eligibility rule, but he works within the system. Sure, Calipari haters would love to say he's recruiting by shady means and won't give him credit. A.) They have no proof of that, B.) Even if he is, there is no way he's the only one, and C.) Like I've said, due to the current system, these kids have to play college ball somewhere. So, why not go to Kentucky in the one-and-done system that Calipari has perfected? It's a winning program with great fan support that will give a kid plenty of exposure to help him get to the NBA, which is where all those one-and-done players want to be.

Ideally, I'd love to see a system that allows elite high school players to go straight to the pros while college players have to stay at least two years (similar to rules for college baseball, which forces players to go to college for three years). Right now, though, the NBA has no reason to change its rule. I don't see that happening any time soon. So, college basketball fans should get used to the way things are.

I'm still not a Kentucky or Calipari fan, but I do at least give him credit for winning this championship. However he did it, he assembled an amazing team that was exciting to watch. They deserved that title. The way Cal keeps shuffling top talent in and out of Lexington, it might not be his last.