Will Cal have another dominant team at Kentucky?

[Dwight Schrute]

This was talked about yesterday on KSR when someone brought up Baylor destroying someone by 50.

My hunch is that the game has changed too much and Cal is too stubborn to adapt to have another team like 2010, 2013, or 2015. What say you?

[Joneslab]

Gun to my head? No.

I think the machine he created has become so unstable it'll be hard for him to keep the necessary experience to do it, and because he isn't landing the absolute upper echelons anymore it will be doubly hard.

I don't think he has the fire he used to have. I also think, as I've said quite a few times, the fact that everybody in the country is vying for elite players has made it hard on Cal. I also believe WWW not being around the college game has been a blow.

[DA#23]

Nope.

DS, if you feel like it, add a poll to this. I think it would be interesting

[lilproUK98]

Off topic, but interesting.

[Dwight Schrute]

Nope.

DS, if you feel like it, add a poll to this. I think it would be interesting

Can you do it after the fact?

[JFCats22]

Depends on what dominant means. Not 2010, 2012, 2015 level, no I don't see that coming.

#1 seed and a chance to win a title (ala 2017 type team). Yeah, I can see that.

The reason why they won't be a dominant team is below:

#1 NBA picks:
2010 - Wall, UK
2011 - Irving, Duke,
2012 - Davis, UK
2013 - Bennett, UNLV (outlier)
2014 - Wiggins, KU
2015 - KAT, UK

2016 - Simmons, LSU
2017 - Fultz, UW
2018 - Ayton, Arizona
2019 - Zion, Duke
2020 - Edwards, UGA
2021 - Cunningham, OK St

The best of the best aren't only going to the bluebloods anymore. They are going to random places and are still being picked #1.

[DA#23]

Doesn't look like it. Oh well, the posts will tell the tale.

[DA#23]

#1 seed and a chance to win a title (ala 2017 type team). Yeah, I can see that.

The best of the best aren't only going to the bluebloods anymore. They are going to random places and are still being picked #1.

1. 2017 had the best PG, the best SG, and an elite big man joined by a returning impact sophomore (Briscoe) as well as Humphries and three seniors: Willis, Hawkins, and Mulder. Gabriel tried to factor in too.

My confidence level in that happening again is plummeting. No one is staying here 4 years now. It's leave for some form of pay4play or transfer out...which speaks volumes to me about a few things.

2. While the current pattern has seen elites go to the no-name schools, it was only 2 seasons ago that Dook stacked up Zion, RJ, and Cam Reddish along with others...so that model isn't in the grave yard just yet. The problem there is that UK's ability to scout players and effectively land the right ones seems to be waning some as compared to the early half of the Cal era, and unfortunately guys don't stay around long enough to improve and fulfill their potential here at UK. That's not even among the list of goals for these guys right now.

Allen could be a Hawkins or even Derek Willis type of guy here, but it's difficult to see him staying here that long. At this point the UK echo chamber would make it maddening for him to be a student walking around that campus, imo.

[surveyor]

Yes. I think Covid has had such a strange impact on college level organized sports that it's impossible to know how these kids would have performed in a normal season. Psychologically, it's uncharted territory.

It's a mental situation that's extremely difficult to train or coach to.

[Lighthouse]

Unless another AD or KAT comes along, NO. Let's face it, Kentucky isn't the attraction it used to be, and unless Cal begins to build a base of "stick around" players, nothing is going to change. You would think that a Coach of any Power University would recognize the change happening and at least make some adjustment needed to stay successful. Cal is not stupid and he realizes UK is paying him a lot of money and he was hired to be a successful employee of the University.

[Joneslab]

Yes. I think Covid has had such a strange impact on college level organized sports that it's impossible to know how these kids would have performed in a normal season. Psychologically, it's uncharted territory.

It's a mental situation that's extremely difficult to train or coach to.

COVID has definitely had an impact on this team.

But what COVID has also done is exacerbated a problem that already existed. I posted two years ago something like how ridiculous it was Cal was building teams like he was. The last three years we've had to scramble in the summers to fill out a roster.

COVID hurts you in situations like that because (1) you have so many young players who need that summer of work together, and (2) you have so many new players period and they need that time to gel.

All that was really damaged because of COVID. BUT that doesn't tell the whole story. The story really runs back before COVID to 2016 or so, which is when we started bleeding players and he started missing on his top targets.

[Dwight Schrute]

I think Cal will put together good trams again (presuming he stays) but I don’t think he can recruit like he once did and I think the game has changed a lot.

That Wall/Cousins team was great but I think they might struggle more in 2021 than they did in 2009/10. They’d still be quite good and one of the top 5 teams, but it would be different.

[Sean]

Not having veterans is going to lead to years where skill alone is not enough to win a lot of games. I think that is what we are seeing here. The pieces are there but there is no glue, yet.

[Spiritof96]

I agree with the OP as the main factor. Cal won't change and the game has.

Also, our DOMINANT teams have had good combinations of experience AND a transcendent player. Between Cal, the competition, and the chance to go to the G league the odds of us getting talent to stay and develop PLUS a transcendent player or two on the same team is unlikely.

College basketball is dying...

[Dwight Schrute]

l
College basketball is dying...

You know, I have wondered about the longterm prospects of it, especially if this G-League experiment is successful.

If they start putting real marketing money behind it and getting ESPN buy-in, I think college basketball is gonna go by the wayside.