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Rupp won big, but he wasn't popular with his players.

Times have changed. Matthew Mitchell, who almost led UK to the Final Four last season, is a players coach. You wonder what he thinks his players say about him, behind his back.

"Oh, I don't know," says Mitchell.

"I think they probably think I'm a little crazy sometimes. I hope they understand how much I admire them and care about them. Really, what we are trying to do is create and environment for them and just use basketball as a tool to get them to be successful people. Hopefully they understand that. We had a fun time last year."

That includes some of his players who still haven't owned up to pulling pranks on Mitchell. Can you imagine John Wall doing that to Cal? Patrick Patterson pulling a prank on Billy Gillispie?

"That's all part of us trying to have a family atmosphere here. When you care enough about someone to pull a prank on them I guess that's pretty good stuff."

To the obvious. Before he's through, Mitchell wants to win a national championship. He believes the support to do it has been given to him at Kentucky. But, there have been some great coaches who never get to a championship game. Mitchell's goal is to coach at UK for a long time. If he does that and takes care of his players the right way, he'll be happy.

"And this is what I tell them in recruiting. My goal is for our players to tell us ten years after they leave her to look back and say I am so happy I came to the University of Kentucky. I am so happy I played for that coaching staff. I am so happy that I learned what I learned. And, if that happens and we don't win a national championship, I will be more than satisfied."

Mitchell believes if next years group act like a team, they will be in the hunt for the Final Four next season.