Sestina injures wrist. Out possibly 4 weeks.

[surveyor]

Let's get back to the Sestina issue .

I think the projection of returning in four weeks is overly optimistic. I see 6 weeks before he's able to contribute

[justford]

I think the projection of returning in four weeks is overly optimistic. I see 6 weeks before he's able to contribute

Maybe the three-four week optimism is because the injury was to his left wrist. Wishing him a speedy recovery.

[Lighthouse]

Maybe the three-four week optimism is because the injury was to his left wrist. Wishing him a speedy recovery.

I think that's true. They can always protect his off hand with a legal brace or tape, and his shooting should be nearly the same.

[J.Jennings]

But he's never really wrong. He just says out loud what most of us mumble to ourselves.

I will just say this about Crazzed,i do not always agree with everything he says and lord knows he and i have had some back and forth back over the years. With that being said, he i and a guy named John who doesn't post here anymore was one of the few who saw the writing on the wall about two years before Tubby was fired and we wanted him gone asap. In fact we wanted a guy like Cal before they hired Gillispie but most everyone here on this site called us crazy, hope that crow taste really, tastes a little better if you put some salt in pepper on it. Tubby may have been a class act but i didn't want him before they hired, i wanted Billy D two years in at Marshall but they said he wasn't good enough so they hired Tubby...


Anyways, during this whole Cal era this fan base has gone from expecting a title each and every year to accepting things the way they are and being satisfied. I guess good ol Tubby and Billy Gillispie humbled us so much that we just accept what we can get now and most are afraid to question Calipari, afraid he might leave and we go back to the Tubby and Gillispie days. As crazy as CRAZZED may seem to some, CRAZZED still has that mentality that you do everything possible to the fullest to put the team in a position to win a title, i can respect that, hell that's the way it is suppose to be, that's what makes Kentucky Kentucky basketball for better or worse, here we expect to win it all every year and we do not accept being average, same with the Lakers, Boston, New England, Yankees, etc, you get the picture....

[Joneslab]

Anyways, during this whole Cal era this fan base has gone from expecting a title each and every year to accepting things the way they are and being satisfied. I guess good ol Tubby and Billy Gillispie humbled us so much that we just accept what we can get now and most are afraid to question Calipari, afraid he might leave and we go back to the Tubby and Gillispie days. As crazy as CRAZZED may seem to some, CRAZZED still has that mentality that you do everything possible to the fullest to put the team in a position to win a title, i can respect that, hell that's the way it is suppose to be, that's what makes Kentucky Kentucky basketball for better or worse, here we expect to win it all every year and we do not accept being average, same with the Lakers, Boston, New England, Yankees, etc, you get the picture....

Well, anybody who expected a title every year is an idiot. That's ridiculous and shouldn't even be responded to by anybody with any sense. Look at the math and how many titles Kentucky has had ever and you see how hard it is.

What we can expect, and did expect, is more than one in ten years. That isn't enough. We left at least two on the table with the Wall team and the Towns team. You give Cal three titles in ten years and the whole era looks different. As it is, with just one title, what you can say about Cal is that it's been very good but not great. I think if he even would've finished off the 2015 year undefeated that would put him on a historic level that probably wouldn't be touched again in college basketball. He was two games away, but of course he didn't get it done and you can't praise somebody for an almost.

But going further, the difference with Cal and those other guys is that Cal still recruits at a very high level, so there's hope on the horizon.

There was no hope with Tubby at the end. He was bringing in very limited players.

If you go to Sweet Sixteens or Elite Eights, the fans will probably accept that IF there are good players coming in.

It's when the recruiting dries up and you're going to Sweet Sixteens that things become problematic for most fans. And note I said "most fans." There's a type of fan that will give the coach hell no matter what, and there's a type of fan that will praise the coach no matter what. Those two types cancel each other out. Most of us are in the middle.

[Dwight Schrute]

The deal we made with Cal was that we'd accept the yearly roster turnover in exchange for wildly exciting basketball and a chance at a national title every year, which he has largely delivered on. Two of the last 4 years we were a hair away from the Final Four. Even taking out the fact that we only have 1 title in 10 years, if Tubby had Cal's record he'd be remembered here a whole lot differently.

I will say now that recruiting has fallen off a little bit, Cal deserves some pressure. I don't blame Cal for not having enough players this year - having a bench full of guys who aren't good enough to play at Kentucky doesn't do anyone any good. I do blame him a little bit for missing out on the kind of guys you need for his system to work. I also kinda blame him for the number of transfers over the last few years, but I want to see more detailed analysis to see if that number is out of whack before I make too much of a deal over it.

[GOCAT15]

I honestly would not have one complaint about Cal if he would've finished off that undefeated season, that was the one that will haunt this program forever. I agree we have left three more titles on the table in Cals era, but to even say you had those chances is pretty impressive.

And we have been one player away a number of years, whether it was because of a missed recruit or a player not coming back for a second year when they should've...hard to blame Cal for that, even though a lot of people swear he pushes players out, I don't believe he does that to anyone other than his lottery picks and some of his guaranteed first rounders.

[Joneslab]

I don't blame Cal for not having enough players this year - having a bench full of guys who aren't good enough to play at Kentucky doesn't do anyone any good.

But this isn't the issue.

Everybody Kentucky has is good enough to play at Kentucky. Outside of Sestina they're all five-star high school phenoms.

The issue is that some of them aren't good enough to contribute at a championship level at Kentucky as freshmen. Give some of them a year or two more and it'd be a different story.

The problem is that he can't keep anybody in the program past their sophomore year and the recruiting has slipped a notch.

And actually, last year we were built for a title. That was a disappointing year really all things considered. I thought that team and the Monk team could have won it.

This year's team is different because the experience and the talent are a bit off. But I don't think we have anybody who isn't good enough to play at Kentucky. We just don't have a Wall/Towns/Cousins/Davis to let those guys come along a little more slowly.

[Joneslab]

^ Actually, ignore my post because I misread Dwight's post. Thought he was saying something completely different.

[Dwight Schrute]

But this isn't the issue.

Everybody Kentucky has is good enough to play at Kentucky. Outside of Sestina they're all five-star high school phenoms.

The issue is that some of them aren't good enough to contribute at a championship level at Kentucky as freshmen. Give some of them a year or two more and it'd be a different story.

The problem is that he can't keep anybody in the program past their sophomore year and the recruiting has slipped a notch.

And actually, last year we were built for a title. That was a disappointing year really all things considered. I thought that team and the Monk team could have won it.

This year's team is different because the experience and the talent are a bit off. But I don't think we have anybody who isn't good enough to play at Kentucky. We just don't have a Wall/Towns/Cousins/Davis to let those guys come along a little more slowly.

I agree fully with this post, but I think we might be having two different conversations here. I was referring to Crazzed's complaining about not having enough players in the wake of yet another injury.

[Joneslab]

And we have been one player away a number of years, whether it was because of a missed recruit or a player not coming back for a second year when they should've...hard to blame Cal for that, even though a lot of people swear he pushes players out, I don't believe he does that to anyone other than his lottery picks and some of his guaranteed first rounders.

Yeah, I agree.

I do think coaching has played a role in it to some degree. Think some mistakes were made, particularly in 2010 with the way we kept jacking up threes. Definitely some panic set in on the sidelines and it bled over to the players.

Speaking of personnel, obviously 2015 and 2010 seemed perfectly built.

As I said, last year's team and the Monk team were pretty darn well-built too. Those two teams were probably one player away but I thought they could win it. Oddly the Monk team would have probably won if Arkansas could in-bound the ball in the second round. They had Carolina beat that year and then Carolina escaped and went all the way to the title.

I think next year's team has a chance to be really well-built simply because of who we should (stress that word) return and who we're bringing in, but you never know.

[Joneslab]

I agree fully with this post, but I think we might be having two different conversations here. I was referring to Crazzed's complaining about not having enough players in the wake of yet another injury.

I know. I'm an idiot.

I blame it on the fact that my son has a game against St. X tonight and I worry they're going to get mauled.

[Dwight Schrute]

Would this team be better if we'd landed Kerry Blackshear or Jaden McDaniels? Probably, but they didn't come.

[Joneslab]

Would this team be better if we'd landed Kerry Blackshear or Jaden McDaniels? Probably, but they didn't come.

We definitely need more post depth but Richards has performed really well so far. He's been a really pleasant surprise.

As for McDaniels, we absolutely could have used him. Kahlil Whitney is by far the biggest disappointment on this team. It's shocking how far he is behind. He's an incredibly worrisome player to me because we need him badly, and it just doesn't look like he's even close to being able to contribute at this level.

You have to wonder if the recruiting services just whiffed on him.

[Blue Heaven]

We definitely need more post depth but Richards has performed really well so far. He's been a really pleasant surprise.

As for McDaniels, we absolutely could have used him. Kahlil Whitney is by far the biggest disappointment on this team. It's shocking how far he is behind. He's an incredibly worrisome player to me because we need him badly, and it just doesn't look like he's even close to being able to contribute at this level.

You have to wonder if the recruiting services just whiffed on him.

I was waiting for someone else to bring up Whitney. He looks like he was poorly coached his whole life. Atlhletic freak with extremely poor game. Apparently his high school competition wasn't very good.