Rupp Rafters

#77
#77
They would be lottery picks without Cal. If he had the ability to develop a player, his lottery pick talent would produce when called upon. He is an “average at best” X and O coach and his game planning is even worse. Tubby Smith has a better record in the NCAA tournament than Cal, during his time at Kentucky.
Tubby and Cal have practically the same winning percentage in the tourney:

Tubby 26-9 .742 wining pct
Cal 29-10 .743 winning pct

Cal has more embarrassing early exits, but three more final fours.
 
#78
#78
Seems what is happening with NIL is that the under the table paying is not effective anymore. Coaches who can develop and assemble a loyal team are the ones you want to keep. I'm thrilled to have Barnes. I imagine it's already been discussed-- Kentucky fans wanting Pearl? Would he go there?
 
#79
#79
Tubby and Cal have practically the same winning percentage in the tourney:

Tubby 26-9 .742 wining pct
Cal 29-10 .743 winning pct

Cal has more embarrassing early exits, but three more final fours.
I’m using their time at Kentucky as the measuring stick
 
#81
#81
He develops talent well enough that they are lottery picks and many have very successful pro careers. Whether or not it's his work is open to debate, but those results have a lot to do with 5-star kids wanting to play for him.
I think the 5 star kids go play for him because they know they will start, be treated like Kings in that state and hear no qualms about leaving after one year. Because most of them do leave after 1 year.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Volfan1000
#84
#84
Those are their records at KY. Overall tourney records it’s a no contest.

Calipari 52-20 .722 percentage
Tubby 33-17 .660 percentage
I stand corrected then. I thought Tubby had a better record at UK. Tubby did it without consistent lottery picks too.
 
#86
#86
Calipari's biggest problem is that he hasn't figured out how to blend the top young talent he brings in every
year with more experienced players who might be a shade less talented than his annual group of 5 stars but
offers the cohesion, leadership, and role play that one needs, usually, to have an outstanding team. His
team, almost every year, is very talented and very young--and it's hard to win in the NCAA with a bunch of
freshman/sophs. That's a fact.

Kentucky was also a victim yesterday of a kid who shot out of his mind--made 10 of 20 Trey attempts. He's normally a 38 percent three-point shooter. There's always the risk of running into a team that has a very good day shooting threes.
 
#87
#87
I think the 5 star kids go play for him because they know they will start, be treated like Kings in that state and hear no qualms about leaving after one year. Because most of them do leave after 1 year.
That is exactly the vision the vision he sells. Not about winning a conference title or an NCAA championship. It’s about getting paid, baby. Most of them are willing to stick it out a full year for the cause
 
  • Like
Reactions: Ratvol
#88
#88
Calipari's biggest problem is that he hasn't figured out how to blend the top young talent he brings in every
year with more experienced players who might be a shade less talented than his annual group of 5 stars but
offers the cohesion, leadership, and role play that one needs, usually, to have an outstanding team. His
team, almost every year, is very talented and very young--and it's hard to win in the NCAA with a bunch of
freshman/sophs. That's a fact.

Kentucky was also a victim yesterday of a kid who shot out of his mind--made 10 of 20 Trey attempts. He's normally a 38 percent three-point shooter. There's always the risk of running into a team that has a very good day shooting threes.
Cal’s biggest problem is that he isn’t that great of a coach. Kentucky had 3-4 days to prepare for Oakland’s matchup zone, yet looked completely lost and unprepared for it. Same thing happened in the loss against St. Peter’s two years ago. KY was in complete control of the game, then Shaheen Holloway went zone in the last 6-7 minutes. Kentucky had no clue how to handle it offensively. Zero adjustments were made by Cal. KY hasn’t been the same since Cal and John Robic had their falling out. Robic had been Cal’s right hand man since his days at UMASS and was considered a great X’s and O’s guy.
 
#89
#89
That is exactly the vision the vision he sells. Not about winning a conference title or an NCAA championship. It’s about getting paid, baby. Most of them are willing to stick it out a full year for the cause

Another by product of this approach is you’ve got a bunch of kids who don’t care about the school, the uniform or their teammates. They simply don’t care if they drop a game here or there, because it’s all about getting paid and the next level. A “team” of individuals with their own agendas and none of them are to win or have milestones at their current stop.
 
  • Like
Reactions: volfeeva and Ratvol
#90
#90
No debate for me. Most of those kids would be lottery picks if they played at Slippery Rock. The NBA already knows plenty about them before they ever get to KY. If he “developed” talent better, he’d have more than one NCAA title.

They would be lottery picks without Cal. If he had the ability to develop a player, his lottery pick talent would produce when called upon. He is an “average at best” X and O coach and his game planning is even worse. Tubby Smith has a better record in the NCAA tournament than Cal, during his time at Kentucky.

You guys might very well be right, as I said it's open to debate. However, those kids and their parents consistently choose to go to KY and not Slippery Rock, so there's something to be said for that.

The fact that he's made no bones about the fact that preparing kids for NBA careers is his #1 priority leads me to believe that he's doing something right in getting these kids ready for the next level, be it helping them refine their games or just with being able to handle the rigors and life of an NBA player.
 
#91
#91
Calipari's biggest problem is that he hasn't figured out how to blend the top young talent he brings in every
year with more experienced players who might be a shade less talented than his annual group of 5 stars but
offers the cohesion, leadership, and role play that one needs, usually, to have an outstanding team. His
team, almost every year, is very talented and very young--and it's hard to win in the NCAA with a bunch of
freshman/sophs. That's a fact.

Kentucky was also a victim yesterday of a kid who shot out of his mind--made 10 of 20 Trey attempts. He's normally a 38 percent three-point shooter. There's always the risk of running into a team that has a very good day shooting threes.

One possible reason is he makes promises of starting and playing time to certain 5-stars. I have to believe that's why he was starting DJ Wagner all season even though Sheppard and Dillingham were their best players along with Reeves.

The kid shooting out of his mind was part of it, but for a team that averaged 90 pts.a game to score 76 against a school of that level was also a big part of it. They lived on 3's all season, and they died last night on them not falling and struggling against the matchup zone.
 
#92
#92
You guys might very well be right, as I said it's open to debate. However, those kids and their parents consistently choose to go to KY and not Slippery Rock, so there's something to be said for that.

The fact that he's made no bones about the fact that preparing kids for NBA careers is his #1 priority leads me to believe that he's doing something right in getting these kids ready for the next level, be it helping them refine their games or just with being able to handle the rigors and life of an NBA player.
It’s an exaggeration about Slippery Rock. There is something to be said about better competition in D1 ball. But they can get that under better coaches than Calipari. He is a good salesman though and nobody can deny that one. Most used car salesmen are too. He sells them on the idea that he can get them to the league when most of them are going to get there anyway. Whatever he’s doing for them, it ain’t translating to success in the NCAA Tournament.
 
#93
#93
You guys might very well be right, as I said it's open to debate. However, those kids and their parents consistently choose to go to KY and not Slippery Rock, so there's something to be said for that.

The fact that he's made no bones about the fact that preparing kids for NBA careers is his #1 priority leads me to believe that he's doing something right in getting these kids ready for the next level, be it helping them refine their games or just with being able to handle the rigors and life of an NBA player.
Yeah,I've that about him myself. He sounds like he wants to be a counselor(which there's nothing wrong with),but he's coaching at an Elite basketball school. If he wants to do something like that, maybe get a job in the NBA that helps develop young talent and teach them about the rigors of the game.

Of course there's 33 million reasons that it likely won't happen. I wouldn't be content if I was a Kentucky fan dealing with lack of tournament success year in and year out, that's for sure.
 
  • Like
Reactions: chuckiepoo
#94
#94
Yeah,I've that about him myself. He sounds like he wants to be a counselor(which there's nothing wrong with),but he's coaching at an Elite basketball school. If he wants to do something like that, maybe get a job in the NBA that helps develop young talent and teach them about the rigors of the game.

Of course there's 33 million reasons that it likely won't happen. I wouldn't be content if I was a Kentucky fan dealing with lack of tournament success year in and year out, that's for sure.

Yeah, I have trouble imagining that the KY administration is okay with him actually saying that winning isn't the #1 priority, or at least 1 and 1A with developing talent for the next level. That might be a reason that he and Barnhart don't exactly see eye to eye. My guess is that Barnhart would love to make a change, but coming up with $33 million to make him go away is the issue.
 
#95
#95
Cal’s biggest problem is that he isn’t that great of a coach. Kentucky had 3-4 days to prepare for Oakland’s matchup zone, yet looked completely lost and unprepared for it. Same thing happened in the loss against St. Peter’s two years ago. KY was in complete control of the game, then Shaheen Holloway went zone in the last 6-7 minutes. Kentucky had no clue how to handle it offensively. Zero adjustments were made by Cal. KY hasn’t been the same since Cal and John Robic had their falling out. Robic had been Cal’s right hand man since his days at UMASS and was considered a great X’s and O’s guy.
His ego is his problem.
Everything you said is correct, but it stems from his massive ego. He’s always been that way.
 
  • Like
Reactions: BisonVol
#96
#96
I thought UK would make the elite 8 this year. They had a great back court that could shoot and drive. Yeah I think Cal screwed it up. I am not crying about it. With his roster approach you take the odds you will win some and lose some. He has been losing far more than he is winning with the talent running through that program. I bet the wheels are ready to come off.
 
  • Like
Reactions: chuckiepoo
#97
#97
I do like coaches who switch their defense and throw in some zone during games, as a defensive formation switch often throws opponents
out of kilter for a time. A zone defense can be quite effective if played properly--but so many coaches are obsessed with playing man defense totally and never use a zone.
 
#98
#98
Calipari's biggest problem is that he hasn't figured out how to blend the top young talent he brings in every
year with more experienced players who might be a shade less talented than his annual group of 5 stars but
offers the cohesion, leadership, and role play that one needs, usually, to have an outstanding team. His
team, almost every year, is very talented and very young--and it's hard to win in the NCAA with a bunch of
freshman/sophs. That's a fact.

Kentucky was also a victim yesterday of a kid who shot out of his mind--made 10 of 20 Trey attempts. He's normally a 38 percent three-point shooter. There's always the risk of running into a team that has a very good day shooting threes.
That is the problem you have when you have no Mashack to put on him.
 
  • Like
Reactions: VAVol85

VN Store



Back
Top