Is Barnes the Best Coach in CB right now?

[cncchris33]

Cal still has a conference tourney title (beating Barnes head to head), same amount of wins, and did better in the tourney last year than Barnes lol

He did 1 round better in the tourney, and won 1 out of 3 games against Barnes. Wow, I'm convinced. [Insert sarcastic LOL...the coup de grace of internet argument]

 

[cardvolfan]

Again, determining what makes one coach better than another is entirely subjective, so one of us presenting an argument for one coach vs another is futile. The original argument being in the timeframe of "right now" makes going back a decade even less sensible.

Over the past two seasons, Barnes has been the better coach, IMO. That is more "right now" than the last decade. Feel free to disagree, but for you to take some hardline stance and say you're right and I'm wrong on this type of subject is silly. It isn't a fact. It's an opinion. You know that.

"Right now" is what the original poster requested. We can all take periods of time, stats, etc.

 

[Dr H Lecter]

If someone came into your place of work and started throwing allegations of improper activity wouldn’t you demand to be shown some evidence?

I would say that sounds like shilling for Cal. Didn’t know this was his place. Instead I’ll let you believe he’s clean and that programs he’s been involved with are dirty or have been mistreated by the NCAA. If you wish to believe he’s clean, I’m ok with that. Just needed to know where your coming from.

 

[cardvolfan]

Cal still has a conference tourney title (beating Barnes head to head), same amount of wins last year, and did better in the tourney last year than Barnes lol

And Barnes won last year head-to-head in an 18-game schedule. Quoting an SEC tourney championship and not mentioning winning over a long season shows some bias.

 

[therealitytheory]

My overall point is this: in collegiate sports you cannot separate recruiting and coaching.

But you can separate World Wide Wes from Cal. And they have. And KY isn't having the recruiting success of year's past.

 

[zjcvols]

I would say that sounds like shilling for Cal. Didn’t know this was his place. Instead I’ll let you believe he’s clean and that programs he’s been involved with are dirty or have been mistreated by the NCAA. If you wish to believe he’s clean, I’m ok with that. Just needed to know where your coming from.

If you want to work from the idea that almost every major program cheats then I don’t have an issue with that. You’re probably right.

But calling Cal a cheater because of the UMass and Memphis thing I think is bogus. People just see vacated and make assumptions without looking at the situation. The UMass situation was a joke.

 

[Dr H Lecter]

If you want to work from the idea that almost every major program cheats then I don’t have an issue with that. You’re probably right.

But calling Cal a cheater because of the UMass and Memphis thing I think is bogus. People just see vacated and make assumptions without looking at the situation. The UMass situation was a joke.

Ok. Bad luck I guess.

 

[zjcvols]

But you can separate World Wide Wes from Cal. And they have. And KY isn't having the recruiting success of year's past.

He went from the best recruiting class every year to second best recruiting class every year I think he’s okay.

 

[zjcvols]

What’s interesting is that most people would say Coach K is a better “basketball coach” than Cal. But since Coach K went to the one and done style he hasn’t had the same success that Cal has had overall. Maybe the one and done route is harder than it looks

 

[cardvolfan]

What’s interesting is that most people would say Coach K is a better “basketball coach” than Cal. But since Coach K went to the one and done style he hasn’t had the same success that Cal has had overall. Maybe the one and done route is harder than it looks

It is harder than it looks, but at the same time, it also gives you a chance every year.

 

[LittleCat]

Every sport is volatile and unpredictable. Alabama's example in football is spot-on.

No.

You can win 34 straight games and have a perfect regular season. Then you still have to win 6 straight games of single elimination to win a title. Football has way less volatility in terms of upsets and underdog stories.

There is a reason we see way less upsets in the nba with a series of games instead of a one-off game.

 

[Dr H Lecter]

I kind of wish Coach K would go back to his old ways too. Won two Nattys since 2010 the old way and wouldn’t have to listen other blue bloods talk about how he’s cheating.

 

[cncchris33]

What’s interesting is that most people would say Coach K is a better “basketball coach” than Cal. But since Coach K went to the one and done style he hasn’t had the same success that Cal has had overall. Maybe the one and done route is harder than it looks

Most people would say Coach K is a better coach than Cal because he has 5 titles to Cal's 1 and 12 Final Fours to Cal's 4. That's using your definition of success.

And in the 1 and done era, K has 2 titles to Cal's 1, so I guess he has been more successful. Again, using your definition.

 

[zjcvols]

Most people would say Coach K is a better coach than Cal because he has 5 titles to Cal's 1 and 12 Final Fours to Cal's 4. That's using your definition of success.

And in the 1 and done era, K has 2 titles to Cal's 1, so I guess he has been more successful. Again, using your definition.

I don’t disagree with that. Although that 2010 team was full of seniors for Duke if I remember correctly

 

[LittleCat]

It is harder than it looks, but at the same time, it also gives you a chance every year.

Absolutely.

But teams like 2014 and 2015 show how good (and bad) Calipari can be. Taking players like Ulis, Harrisons, Lee, Johnson, etc etc and making them valuable players. He deserves credit. Highly ranked recruits but not like they were one and done type players that Cal could leave alone and let play. But on the other side, I felt like he has held back some guys at the expense of others.

Coach K couldn't even make it 15 games without losing with 3 players that could have sat down and been top 5 picks. Coaching one and done is really difficult.

 

[VolGee4]

Because it’s a dumb argument to try and say Rick Barnes is a better coach than John Calipari. It’s simply not true.

-Calipari has made 8 S16 since Barnes last made a S16.

-Rick Barnes has one conference tournament title (back during Clinton’s presidency) Calipari has 16 in his career (6 at Kentucky).

-Barnes has ONE outright regular season conference title. Calipari has 15 (5 at Kentucky)

-Barnes has one Final Four. Calipari has 6 (one unfairly vacated, one fairly vacated)

-Barnes has 2 30 win seasons. Calipari has 10 30 win seasons (4 at Kentucky)

You can try and justify however you want about “floor general” or “developing players” or “gameplanner”. You can take the better “basketball coach”. I’ll take Calipari’s results, championships, final fours, and hang banners.

Well, to be honest, I wasn’t responding to a Calipari v. Barnes debate. I was responding to your argument that Calipari is seen differently because people don’t like him. I said it’s simply not always the case because Cal hasn’t done enough with his talent.

Cal developed relationships to get him players. Good for him. I agree that it’s half the battle.

Barnes doubled the number of NCAAT appearances for Texas. People think that program is automatically good when the modern history at Texas is not really that great. In the same conference as Kansas when UK is on that same level. Would be interesting to see what Barnes could have done at a place like KU or UK.

Nonetheless, I am not going to argue that Barnes is better than Cal. I am just not one to blow smoke up Cal’s ass. He is all about getting players.

 

[cncchris33]

Absolutely.

But teams like 2014 and 2015 show how good (and bad) Calipari can be. Taking players like Ulis, Harrisons, Lee, Johnson, etc etc and making them valuable players. He deserves credit. Highly ranked recruits but not like they were one and done type players that Cal could leave alone and let play. But on the other side, I felt like he has held back some guys at the expense of others.

Coach K couldn't even make it 15 games without losing with 3 players that could have sat down and been top 5 picks. Coaching one and done is really difficult.

Scheyer, Zoubek, and Thomas were SRs. Singler, Smith, the Plumlees, and Dawkins were all underclassmen.

 

[LittleCat]

Scheyer, Zoubek, and Thomas were SRs. Singler, Smith, the Plumlees, and Dawkins were all underclassmen.

Those names give me nightmares.

 

[VolGee4]

Yet when it really matters Calipari beats him. Barnes wins games, but Calipari wins championships. Cal is clutch, Barnes is a choker. I think that’s fair since we are working strictly with narratives and nobody is posting stats or facts.

I can imagine Barnes with an NBA stacked team. I saw Barnes have four NBA players on his 2007 team, including one of the 25 greatest players to ever play basketball, and not win his conference or make the sweet 16

What 4 players? Please don’t include AJ Abrams or even Dexter Pittman. He had 7 freshmen and 2 sophomores on that team. They were all of the key players.

 

[VolGee4]

Most people would say Coach K is a better coach than Cal because he has 5 titles to Cal's 1 and 12 Final Fours to Cal's 4. That's using your definition of success.

And in the 1 and done era, K has 2 titles to Cal's 1, so I guess he has been more successful. Again, using your definition.

This.

 

[volfanhill]

I kind of wish Coach K would go back to his old ways too. Won two Nattys since 2010 the old way and wouldn’t have to listen other blue bloods talk about how he’s cheating.

People have been accusing him of cheating for decades. Lots of under reported scandals. Chris Duhon, Cory Maggettee, and Lance Thompson all have some curious stories.

 

[wmcovol]

Barnes was at Texas. Is that a blue blood no, but you can easily win championships there. Hell, Calipari has better tournament results than Barnes during his UMass/Memphis days than Barnes at Texas.

Both places cal left them under probation. I'd hope he'd had a better record.

 

[livefaith]

Gonna be tough to get this list right.

 

[81Orange]

As usual it is hard to identify the best among the best. I wouldn’t trade Barns for any other coach.
That said Tn has been sloppy lately and we need to clean it up. Still love this TEAM.

 

[DeepPurpleFloyd]

Titles are only thing that we remember decades later, but I was thinking of his resume. He is clearly a HOF coach. Cheated at UMass and ran off when they got put on probation. Cheated at Memphis and ran off when they got put on probation. He won for 20 years before ever getting to UK. He's been to more Final Fours than anyone since 2009. He has gotten knocked out earlier far less than the other elite coaches outside maybe Jay Wright.

If you wanna say right now, as in this season, who is doing a better job, than I would say UT. But the OP title was worded badly.

FYP