Three of the 4 annual participants - Duke, Michigan St and Kentucky - aren’t even in the top 25, with Duke and Michigan St getting only a handful of votes and Kentucky not getting any. And Carolina isn’t making an argument to replace anybody in that group. Only Kansas is holding up their end of the bargain. Paradigm shift or anomaly? My gut tells me the outliers are just that, and will return to being perennial powers, but will they become the overwhelming dominant forces in their respective conferences again? MSU in particular seems to be sinking into mediocrity, and when Izzo retires (probably not too long before that happens), some of their mystique will be gone. Kentucky is Kentucky, and after Calipari leaves (probably sooner rather than later, if BBN has their way), they’ll get a top notch coach who, not burdened by some of the ethical constraints imposed at other schools, will quickly pull their program up. I’m rooting for Jon, but the jury is out as to whether he can get the program to run at the level K did for many years. IMO, the answer is probably whether he can find the right blend of OAD’s, retaining not-quite-ready-for-the NBA players and transfers, and get away from the heavy OAD approach we’ve been on - I don’t think it’s an X’s and O’s Issue.
