Dec. 03--It's UCLA versus Kentucky at Pauley Pavilion on Thursday night, a matchup of college basketball blue bloods, the most decorated programs in the history of the sport.
But while Kentucky's blue is deep and rich, UCLA's is a lighter, some might even say faded, hue.
UCLA has won a record 11 NCAA championships -- 10 in the 1960s and '70s under the guidance of John Wooden. Kentucky is second with eight titles -- three since UCLA won its last in 1995. In the last five years, the Wildcats have been to four Final Fours, UCLA none.
This season, UCLA is off to another fitful start with a 4-3 record. Kentucky is 7-0 and ranked first in every major poll.
And the Wildcats' advantage isn't only in the win-loss column and rankings.
While Kentucky Coach John Calipari books five-figure hotel suites in the Bahamas, UCLA Coach Steve Alford gets an expense report kicked back when he upgrades out of economy class. While Calipari is shown on a recruiting video fist-bumping the personal chef in the Wildcats' lavish basketball dormitory, Alford is left pointing to blueprints of a planned team facility that only recently broke ground.
There's a massive difference in fan support too. Kentucky's is so strong that it supports its own dating site. UCLA hasn't filled its home arena in more than a year.
Last week, as the Bruins were struggling during a nationally televised game against Nevada Las Vegas, analyst Seth Greenberg, a former major college coach, chided UCLA for not behaving like an elite program.
"UCLA has an elite tradition, UCLA has an elite brand, but they're not an elite program," Greenberg said later, off the air. "And what I mean by that is, they have a terrific basketball program, and a very, very good basketball coach, Steve Alford. But there is a cost of doing business at the highest level."
Kentucky invests, and reaps the benefits.
Get what you pay for
Last summer, Calipari had a problem. He needed to find proper competition to prepare his team for the season.
Easier said than done. His players were so talented he was having trouble finding worthy opponents.
So Calipari harnessed Kentucky's financial power, and the deep pockets of a few dozen boosters, and scoured the world for teams to play.
"I needed professional-level teams," Calipari told the Louisville Courier-Journal. "I needed men. I needed experienced, physical guys that knew how to play. That's what this team needed."
So he enlisted the national teams from the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico, along with a French professional team, and met them at the tony Atlantis Resort in the Bahamas.
And Kentucky paid for it all -- $792,845.68, according to the Courier-Journal. A reception with a band and an open bar was part of the package at nearly $24,000, about the cost of the average American wedding.
Along for the ride came 57 boosters, each paying $6,000.
