It takes something special to get people in Alabama talking basketball instead of football during the summer. John Calipari couldn’t quite pull it off in having six of his players chosen in the NBA Draft, but he was close.Football wasn’t entirely removed from the conversation as Birmingham News columnist Kevin Scarbinsky compared Coach Cal and Alabama football coach Nick Saban, declaring Calipari Saban’s “biggest competition for SEC supremacy.”

This is beginning to get monotonous. Anything Saban can do, Calipari can do at least as well and, in some cases, better.Take the pro draft. The Kentucky basketball program did the other night, by storm, just as the Alabama football program did in April.Alabama had four players taken in the first round of the NFL Draft, a parade started by Trent Richardson as the third overall pick. Someone tell Jim Brown that’s an extraordinarily early selection these days for a running back.Kentucky came back Thursday with four first-rounders of its own in the NBA Draft and six picks overall. Those numbers were equal to and greater than Alabama’s because former Wildcats were the first two players off the board.

The comparison isn’t difficult to understand. Alabama football and Kentucky basketball boast comparable traditions and fervent fan bases and the two programs are certainly atop their respective sports having both won national titles. Link: Draft night gives John Calipari an edge over Nick Saban in turning out pros