University of Kentucky Athletics: In The Eye of the Beholder

Confirmation bias, also called myside bias, is the tendency to search for, interpret, favor, and recall information in a way that confirms one’s beliefs or hypotheses while giving disproportionately less attention to information that contradicts it. This is a psychological bias that says people will gather information and interpret it to fit their own preconceived notions about the way things are. To put it bluntly, people tend to reject information or facts that go against their initially held beliefs and twist new information so that it bolsters their initial position. There is evidence of this everywhere, but in the local sports scene, perhaps there isn’t a more glaring example than the University of Kentucky Athletic Department.

“All UK has is basketball. That’s it. They’re not good at anything else.”

All members of the Big Blue Nation have heard this statement, or some variant, from a rival fan. While the men’s basketball team is the crown jewel of the athletic department, denying the fact that the overall department is one of the best in the country is akin to saying the world is flat. Objective data simply doesn’t back that up. Not when the NACDA Director’s Cup standings (which ranks overall athletic department success) has Kentucky has a consistently top 25 program over the last decade and even finishing 11th overall for the 2013-14 season. No other Division 1 program in the Commonwealth has finished higher. The women’s track team ended their most recent season with a NCAA Runner Up finish. The women’s soccer team is currently ranked 14 in the country. UK Baseball has recently produced college baseball’s MVP. UK Softball is a season removed from Women’s College World Series appearance. And the UK Rifle and Cheerleading squads being home more hardware than even men’s hoops. That sound like a one trick pony to you?

“The University of Kentucky is racist. Adolph Rupp was a racist.”

As soon as we get close to basketball season, images of the 1966 Texas Western vs. Kentucky NCAA Final game gets trotted out as the de facto description of Coach Rupp as a person and the university as a whole. Let’s say Coach Rupp was racist. So what? He last coached the Wildcats in 1972. Richard Nixon was President. That’s been a long time ago. Again, if Coach Rupp was a racist, do you know you employed racists between 1930-1972? America. To somehow continue to paint the university with this racist brush is unfair and unnecessary. Show me any American institution over 100 years old and I guarantee that there was a racist, most likely a vocal racist, in charge. To label UK as being out of the ordinary because of a basketball coach is a bit extreme.

.Mandatory Credit: Mark Zerof-USA TODAY Sports

“Coach Calipari is sleazy. UK cheats and pays players.”

Ah. This is a fun one to tackle. Mike DeCourcy of The Sporting News has written, better than I ever could, about Coach Cal and the way he is demonized in the media. Coach Cal isn’t a saint, but in big time college basketball, few people are. Yet because of his vacated Final Four appearances (Marcus Camby at UMASS taking money and the NCAA ruling Derrick Rose retroactively ineligible), people cling to this “sleazy” coach notion. And yes, the Wildcats have run afoul of NCAA rules. There’s no disputing this. But to act like Kentucky is the only school with these infractions is disingenuous at best and hypocritical at worst. Feel free to search any school and you’ll find infractions on top of infractions.

“Kentucky Football is a joke. They’ll never beat Louisville again!”

Admittedly, the jury is still out on this one. Head Coach Mark Stoops appears to have the program moving in the right direction. UK football hasn’t had consecutive recruiting classes like Stoops has had ever. Long overdue facility upgrades have taken place. And although the 2014 Wildcats finished  on a six game losing streak, 5 wins is an improvement over the 2 win 2013 campaign. Where once the talent gap was wide between the schools, the gap is closing. Even though faced with NFL talent on the other side of the field, last year’s UK team only lost to the Cards by 4 at Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium. Again, the Cats are going to have to prove this on the field, but if a Rick Pitino coached UL team can beat a UK coached Calipari team once, anything is possible.