It's stir the pot Tuesday, cmon on down and get ya some of that John Cal Kool Aide.
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Well, Knox and Shai did.
Other than that all we know now is that PJ Washington is testing. Nothing wrong with that. A ton of other guys are testing it out too. I'd recommend my son do the same thing.
The problem for me aren't those guys. It's the players like Wenyen and Briscoe and Isaac Humphries--players who should be four-year players. That's bothersome because what it means is that players see absolutely no benefit in staying through a college career at Kentucky, and that's the case even if they're average players.
Major, monumental problem. A coach can overcome one-and-dones if he recruits like Cal most seasons. You can't overcome one-and-dones AND these transfers AND guys who just want to get out and play somewhere in the world.
The snowball has sort of become an avalanche.Comment
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The ONLY thing and i mean ONLY thing that makes sense to me is that maybe CAL demands so much excellence from a player that if he doesn't see it or get it early on, maybe he just doesn't want them here, i dont know. Seems he's just not into wasting anymore time, he wants it all and he wants it now, maybe he is actually pushing them out so he can get a group that gets it.....
We may not hear about it but i suspect this group had internal problems all along, something just wasnt clicking this year...Comment
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I've wondered this too, but Cal has spoken about how much he loved this group.
That could be just a lie. Cal isn't above exaggeration, as we all know. But I don't know what benefit he would get from saying it. I think he really connected to these players.
I just think you've got some delusions of grandeur going on. But Cal feeds into that a little as well with his talk about how UK "isn't for everyone" and it's this special place. I imagine it would be easy to lose your mind a little bit after year in the fishbowl of Lexington; would be so easy to get it in your head that you're a far better player than you actually are.
And of course as we all know these players have groups of people in their ears who want to get rich, so that stokes the fire a little.Comment
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8 seasons of Calipari's system and people are still having full-blown meltdowns over early exits...
"Hell is other UK fans." - Jean-Paul SartreComment
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Im not mad, i actually like the bunch we have coming in and he's looking for moreComment
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Like i said, only reason i am not downtown right now standing on the Sherman Minton is because we actually have a good more talented group coming in, i am okay with that....Comment
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Another thought: if you're a guy like Wenyen Gabriel or Hami Diallo and you get fans commenting on your social media or message boards all year, calling you "worthless" or "terrible," why would you want to stay?
Yeah, I know it happens everywhere, and I know it happens more nowadays, but sometimes we forget that these are just kids. If people were saying that stuff about me on the internet when I was 18 years old, I'd probably say "screw it," too.
Back to the original post, though: the trend of losing guys that we have no business losing is concerning, but moreso in the culture that it's creating, rather than next year's production. Sasha Killeya-Jones wasn't going to make the difference between a lot of wins and losses next year, despite some of our fans acting like he was the second coming of Anthony Davis after the fact, and losing Wenyen probably won't make a huge difference, either (although his length and ability to step out and hit shots will be much needed), but we HAVE to keep Washington and Vanderbilt at this point. And if we don't keep Quade we'll need to get Maxey to reclassify.
The fact is this: John Calipari knows more about recruiting and coaching college basketball than any of us on this board put together, and he's not going to put us in a position where we flat-out won't be able to compete. There are concerning trends happening right now, and there are frustrations as fans, because we like holding onto guys, but ultimately we're just spectators. I don't see any reason in freaking out. Kentucky will be fine.
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This is a tweet from someone named Michael McCann. G-League is raising salaries next year. While its not great money by any stretch it is a step close for some to give more thought to going early. For someone like Gabriel, who comes Sudan, this may sound like a million dollars.
Next year, G League players will earn $35,000 for the five-month regular season (a 34.6% pay increase from the previous high salary), plus housing and insurance benefits. The G League might not yet be a rival to the NCAA for most top recruits, but it's inching in that direction.
Kentucky fan since 1971.Comment
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