Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball

And, um, coach, coach sees the moment and knows the value of putting our student athletes against a tough challenge early on and how it'll pay dividends later on.

And Vegas could be interesting, Jay, because if Louisville lines up with us, that's one that obviously we played Kentucky last year, the coach, um, obviously he's been playing Iona and But if we play Louisville this year, too, that would be special in Vegas.

So that could be a really fun tournament.

At Alabama is a tough one.

We could do this for you, right? I mean...

Yeah, I think let's be honest, I think that's truly the draw and Coach Pitino's resume speaks for itself in terms of victories and championships.

We talk a lot about college in terms of Louisville and Kentucky, but let's not forget obviously that the Knicks and the Celtics and in terms of what it looks like to become an NBA player and professional player.

I think that's the aspirations and the goals of so many of these young student athletes.

He went to Memphis, went to the championship game, both mid-majors.

And then he gets the Kentucky job.

But before he got the Kentucky job, There was a lot of talk that he was going to get a Georgia Tech opportunity in the ACC, and he declined it.

Privately, from what I was told from people who know him, is that he knew he was going to be able to compete with Carolina and Duke, and Georgia Tech was not a basketball power.

So he didn't want to be a mid-major coach making that jump like he did to the NBA, where he lasted a year and a half.

So he declined it.

Now, you might say, well, he went to Kentucky.

Difference in Kentucky and Georgia Tech is that Kentucky has not only tradition, what they really got, and history, what they really got is rich boosters who want to win.

His players are usually more loyal to him than they are the university.

I think Carl Anthony Towns may be a little bit more loyal to Kentucky than he necessarily is to Cal, but I bet if Cal asked him, hey, could you come down here and work with some of my guys, he'd be here.

But same thing for Shea.

Hey, Case and Wallace didn't do anything for the rest of the year.

It's North Carolina State.

Oh, man, I get such a bad taste in my mouth when I have to say this next school.

Kentucky.

And Louisville.

And a lot of times it gets criticized.

Certainly, Kentucky fans got fed up with it because in their mind, it wasn't producing enough national championships.

Winning one national championship wasn't enough for them.

At Kentucky, you have got to hang a banner.

But the thing you've got to know about a guy like John Calipari is because of his loyalty...

Players not only come back to support whatever program he happens to be a part of, but it makes it a lot easier for him to recruit and get the top talent.

What I don't want is to send him there and you tell him he's going to get a shot, but then you're going to bring somebody else in who you know is better and you feel like this is the guy that should be playing.

And you wonder why people will run through a brick wall for Cal.

Texas Tech, Illinois, St. John's, Louisville, Tennessee.

Kentucky, North Carolina, Florida, Texas, Duke, and Michigan.

So that is one, two, three, four SEC schools in tier one out of how many ever I just named, 10, 11, something like that.

Tier two is just under $20 million.

The headline is college basketball's NIL arms race from $5 million to $25 million, breaking down roster values, spending tiers for 2026-2027 is the way that it is framed.

And the four

SEC teams at the top were Kentucky, Florida, Tennessee, and – In Texas, Texas, that makes sense, yeah.

The Moody Center is incredible.

It was like a regular season atmosphere.

That might be one of the toughest environments JMU plays in all year other than going to Kentucky to play at Rupp Arena.

Yeah, I'm like – this time I think this was – I think we talked about it back in the spring when the transfer portal was really picking up for basketball.

I'm excited to see how this group works now that it was maybe a little bit of a different approach to the transfer portal hall for Spradlin and his staff.

yeah and it's also kind of funny like when you look at the schedule ahead if you count an exhibition game at vcu and you play a miami team that went undefeated in the regular season last year coming to jmu to start the season and then you go on the road to kentucky that three game stretch might be their toughest stretch of the season like they could they could lose three in a row if you count the exhibition and people might get down on them a little bit but I think they have a chance to then put together a lot of wins following that.

And if they can come out of that first week of the season, one in one, then I think you're feeling pretty good.

If you somehow get an upset at Kentucky and you start to kind of think about like a few years ago when they won early in the season at Michigan state, like you kind of wonder what the ceiling for that team might be.

Not saying that's going to happen, but yeah, It's it's it's interesting.

Oh, Alabama and Vanderbilt.

Those are your other two that are kind of, you know, watch out for maybe Kentucky can climb up with Malachi Moreno and Milan Momshilovic.

But yeah, it does feel like like Florida as like, you know, fill them in as kind of a one seat.

It feels like one of the highest floor teams coming into a year then that I can remember.

Number four is Tennessee.

Five, Kentucky.

What a fall from grace that has been for the Wildcats at football school now, apparently.

Look at that.

Yeah.

I wouldn't hate a Kentucky shout based on what I've seen.

I would not hate a St. John's shout based on what I've seen.

I feel like St. John's.