Charles Barkley’s Strong Kentucky Views Remain the Same Amid First-Round Win
Blue Blood Nation knows the drill. In Kentucky, your legacy isn’t built in December. It isn’t built with flashy wins in January. It all comes down to three weeks in late March and early April. And for Mark Pope, his first season in Lexington had plenty of resume-building moments. Beating Duke with a wild comeback. Surviving an overtime slugfest against Gonzaga. Smacking Tennessee—twice. But, none of that would mean a thing if his team flopped in the NCAA Tournament. That’s the Kentucky standard. That’s the Blue Blood culture.
And if there’s one guy who understands what it means to be part of a strong sports culture, it’s Charles Barkley. Coming from Auburn—one of the most passionate fan bases in the country—he knows what it takes to build and maintain a powerhouse.
Talking about how certain programs just have that built-in tradition, Kenny Smith pointed out on CBS how Duke hired Jon Scheyer and UNC brought in Hubert Davis as the head coach. In his words, “It’s not a prejudicial thing, it’s a cultural thing.”
Adding to the same, Barkley said, “There’s a lot of great colleges but when you think of UCLA, USC football, Ohio State football, UNC basketball, Auburn football.” And, obviously, he had to sneak in some Alabama slander, adding, “I hate to say it, but Alabama football too.” That Auburn-Bama rivalry never dies.
