UCLA vs Kentucky Game Thread.

[George]

While Cal isn’t only one playing the one and done some folks aren’t and are having as much or more success doing it “old school”. UNC, Villanova, Gonzaga, Whichita State, just to name a few. My point is that the Cal Method while highly successful isn’t the only road to success, I personally like the more traditional method of compiling teams but hey what do I know.

Only one of those schools (UNC) has had comparable success to UK's during Cal's tenure. The case could be made for Nova, too, but only in the last two or three years.

[Joneslab]

Villanova, Carolina, and Duke have become the pre-eminent programs in the game. No shame in that. Great coaches with great players.

Kentucky since the superteam has fallen back slightly to the second tier, but we were definitely in the mix last year and could've won a title.

Everybody has their own version of what success means to them as a fan. I personally feel if you look at the scope of the program and all we've accomplished going back to Rupp, asking for a title every year or only accepting a title is only going to lead to heartburn and frustration. Because we don't win many. Never have.

You just want them to be in the mix. This is again just me personally, but I put a lot of stock into things like Final Four runs, sometimes even strong Elite Eight runs. 30-win seasons. Wins over archrivals. Home winning streaks. Stuff like that is crucial because when you look around at the game, only the elite of the elite are doing it. But this will be two of the last three years Kentucky hasn't really been in the mix. That means UK is falling back.

BUT. The way you push forward is either through superb recruiting or by returning key players or (best-case scenario) a mix of both. If he can get a couple of these key guys back off this team it looks like Cal is pulling a page from Jay Wright's and Roy Williams' playbooks. That's the way many of us have wanted Cal to run the program for a long time.

Also BUT. You have to get the borderline players back when you operate this way. There is no choice. There will have to be some Roy Williams/Rick Pitino type "I think you should return" discussions from Cal. He needs to start getting the Isaiah Briscoe types, guys who are nowhere close to the first round, back at Kentucky.

[DA#23]

If Zion commits in two weeks, then this conversation is temporarily VOIDED, ha ha .

What a whirlwind this has been. Calipari looks and probably is tired. There are conversations here about approach to building a program, but I see a coach who has shown that he is devoted to a certain style and rarely will depart from it. If he gets the best players, then we have a chance to win the championship. Otherwise, we do not.

[Joneslab]

I've always felt that Cal really has no desire to coach unless he can get those elite players.

But if he wants to stay until Brad leaves and he keeps missing out on the top five, he might have no choice but to ride out these last three years by getting the kinds of players we got this season (by and large). That's a little different than he's done things in the past and it may necessitate some of that urging them to come back.

Of course we'll still get elite guys. We're going to get Wiseman. We're in on everyone in 2019. All hope is not lost. Let's not go crazzed.

But this current group, as we all can see, is different. They've grown on me because of their difference. And make no mistake: we have elite talent right now. Shai? Shai is turning into a beast. Love Knox. Diallo shows some flashes. We're not running a rec league team out there. We're a top 15ish team with 2 losses. We're coming off a season where we won 30-something games. If you cry about that it's like crying about having a wife who's a supermodel but who happens to have a little hair on her upper lip.

But things could be better and I think they will be before Cal hangs it up.