Is It Time for John Calipari to Change His Recruiting Strategy?

[lilproUK98]

I do think that Cal is going to have to adjust, as Will says with regard to how the game has changed, and this will require the change in recruiting strategy.

Who is going to play with Sky Clark and Nolan Hickman? Hopefully some guys that can shoot.

They both shoot it pretty well. Especially Clark. Hopefully they get this Podzinski kid in Wisconsin. He might be one of the best shooters we've ever had.

[Lighthouse]

Part of the X & O coaching didn't happen this year because of the gimme games not being played. Kids learn more from being in games than they do in practice because they see the film and coaching takes place there. Also, one of the things I don't like about Cal, is when a kid makes a mistake, he pulls them out and only sometimes he goes to them, explains the problem and puts them right back in. How many times have we seen him give a player the "You're coming out," sign? Most kids who come to UK, come here to play and get better and they can't do that playing with fear of being benched.

[85 Fly]

He doesn't have a choice, soon its gonna be outta his hands anyways so he might as well start mixing it up to include development players, more transfers, grad transfers etc.

[KCKUKFan]

Cal was probably a very good X's and O's coach once upon a time back in his UMASS days, but I think in the last couple of decades he's remade himself as a guy who became way more interested in the psychological parts of the game.

Since he started to recruit elite talent, he seems to be of the mind that tinkering with them too much is only going to hold them back. So instead of putting in layers of sets and reads and trying to micro-manage games, he tries to simplify the system and kind of get out of their way. Then he does all this psychological motivation stuff to try and unleash them.

The problem is that sort of thing works for elite players. Most guys need coaching.

You can watch a game played by most college teams and then turn on a UK game and you see really wild things about Kentucky, notably how free-flowing they are and how they really don't counter a lot of stuff from the bench. It isn't AAU like necessarily the way Penny Hardaway does, but it's definitely basic. It also tends to not change too much throughout a 40-minute game. Cal likes to play the game in one way for 40 minutes and hope his talent pulls him through.

When you have equal talent, sometimes the game comes down to coaching. I think this is something Cal is probably not interested in a whole lot; he'd rather be involved in the arms race for NBA talent. This team doesn't have a lot of it and it has needed some serious coaching, and obviously we haven't see that yet.

Sitting behind a Cal bench in Novemeber, December and January puts the "he doesn't micro-manage" thing to bed.

Sure, it's not necessarily X and O stuff, but he does micro-manage nearly every element of the game, which is probably why our guys look clueless for the first couple months.

[teamchemistry15]

I don't think he needs to change his recruiting pitch one bit. I think he needs to change his "you need to come back to school" pitch. I know him pushing Wagner out the door at Memphis essentially saved the guys life because he got to make some money before he had his health issues that ended his career, but you can't treat every situation like that. If kids want to come back you should let them and not make them give you a bunch of reasons like he does. When Patterson made the decision to return he made him list three reasons why and he had to virtually talk Cal into letting him come back. We've all heard that MKG and Cousins wanted to return. Keep recruiting the same but stop pushing kids out the door who want to come back or who are going to be late picks.

[Joneslab]

I don't think he needs to change his recruiting pitch one bit. I think he needs to change his "you need to come back to school" pitch.

I don't think he can change it.

If you run a system one way for more than a decade, and all the families know you're running it that way, to go to a player after his freshman season and tell him he needs to come back is akin to going back on the system you've built. Or if you go into a living room to recruit a high schooler and suggest he's not a one-and-done...well, I just think that undercuts the entire MO you built here.

Best-case scenario is that families get a look at what Immanuel Quickley is doing and how PJ Washington didn't hurt himself and Nick Richards and understand they can return for at least that one year. But I'm not sure Cal can pitch that to them because it cuts sharply against his whole design.

[Joneslab]

Sitting behind a Cal bench in Novemeber, December and January puts the "he doesn't micro-manage" thing to bed.

I'm sure. I've seen him coach in practice so I know what you're talking about.

Maybe I shouldn't have said "micro-manage." I'm more talking about these things you see coaches doing like changing defenses and running counter-sets and so on. You can almost count on two hands the number of times Cal has changed his defense during a game in 11 years. He double teams sometimes but he's not a guy who's going to jump you with a full-court press a lot other than a token press. He isn't going to try to exploit match-ups very much on the court offensively, rather he'll usually just have them run their regular stuff.

Just don't think he's one of these cerebral, game-within-the-game coaches. I've always thought he believes you line up the players and keep doing what you do and by the end of 40:00 talent will win.

Cal is good usually about not letting young players go off the reservation. Some of these coaches (Hardaway) have very undisciplined teams. Cal has usually been very good at keeping things in-line and controlled. I'm not sure if that's "X's and O's" but more about his demands from the sideline--which maybe is that micro-managing you're talking about. X's and O's are more about specific strategy.

[Joneslab]

Speaking of Quickley, saw a video of Cal talking to the current players and using Quickley as an example of how to not get too down about what's happening now to them. "You have to learn how to fight like he did," he says.

The problem with that example, obviously, is that Quickley really never did get it his freshman year. Had two or three decent games at the end but was nowhere near the player we need a couple of these guys to be for this team to be good.

[teamchemistry15]

I don't think he can change it.

If you run a system one way for more than a decade, and all the families know you're running it that way, to go to a player after his freshman season and tell him he needs to come back is akin to going back on the system you've built. Or if you go into a living room to recruit a high schooler and suggest he's not a one-and-done...well, I just think that undercuts the entire MO you built here.

Best-case scenario is that families get a look at what Immanuel Quickley is doing and how PJ Washington didn't hurt himself and Nick Richards and understand they can return for at least that one year. But I'm not sure Cal can pitch that to them because it cuts sharply against his whole design.

He doesn't have to change what he says in the living room. He tells those kids and their families they'll go to the NBA if they earn it and work hard. There's nothing wrong with going to a kid at the end of the year and saying "You'll be a late first round pick this year or you might end up making money over seas, but if you pull an IQ, Washington, Richards, etc and come back a year you could fix x, y, and z and end up a lottery pick." I doubt he tells any of these people they'll get to the NBA after one year, guaranteed. Richards is a perfect example. There's no reason Cal didn't say "Hey dude, you come back and do what you did this year again and you've got a chance at playing yourself into the lottery." Obviously we don't know what their conversation was like, but I'm guessing it was "You've got a shot at being a first round pick and making some money. Get out of here." Then you not only show you're capable of getting the superstars to the NBA you show you're good at developing kids and I think you see guys like Baker and Juzang stick around.

[Joneslab]

I doubt he tells any of these people they'll get to the NBA after one year, guaranteed.

No, but as the article says what he does is show them videos etc. of NBA players, so the NBA is a major part of the pitch. IMO it is the pitch.

We need to put a little more emphasis on college basketball at Kentucky. I don't think Cal is that interested in college basketball because he's always felt that he can get future pros in here and they'll drive the bus for us.

We probably need a more traditional college system here. There's a growing appetite for it in the fanbase, IMO.

That said, you can't just not recruit NBA-caliber players. Whatever the system and whoever the coach, we have to have guys here who can play in the pros at some point.

[Lighthouse]

No, but as the article says what he does is show them videos etc. of NBA players, so the NBA is a major part of the pitch. IMO it is the pitch.

We need to put a little more emphasis on college basketball at Kentucky. I don't think Cal is that interested in college basketball because he's always felt that he can get future pros in here and they'll drive the bus for us.

We probably need a more traditional college system here. There's a growing appetite for it in the fanbase, IMO.

That said, you can't just not recruit NBA-caliber players. Whatever the system and whoever the coach, we have to have guys here who can play in the pros at some point.

Nearly every Kentucky fan I talk to feels this way. The way it used to be is what I hear. They like the success Cal has had, most want to see some Seniors graduate.

[teamchemistry15]

I think he needs a little more balanced approach. Clearly you can't have a bunch of deep success with a brand new yeah every year. He needs to keep bringing in one or two guys a year who aren't sure fire one and dones and actually get them enough time to not have them transfer out.

[Jload]

I think he needs a little more balanced approach. Clearly you can't have a bunch of deep success with a brand new yeah every year. He needs to keep bringing in one or two guys a year who aren't sure fire one and dones and actually get them enough time to not have them transfer out.

I agree with you but Cal does not , Did you hear his bizarre explaination of why he didn’t play the Allen kid today, WHY would any kid stay around when his coach will not take out his “ stars” even when they are playing terribly. That’s the thing , Cal has to play his 5 star frosh or his recruiting narrative breaks down.

[teamchemistry15]

I agree with you but Cal does not , Did you hear his bizarre explaination of why he didn’t play the Allen kid today, WHY would any kid stay around when his coach will not take out his “ stars” even when they are playing terribly. That’s the thing , Cal has to play his 5 star frosh or his recruiting narrative breaks down.

Yup. He said the guys playing in front of him were making more shots in practice. What an awful excuse.

[DA#23]

I went over to Rupp's Rafters to see what people were saying, and regarding the Allen decision someone posted the clip from Hoosiers where Norman Dale decides to proceed with 4 players on the court when they encounter foul trouble and he had already benched one of the players for punishment.

I have to admit I laughed.