Rumors circulating about Cal and Texas (UPDATE: Shaka to Marquette)

[Joneslab]

To be quiet honest, I don't much care what he does. This is like Rick Pitino all over again. It's almost become a springtime rite of passage that he's rumored to be going somewhere then he has to release a statement that he isn't leaving and even then some of the BBN don't exhale until they see him on the sidelines coaching in the fall.

The only thing about this though is that when people stop trying to grab the Kentucky coach then that means that the coach is doing something wrong.

Whoever the coach is here, unless his name is Billy Gillispie he's probably going to have teams--both in college and the pros--making runs at him. Even Tubby Smith had that whole thing that year where the 76ers pretty much had him in the bag.

With a guy like Cal, I would imagine the number of job offers he's gotten since 2009 that we don't know about is fairly staggering.

[DA#23]

Neither is Duke.

The only interesting thing about that is just 24 months ago, Duke and Coach K were lauded as kind of perfecting the college game and having one of the best teams of the modern era.

Now we're sort of sitting out there with them in a kind of college basketball purgatory.

It's crazy how quickly things change in this game.

They’ve done it more recently than we have. Smoked us on live TV, beat us for the elite recruits (helped tremendously to change Cal’s course imo), and oh yeah, 2 championships while Calipari has been here.

[KCKUKFan]

They’ve done it more recently than we have. Smoked us on live TV, beat us for the elite recruits (helped tremendously to change Cal’s course imo), and oh yeah, 2 championships while Calipari has been here.

Both of those championships came in Cal's "prime" (09-15).

Since Duke became the "it" program (2016), they have had equal or less success than Kentucky in literally every tournament. And only a few more wins in the same time span.

[Dwight Schrute]

Re: not being able to hire a replacement, people said that about Tubby leaving also. I doubt we're going to hire Brad Stevens or Mark Few but I doubt we ever were to begin with.

Money and notoriety talk and Kentucky has a lot of gravity when it comes to selecting coaches. Stop the FUD about Cal leaving. I like what he's done here and would love to see him adapt and resume being the gold standard, but there's more than one way to skin a cat (no pun in tended).

[Joneslab]

They’ve done it more recently than we have. Smoked us on live TV, beat us for the elite recruits (helped tremendously to change Cal’s course imo), and oh yeah, 2 championships while Calipari has been here.

A lot of teams have done it more recently than we have. In a battle with other programs Kentucky pales in comparison right now to programs like Michigan.

But my point was that Duke, once lauded as a behemoth of the game, is suddenly not.

The only interesting thing about that is that I think if Cal left Kentucky actually could make a solid hire and plot a way forward. The thing where teams win these recruiting arms races and stack five-stars looks to be ending in some ways. The emphasis is going to come to be on coaching, experience, and skill. Those are things Cal really has always taken for granted since he's been here, and that could be the reason he's looking around for a fresh start.

[Dwight Schrute]

Both of those championships came in Cal's "prime" (09-15).

Since Duke became the "it" program (2016), they have had equal or less success than Kentucky in literally every tournament. And only a few more wins in the same time span.

So?

What's hilarious is the time frame you're bringing up is when they started adapting Cal's methodology.

They're still beating us for recruits though.

[GOCAT15]

The only thing about this though is that when people stop trying to grab the Kentucky coach then that means that the coach is doing something wrong.

Whoever the coach is here, unless his name is Billy Gillispie he's probably going to have teams--both in college and the pros--making runs at him. Even Tubby Smith had that whole thing that year where the 76ers pretty much had him in the bag.

With a guy like Cal, I would imagine the number of job offers he's gotten since 2009 that we don't know about is fairly staggering.

Agreed, but it is aggravating when it occurs for other colleges.....I mean I get the whole NBA thing because that has always been the thought that would be where Cal might go. But for a Kentucky coach to be able to be seriously debated about leaving to go to a football school is showing there is more issues going on, especially since Cal hasn't squashed it yet. You never hear of Coach K, or Ol Roy being discussed as going to a different school, just like a coach should never leave voluntarily unless its for an NBA gig. That's just my opinion.

[Dwight Schrute]

A lot of teams have done it more recently than we have. In a battle with other programs Kentucky pales in comparison right now to programs like Michigan.

But my point was that Duke, once lauded as a behemoth of the game, is suddenly not.

The only interesting thing about that is that I think if Cal left Kentucky actually could make a solid hire and plot a way forward. The thing where teams win these recruiting arms races and stack five-stars looks to be ending in some ways. The emphasis is going to come to be on coaching, experience, and skill. Those are things Cal really has always taken for granted since he's been here, and that could be the reason he's looking around for a fresh start.

Because I'm not convinced Cal is interested in or even able to coach average talent at a high level.

[Joneslab]

Because I'm not convinced Cal is interested in or even able to coach average talent at a high level.

Nobody can coach average talent at a high level.

These lower-ranked guys who lead teams to titles are in no way average. These guys are hellacious players. Sometimes they're mis-ranked, but they're not untalented.

The rap on Cal isn't this, it's maybe that he either has (1) no desire to keep players around who aren't one-and-dones and would rather recruit over them, or (2) he is unable to keep players around because they see what has happened here the last decade and they want in on those fat stacks people like Mychal Mulder are making.

[KCKUKFan]

So?

What's hilarious is the time frame you're bringing up is when they started adapting Cal's methodology.

They're still beating us for recruits though.

I read Matt's post as saying that Duke has been considerably better than Kentucky since they adapted the one-and-done methodology, when they haven't.

[Dwight Schrute]

I read Matt's post as saying that Duke has been considerably better than Kentucky since they adapted the one-and-done methodology, when they haven't.

Eh, they've been taking our recruits though the teams were probably close to on par with each other over the whole time frame.

Am convinced the Zion team would've decimated us again though.

[Catsrock]

I think that if Cal leaves soon—to Texas or otherwise—it will not be because WE ran him off. The lunatic fringe of the fan base may scare of a recruit like Sallis but I don’t think Cal will leave because of the 0.1% of us. In fact if Cal still has an ounce of competitive drive about him I don’t think he’d deep down want the fan base to be happy with a 9 win season.

If Cal is on TV later today wearing burnt orange I bet he’ll be gracious to BBN. And I don’t think it will be just taking the high road. I’d want to tell him thanks for the good times and I wish it ended on a high note.

[Dwight Schrute]

Nobody can coach average talent at a high level.

These lower-ranked guys who lead teams to titles are in no way average. These guys are hellacious players. Sometimes they're mis-ranked, but they're not untalented.

The rap on Cal isn't this, it's maybe that he either has (1) no desire to keep players around who aren't one-and-dones and would rather recruit over them, or (2) he is unable to keep players around because they see what has happened here the last decade and they want in on those fat stacks people like Mychal Mulder are making.

I'll state it another way. I'm unconvinced Cal is either unwilling or able to coach at a high level without overwhelming talent, or at least guys who are athletic as hell that can be molded into great players.

With the game moving away from that type of emphasis, the types of teams he's fielded at Kentucky in the past 5 years are on much more even ground than they appear to be with the way the game is headed.

[DA#23]

I read Matt's post as saying that Duke has been considerably better than Kentucky since they adapted the one-and-done methodology, when they haven't.

You're right. I was saying that they were getting any recruit that they wanted and were the IT program.

Perhaps that has basically ended now, but I'm still sitting here with a chapped bottom that they took both Vernon Carey and Matthew Hurt. Those were two of the tier 1 bigs we targeted out of that class, and we missed on all 4. We're getting my choice for tier 2 now (Oscar), but that's where I was going with that not to mention the shellacking the Zion, RJ, Reddish team gave us.

[KCKUKFan]

Eh, they've been taking our recruits though the teams were probably close to on par with each other over the whole time frame.

Am convinced the Zion team would've decimated us again though.

I disagree. The Zion team sort've limped into March; they lost in the ACC tournament, and should've lost to South Florida in the S16 (if I remember correctly).

Kentucky got much better over the course of that year, and was playing very good basketball in March. We lost to a hot Auburn team in EE, but I still think we win that game 8 times out of 10.