Kansas State versus Kentucky, why experience matters

The recent basketball game between Kansas State and Kentucky was a clinic in why experience matters. As far as talent goes, Kentucky on paper was the more talented team of one and done freshmen. It had taken all season for the team to gel into a cohesive basketball team. Here is the fly in the ointment except on rare occasions it takes a team multiple seasons to mature and gel into a championship team.

Kansas State, on the other hand, on paper, was the less talented team that had been playing together and maturing together for a more extended period. Kansas State not being a one and done school have the advantage of the senior leaving and freshman entering the yearly rotation of players. This is the healthy way to grow championship teams as it allows the seniors to guide the freshmen as they mature on the court. As Kansas State prepared for their game with Kentucky, they set a goal of pressuring the much less experienced Kentucky team to take them out of their comfort zone and to keep them off balance. The game plan worked to perfection with Kansas State winning the game. The game was played to the Style of Kansas State, and Kentucky was never able to establish itself always being off balance. I contend that if Kentucky had one or two experienced starters on their team, the outcome of the game would have been different with the more talented team prevailing. It is my observation that companies need to work on their hiring practices. It has become apparent to me that companies are becoming overloaded with young inexperienced management and people with degrees having nothing to do with the companies core expertise and not enough experienced mature people with a degree or not. A company can continue to operate on no experience, but the effects on employees within and outside organizations are negative at best. The genuinely great basketball teams have freshmen and seniors, and the best run companies have a healthy mix of young talented people and experienced mature people. I give John Calipari a lot of credit for what he accomplishes with freshmen teams, but if he wants to win the big dance, he needs experience as well.