Cal on call in show

[Jload]

I hesitate to say the game has passed Cal by simply because of what a good job he did with last year's team.

It hasn’t passed him by BUT he needs a very specific set of players for his system to be successful. If he doesn’t get them we are a mess. IMO Cals best teams have had good to great back to the basket big men and exsplosive point guards. Cal is VERY resistant to adapting to the talent at hand if he doesn’t have players that can excel at those spots. How is it that Labraissie? couldn’t even start here at all he end of the years but could make and play some on an NBA squad the very next season. Cal insisted he be a back to the basket center, which he wasn’t. How does Sarr go from a beast in the ACC to a liability at times for us, same reason, I also will bet you the way he shoots the ball he will make an NBA club. There have been several guys who should have been 4 ‘s that he made play the 5 too much Adebayo a perfect example. Look what he is doing playing his true position that actually accentuates his skill set in the NBA. I have only felt we really had a shot at winning it 3 times since Cal got here. With Cousins and Will, with Davis and with Townes. I know we went to Final Fours and even a title game other years but I never believed we would win it those years. One reason Cal has fallen off the last 5 years as he hasn’t had a true center, thus his offense does work as it should, he has had some good point guards but now look what happens when he has neither. We have neither coming next year so far at least. This does not bode well for us.

[Matt Dillon]

I've wondered, for some time, just how good of a x's and o's coach Cal is. When you have the kind of talent he's had, at virtually every position, it certainly has to make one's job easier. Now that he doesn't have that level of talent, to work with, we may be seeing his Achilles heel.

[DA#23]

They go hand in hand. Calipari has a style of play to which he recruits and over the last ~13-14 years especially he has mostly done that very well. When you have the best players you have a chance to develop the best team, and I suppose it's not much more complicated than that.

Additionally you shouldn't have to adjust as much to what the other team is doing because you are superior to them and as such they should be adjusting to you. I think he's become somewhat stubborn, but it's difficult to determine exactly how much is determination to make it work vs inability to adjust due to lack of skill with this particular roster.

The game has changed, but I have to admit that I still have trouble seeing where somebody like Cousins isn't a force in college today...even as a freshman . He might not be the most efficient style of offense though.

I still remain quite miffed with Calipari. He needs to make the right adjustments this offseason and trend back upwards...or get ready to move on to his next chapter.

Regardless, you don't make the HOF without being a good x's and o's coach. He might not be the best, but he's not some sort of goofball on that front.

[Dwight Schrute]

This team isn't good but it's not because Cal hasn't put them in place to win these games. They just haven't been able to execute. And you don't consistently put a team in a place to win if you aren't good at the Xs and Os.

[justford]

I don’t think the play at the end of the Arkansas game was a great call unless it had worked 😀

[Joneslab]

I've wondered, for some time, just how good of an x's and o's coach Cal is. When you have the kind of talent he's had, at virtually every position, it certainly has to make one's job easier. Now that he doesn't have that level of talent, to work with, we may be seeing his Achilles heel.

I don't think any coach could overcome what this team has if you think about Sarr being a veritable bust, Boston and Clarke being total busts, Keion Brooks being woefully inconsistent (and hurt), Jackson being lost on offense most of the time, etc.

I just don't think any X's and O's could overcome all that.

HOWEVER Kentucky would be so much better offensively (IMO) if Cal ditched the thing where he wants the guards to throw it in to Sarr and Jackson off the block. Take Sarr for instance. How many times has Sarr gotten it in the post this year? 200 or so? How many times has he scored? Maybe 15.

That's abysmal...and yet Cal continues to have them do it. He did it with Jackson the other night and Jackson scored once. One time.

That's bad coaching.

[Blue Heaven]

I think we would be a lot better this season if we just had a good pg. Imagine Hagans on this team. He wasn't great but good enough when his head was in it.

[Lighthouse]

A high performing PG would help this team but it wouldn't be a cure all. This team can't shoot, so getting the ball for an open shot probably wouldn't help much.

[lilproUK98]

I don't think any coach could overcome what this team has if you think about Sarr being a veritable bust, Boston and Clarke being total busts, Keion Brooks being woefully inconsistent (and hurt), Jackson being lost on offense most of the time, etc.

I just don't think any X's and O's could overcome all that.

HOWEVER Kentucky would be so much better offensively (IMO) if Cal ditched the thing where he wants the guards to throw it in to Sarr and Jackson off the block. Take Sarr for instance. How many times has Sarr gotten it in the post this year? 200 or so? How many times has he scored? Maybe 15.

That's abysmal...and yet Cal continues to have them do it. He did it with Jackson the other night and Jackson scored once. One time.

That's bad coaching.

He's obsessed with making big men back to the basket players. 99 out of 100 big men just don't play that way anymore.

[85 Fly]

Did Terrence Clarke grow up in poverty? I have no idea.

Poor as compared to NBA players, well yeah. But actually poor?

FWIW, I feel that I can separate a guy’s “business decision” from my opinion on his time at UK as a player as well as from how Calipari is running this program.

Grew up in a single parent house hold (has a little brother), but of course I don't know their financial situation... He's no longer on the draft boards as a projected Top 10 pick so even if he sits out the rest of the season, he should come back to build his stock do a "P.J. Washington".