Calipari gleefully noted at his introductory news conference on April 1 that the ’Cats “don’t put banners up here for anything else except national champions. That’s why you want to coach here.”

And it’s why Saban and Calipari were hired. To add to Alabama’s six football national titles and the seven Kentucky boasts in hoops.

“As we were doing the hiring of coach Saban, I wanted a coach who had won a national championship, that could hopefully take this program back to that level or position this program to be one of the better programs in the country,” Alabama athletic director Mal Moore said. “I think that’s the approach that Kentucky has taken.”

The similarities go beyond the hirings and the record-setting salaries.

Both programs have icons: Adolph Rupp at Kentucky, Bear Bryant at Alabama. They have national reputations and fan bases that cherish them. Their fortunes before the high-profile hirings had been up and down.

“In the case of Alabama, they are the state university,” said C.M. Newton, a former Southeastern Conference basketball coach and Kentucky athletic director who now lives in Tuscaloosa, Ala. “Auburn is in the same state, but Alabama kind of rules it. The same is true with Kentucky and the Commonwealth. Louisville has a good program but Kentucky is the state university.

“There are many, many similarities. The expectations of the fans in Alabama football is that they compete on an annual basis for a national championship. That’s the same expectation of a basketball fan at Kentucky.”

Saban said he doesn’t know Calipari, though their coaching careers seem to have parallels.

Both have led multiple programs into national title contention — and had less-than-stellar success in the pros. Calipari, who was 137-14 over the past four years with Memphis, lasted 20 games into his third season with the New Jersey Nets. Saban spent two seasons with the Miami Dolphins.

Now, the challenge is not to buy into the hoopla or pay attention to rumors. (As an example, Saban cited a recent story on talk radio and the Internet that had him retiring.)

“I think John Calipari’s probably proven he’s been able to do that at several different places,” Saban said. “My suspicion is that he’ll do a very good job there. People who get affected by all those things probably have a more difficult time staying focused on the task and let those things affect them. At the end of the day when it doesn’t work out, they end up saying, ’I really didn’t do it the way I wanted to do it because I was influenced to do it some other kind of way.’

“We may not be successful here, but we’ll never say that.”

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Terry Gilliam / AP

Spartans take big step forward

Arc's five up, five down: After No. 11 Michigan State's 58-48 upset of No. 3 Ohio State, you'd be a fool to discount the Spartans' national title chances now.

Carlos Osorio / AP

No. 22 Michigan beats Illinois

  Tim Hardaway Jr. scored 15 points and Evan Smotrycz added 13, helping No. 22 Michigan remain unbeaten at home with a 70-61 win over Illinois on Sunday.

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