Jay Williams calls Kentucky the Dallas Cowboys of college basketball

Jay Williams believes the hype doesn’t match the production when it comes to Kentucky basketball.

During Saturday morning’s College GameDay broadcast from Neville Arena, Williams commented on Kentucky’s up-and-down season this year. The Wildcats (17-7, 7-4 SEC) are ranked 22nd in the country, but they’re just 5-5 in their last 10 games. With losses to Florida, Tennessee, and Gonzaga, UK suffered three consecutive home losses for the first time ever inside Rupp Arena.

Williams says the Wildcats are the Dallas Cowboys of college basketball.

“Every year we’re going to hype them up because they have all the draft picks. Every year we’re going to talk about (John Calipari),” he said. “Cal is one of the best to do it. But is he on the same level of Bill Self?”

Jay Bilas was quick to point out that Kentucky has won a title since the Cowboys’ last Super Bowl.

Dallas won Super Bowl XXX to cap the 1995 season. Since, Dallas has yet to make it past the divisional round of the Playoffs. The Cowboys have missed the Playoffs altogether 15 times and lost in the Wild Card round six more times, including twice in the last three years to end 12-win seasons.

It’s a bit of a harsh comparison. Kentucky won the NCAA national championship during the 1995-96 season. The Wildcats played for another title the following season but came up short. They were back in the title game in 1997-98, this time emerging with a second championship in three years.

Calipari took over in 2009-10 and won a national championship in his third season (a third since 1995). Under Calipari, the ‘Cats have made it to the Elite Eight seven times and the Final Four on four different occasions.

Related: The NCAA Tournament will be here soon! Here’s more information about sports betting in Kentucky to get you ready for the Big Dance.

The frustration has come in recent years. Kentucky went 9-16 during the 2020-21 season. They lost in the first round as a 2-seed in 2021-22 and then lost in the second round during last year’s NCAA Tournament.

Williams himself also cautioned patience as it relates to Calipari just days ago.

During the halftime show of Monday’s Kansas-Texas Tech game, Williams urged fans looking to run Calipari out of town to “take a second and breathe.”

“We’re in February, I know how sensitive people get. Let’s see how we finish in March,” Williams said.

Calipari has also recently said he believes this Kentucky team is built for a deep run come tournament time. We’ll see. A huge opportunity awaits against Auburn on Saturday (6 p.m. ET, ESPN).