Florida vs. Kentucky: Game Thread

[George]

Yes tell me again how Cal is the only coach that can lead us to victory, and ANYONE we hire will be another Billie G.

Name a suitable replacement.

[Dwight Schrute]

I dunno who replaces Cal, but if he’s lost his fire, I think he should hang it up. Maybe he’s fine and our assistants are just failing him on the recruiting trail, hard to say. Either way, something is amiss.

[Joneslab]

Still think we have some time in the Cal era. The pieces could easily fall right next year, and 2019 is looking like a great year (assuming Duke doesn't get them all).

But if Cal did leave the pickin's are slim.

The FBI scandal takes Sean Miller out of the running.

I would put a full-court press on Jay Wright. He probably wouldn't take it because of his lifelong ties to the northeast, but I would try. After that I would see if I could lure Billy Donovan, and then my third option would be Virginia's Tony Bennett. UK fans would hate his style but at this point the guy is doing something special on the defensive end.

[George]

Still think we have some time in the Cal era. The pieces could easily fall right next year, and 2019 is looking like a great year (assuming Duke doesn't get them all).

But if Cal did leave the pickin's are slim.

The FBI scandal takes Sean Miller out of the running.

I would put a full-court press on Jay Wright. He probably wouldn't take it because of his lifelong ties to the northeast, but I would try. After that I would see if I could lure Billy Donovan, and then my third option would be Virginia's Tony Bennett. UK fans would hate his style but at this point the guy is doing something special on the defensive end.

No love for Shaka? I haven't watched enough Texas basketball to know for sure if he's got the chops, but he may be trending in the right direction on the recruiting trail.

And what about the guy Cal coached against last night? Hard to fuss about his start at UF.

[Joneslab]

Don't think White has done enough yet to know if he's just a flash in the pan. One huge mistake you see these AD's make is when they take somebody who has a couple of solid seasons, and then it turns out that the coach can't sustain that early success. White needs a few more years.

Not sure about Shaka. He's had some success but it hasn't been big success. You would hope they could hire somebody who would have at least a Final Four.

But it's going to be very difficult to get somebody to follow Cal, as we all know. Guys like JLoad are in a severe minority in this fanbase. These coaches know that. It's not like hiring somebody to follow Gillispie. Whoever we bring here is going to be judged against Cal, even if this season is a dud and he were to leave this summer.

[George]

Don't think White has done enough yet to know if he's just a flash in the pan. One huge mistake you see these AD's make is when they take somebody who has a couple of solid seasons, and then it turns out that the coach can't sustain that early success. White needs a few more years.

Not sure about Shaka. He's had some success but it hasn't been big success. You would hope they could hire somebody who would have at least a Final Four.

But it's going to be very difficult to get somebody to follow Cal, as we all know. Guys like JLoad are in a severe minority in this fanbase. These coaches know that. It's not like hiring somebody to follow Gillispie. Whoever we bring here is going to be judged against Cal, even if this season is a dud and he were to leave this summer.

I'm sort of just throwing out desperation names this morning. Realistically, we could easily find ourselves with a "transition coach" if things fall the wrong way. Roy, Self, K, Wright - those guys are probably all going to stay put, and those are more or less the only ones who could step in and sustain our recent run. But Barnhart has to hire someone, so we're stuck with someone we all know isn't up to snuff.

Shaka? Probably not ready. White? You're probably right. Alford? Kill me now.

Go steal Oregon's coach, maybe. I guess.

Hell, I don't know.

[Joneslab]

Dana Altman is a heck of a coach and would be a decent second-tier hire...

...but his possible involvement in that rape cover-up a few years ago should disqualify him IMO.

Speaking of: did anybody see Tom Izzo's comments about the US Gymnastics coach? He got blasted yesterday on Twitter by one of the girl's family members. It wasn't a good comment at all.

[George]

Dana Altman is a heck of a coach and would be a decent second-tier hire...

...but his possible involvement in that rape cover-up a few years ago should disqualify him IMO.

Speaking of: did anybody see Tom Izzo's comments about the US Gymnastics coach? He got blasted yesterday on Twitter by one of the girl's family members. It wasn't a good comment at all.

Forgot about that.

[TrueblueCATfan]

I was at the game...got home very late due to major traffic......We were packed in that upper level like a can of sardines and it was hot....

what can I say..I hate losing.....lost 2 this week.....bye top 25

AND that no call on PJ was pitiful.......the kid was mugged

[TrueblueCATfan]

Duke has the Number 1,2 and 3 players in the county for next year!

And we play them in the very first game of the season

[KCKUKFan]

And we play them in the very first game of the season

In that case, I'd rather play them the first game of the season as opposed to the last.

[KCKUKFan]

Still think we have some time in the Cal era. The pieces could easily fall right next year, and 2019 is looking like a great year (assuming Duke doesn't get them all).

But if Cal did leave the pickin's are slim.

The FBI scandal takes Sean Miller out of the running.

I would put a full-court press on Jay Wright. He probably wouldn't take it because of his lifelong ties to the northeast, but I would try. After that I would see if I could lure Billy Donovan, and then my third option would be Virginia's Tony Bennett. UK fans would hate his style but at this point the guy is doing something special on the defensive end.

And no, God no, no no no no no on Tony Bennett.

Let's score 40 points a game and lose in the second round/sweet sixteen every year. Kentucky fans like myself would vomit.

[Catsrock]

Dana Altman is a heck of a coach and would be a decent second-tier hire...

...but his possible involvement in that rape cover-up a few years ago should disqualify him IMO.

Speaking of: did anybody see Tom Izzo's comments about the US Gymnastics coach? He got blasted yesterday on Twitter by one of the girl's family members. It wasn't a good comment at all.

I didn't see any Izzo comments about Nassar. I suppose they were colleagues at MSU for years but if he's defending that dude he must have a screw loose at a pretty young age. That's one of those Penn St-like things that went on for years. Filthy.

[Joneslab]

We just lost to Florida by two. We lost to Kansas by four. We were up by 14 against South Carolina with ten minutes left before we lost our minds. We were up big on UCLA before we lost our minds, and we were up 8 at halftime against Tennessee.

I'm not trying to make roses out of crap, but it's not like this team is just getting smoked every night, either.

One difference with that 2011 team is that they protected at home.

This team isn't terrible and it is close, but it is playing terribly for stretches of games in a way that goes beyond most anything I saw from 2011. There has been a sharp regression that actually reminds me more of 2014 in February, where things just went way south.

The advantage that '14 and '11 had was that they shot the ball better. It's forgotten, but Aaron Harrison had a solid year in '14 even before the NCAA run. James Young was out there at 35% and 82 makes on the season. Kevin Knox if he's somehow able to replicate his first half is on pace for about 46 threes. Quade less than 40. For the sake of reference Deandre Liggins made 36 in 2011 and that's our fourth option on that team.

[UK8STL11]

UK is currently #345 in the NCAA in made three pointers. That may be the biggest problem this team has.