The Good, The Bad, The Ugly: Utah Edition

[DA#23]

^ I don’t think I’m quite to that same point, BH, but I do think your thoughts on the program are becoming commonly held.

And it’s perplexing in many ways. Think about Reid Travis last year...that guy is awesome on and off of the court. Just a fine person and busted his bottom here, with a full career he could have been Chuck Hayes and Patterson -esque.

Think about all of the great things off of the court that Cal has used his celebrity to accomplish..

So in many ways the staff has aced the off of the field component. Even at Wednesday’s debacle there was a group of former players watching and seated in the “friends of the program” section. Jemarl Baker was among them.

I find it a little difficult to balance because as fans we often talk about the program as an all-encompassing umbrella where we see the individuals as part of a whole...a historically rich whole

It seems that the issue at present has become more than just “one and done disdain”, and frankly has become more of a distaste of the lack of basketball skills and a move to the new era of offense. Losing players prematurely both to the NBA and to other programs infuriates many...including myself.

So it compounds. DDMO and an apparent lack thereof are areas of particular disgust, and losses like Utah when the Cats seem disinterested serve to essentially Napalm John Calipari is the eyes of many fans.

I think that the constant roster turnover contribute tribute largely to the disorder of play, but here we are with returnees in the backcourt.

I ramble through that to say this: without a return to recruiting excellence, I don’t think Calipari can solve the problems at play here.

[Joneslab]

It seems that the issue at present has become more than just “one and done disdain”, and frankly has become more of a distaste of the lack of basketball skills and a move to the new era of offense.

I think it's two sides of the same coin. What we see with the offense--particularly with this team, probably one of Cal's worst offensive teams--has to do with talent.

You miss on recruits, your numbers go down. It's all inter-connected. That goes for everybody in college basketball obviously and not just Cal.

As far as Kentucky being disinterested against Utah, I don't agree with that. I think at the beginning they were lethargic but one thing I noticed is that when they were trying to dig out of their hole, they were really fighting. I saw some real frustration with the players and then when they got it back to a 2-point game, they were all fired up.

I think they want it. I also think they play hard for the most part. I just don't think we have many top-shelf players on this team.

That's the biggest thing with this bunch. We talk about one-and-dones and the system and all of that, but really it's very simple to me: not enough good players on this team. I personally was worried about it months ago and started posting about talent issues over the summer. So in many ways it doesn't surprise me, but it's still disappointing. Very reminiscent of 2013.

[Dwight Schrute]

I was and have been cool with one-and-done. One and done isn't the problem, one and done when you don't have top end talent is the problem. These players should be quite good as sophomores and juniors - I just hope we get to see them there.

[justford]

One of several things I noticed was EJ finished the first half scoring 6 or 8 points and was really fired up. He didn’t touch the ball in the second half for several minutes. No plays for him or lobs or anything.

[Blue Heaven]

I never saw a single person say that this recruiting class was Calipari's best. Not sure where in the world you would have seen that.

Most people I saw were a little worried about this class. Those concerns first started to crop up probably about this time last year.

What's happened is that the top-rated player from both this class and last year's class (Whitney and Montgomery) have under-performed.

Two players is big when you're dealing with a basketball roster. That creates problems for the whole team. Imagine if Whitney were as good as advertised and Montgomery made a PJ Washington jump. We'd be #1 in America and the easy favorites to win it.

When you run the system like Cal does your margins are so tight. You have to basically have every player you recruit live up to his billing. If not...well, we get what we're seeing this year.

Sure I embellished a bit there but there is always a bit of truth in embellishing. Sure I might be sounding all Crazzed but I am not lying when I say I want a new coach. Sure I will still watch and cheer my butt off but I just can't defend Cal anymore. I know what he has done and his records and tourney wins and all that but his coaching really comes into question when a team with a ton of HS stars can't beat Utah or Evansville. Maybe the Cal bashers were right all along in that he isnt a good coach. And just what is our offensive philosophy? Our program is just a stepping stone now and that is pathetic.

[Jload]

If. Cal doesn’t make the tourney as some are now suggesting might happen he should resign. Yeah I said it and I stand by the statement