Podcast: Jay Bilas back on the show

Are John Calipari and Kentucky earning an unfair advantage with the UK "All-Access" show on ESPN? (US Presswire)

Bringing Jay Bilas back on, automatically makes this podcast a must-listen. Bilas and I recorded this one Thursday afternoon, and the interesting thing about it is, we discuss "All-Access Kentucky." This eventually became a talking point on Twitter/radio later Thursday -- but Bilas and I hit on a few angles I haven't seen discussed elsewhere.

Is Kentucky's arrangement fair? Bilas says, undeniably, yes. Beyond that, he talks the upcoming game in Germany where he'll call UConn vs. Michigan State in just a couple of weeks, and argues the women's game indeed could be better with a lowered rim.

What I neglected to bring up, and apologies to Bilas for this, is his upcoming panel with Bill Self, Mike DeCourcy, Blairk Kerkhoff and Fran Fraschilla. Those fellas will likely touch on a few themes you hear on this Friday edition of the pod.

Let's go to the Bilastrator:

• From the beginning: How-you-dos and how Bilas' preseason prep is different now than it used to be six or seven years ago.
• 2:50: Bilas gets to call the UConn-Michigan State game in Germany in a couple of weeks. He gets into that and resets how last year's Carrier Classic was the "most well-behaved crowd in the history of sports."
• 7:20: Getting into that Kentucky/ESPN relationship and how Calipari is taking advantage of what is afforded to him. Do other coaches have a realistic beef?
• 13:50: This topic took off a bit Thursday, but we touch on the NCAA's precarious role and inherit hypocrisy with the "All-Access Kentucky" pieces.
• 17:40: Hadn't heard Bilas give his thoughts on Shabazz Muhammad's eligibility at UCLA, so the floor is his with that here.
• 21:05: Now we get to this. The NCAA needs to outsource its task forces in order to better serve its member institutions and the public. It goes into more than just that, though. I can't stress enough how much I think you will enjoy and be informed by this portion.
• 31:00: We finish up by talking about Geno Auriemma's suggestions to changing the women's game. It was touched upon on the Wednesday podcast, but Bilas goes into a bit more on it here.

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