UK basketball and such

Isn't it possible that the biggest problem Kentucky fans have with their basketball program at the moment is their own, inflated perceptions? Contrary to popular notion, 25 wins and at least a Sweet 16 appearance every year is not your divine right. I look at UK hoops the same way I see Alabama football, though to a lesser degree. The glory days are gone, not because the program has declined considerably, but because everyone else is catching up. The days of kids dreaming of going to UK to play for the 'Cats are done, just as they have been at Alabama, for many years. Instead of facing that reality, 'Bama fires Mike Shula a year after he wins 10 or 11 games, and UK fans now think Tubby Smith should go.

Maybe he should. But don't expect the next guy to suddenly restore the program to Ruppdom, or even Pitino-hood. The landscape has changed.

Someone please tell Jim Boeheim to stop complaining about his NCAA snub and start scheduling a little better. The Orange played one road game before Jan. 7 -- at Canisius. Ooooh.

And forget expanding the tournament. It works fine as is. Every year, some school or 2 will complain about missing out. That'd be true with 65 teams or 265.

Also: Even as we agree that the little guys give the tournament a lot of its first-weekend appeal, we really don't want to see those teams beyond a week from Friday, do we? As much as we like Winthrop, Holy Cross, Creighton and Oral Roberts, a Final 4 with more than one of them would be less than thrilling...

I talked to Doug Penno yesterday, the Miami senior who banked the shot to beat Akron last Saturday. Great story, great kid. It's the sort of uplift that keeps me doing this. Read it in today's (Tuesday's) Enquirer.

And I saw 300. Epic.