Kentucky Basketball is in Very Bad Shape

[Matt Dillon]

I'm not that moved by Cal's charitable stuff because that's part of his contract. And coaches all over the country engage in charitable causes and so on.

Not saying that I don't like what he's done here but to me it doesn't move the needle much. I'll guarantee the next guy we hire does much of the same sort of stuff.

I agree. As far as most of the fans are concerned, he gets paid to coach winning bb. Anything else is just icing on the cake.

[justford]

Excluding the freshmen, name the players on this year’s team that have shown improvement from their previous year at UK or from their previous school. Seems like each one has regressed.

[DA#23]

Excluding the freshmen, name the players that have shown improvement from their previous year at UK or from their previous school. Seems like each one has regressed.

There’s perhaps the money shot.

There have been people that improved here, Quickley and Richards are recent examples that pop into mind, but the overall sentiment with the program is that staying for multiple years isn’t the best . Guys come in, get what they need, and get out. If not, they transfer out.

Most guys aren’t coming here to learn and develop.

[Joneslab]

Excluding the freshmen, name the players that have shown improvement from their previous year at UK or from their previous school. Seems like each one has regressed.

Deandre Liggins
Terrence Jones
Doron Lamb
Josh Harrelson
Derek Willis
Dominique Hawkins
Willie Cauley-Stein
Andrew Harrison
Tyler Ulis
Nick Richards
Isaiah Quickley
PJ Washington

You could make a list that's just as long with players who regressed, and/or players who looked like they had promise and then transferred.

[Westtncat]

Many will think I'm being facetious or I'm just talking as a disgruntled fan but I assure you I'm making an honest observation. I have been watching Cals teams since he was at Memphis. I honestly feel many highschool coaches have a better understanding of the game than Cal. Either that or he has absolutely 0 control of his teams. As I have said many times. It's not that we lose it's his we lose. We look like a baseball team that got together for a pick up game. I just don't get it.

[Joneslab]

Many will think I'm being facetious or I'm just talking as a disgruntled fan but I assure you I'm making an honest observation. I have been watching Cals teams since he was at Memphis. I honestly feel many highschool coaches have a better understanding of the game than Cal. Either that or he has absolutely 0 control of his teams. As I have said many times. It's not that we lose it's his we lose. We look like a baseball team that got together for a pick up game. I just don't get it.

I remember him back in his UMASS days and he was seen as a tenacious competitor who had scrappy, northeastern brawler type teams. He basically rebuilt that program from complete despair.

Memphis was in a bad way when he took over there as well. He took them to the brink of a national championship.

He's won a title here.

He has an understanding of the game. How could he not after all these years?

I do think there's something with Cal's lack of fire and intensity now. I've seen clips of him at UMASS just in the game, almost like this Pitino figure over there on the sideline growling and stomping and flailing around. And those teams were super good.

There seems to be burnout now. And you pair that with the system he plays, which is based on reads and reactions rather than set plays--when the thing is ugly it's very ugly.

This is why I say that Cal seems interested more in facilitating stars than coaching in the traditional way most coaches teach the game of basketball. It's almost like he's past the teaching phase of his career and into superstar wrangling.

The problem with that is to wrangle superstars you have to have superstars to begin with. We talk about Cal's poor coaching a lot but one culprit for why we are where we are is that Cal has missed several significant players in recruiting the last five or six years. And the one he got who could really help us recently is playing for the Trailblazers.

[GOCAT15]

Many will think I'm being facetious or I'm just talking as a disgruntled fan but I assure you I'm making an honest observation. I have been watching Cals teams since he was at Memphis. I honestly feel many highschool coaches have a better understanding of the game than Cal. Either that or he has absolutely 0 control of his teams. As I have said many times. It's not that we lose it's his we lose. We look like a baseball team that got together for a pick up game. I just don't get it.

I guess I have been wearing blinders or just trying to tell myself it's not true, but the more you look back at Cal's successful teams, they all had mostly future NBA starters on them, and most of them aren't only starters in the NBA but are all star caliber players.

Wall, Bledsoe, and Cousins
Knight, Lamb, Jones, Miller (not tearing up the NBA but were all legit college players)
Anthony Davis, Lamb, Jones, MKG
Randle -Underachieving team but my most memorable tournament run of any team in my lifetime at least.
KAT, Booker(sorry to bring up 2015, still the biggest disappointment in my life when it come to UK basketball)
Murray, Ulis ( I know he hasn't succeeded in the NBA but man was he a great player in college IMO)
Bam, Fox, Monk
SGA, Knox, PJ
Maxey, Quickley, Richards
Herro, Washington, Quickley, Richards

I'm sure I am missing some, but am I wrong in saying that Cal hasn't ever had a great team that didn't have just flat out studs? Give credit where it is due that he did recruit those players but we've all seen the years where the top freshman recruits don't turn out to be what everyone thinks they will or his returning players don't improve and we have a rough year. It just really makes you wonder if there has been much coaching or if these guys were just so good they didn't require a lot of coaching.....


Just hard to argue that if you gave those rosters to a majority of other D-1 coaches would they have had worse, the same, or better outcomes for those seasons.

When you look back at that list you do have to shake your head that only one title has been won in this stretch.

[Westtncat]

So it's super stars or bust? Missouri doesn't have superstars either. We look lost. How at this level can you at least not run something out of habit? I mean how do you attend a major basketball school and just really not know how to play basketball very well. I'm not talking individual skill I mean the game itself as a team.

[Joneslab]

So it's super stars or bust? Missouri doesn't have superstars either. We look lost.

Oh it's way worse than that. We don't play hard.

A lack of effort is the greatest basketball sin. It's the one thing you can't overcome in this game.

As far as superstars or bust...it looks like at this point in Cal's career that's kind of the case. But it didn't always use to be that way. Ever hear of Edgar Padilla and Carmelo Travieso? Those guys weren't superstars but they'd kill you.

To see how important "superstars"--read: really good basketball players who will play professionally--are, look at what Cason Wallace does. He's the only bona fide NBA player we have. Imagine we had six or seven just like him. We'd be singing Cal's praises up in here every day.

What's happening now at Kentucky though goes way beyond good players. There are several significant things broken inside the team and inside the coaching staff.

[Ratt]

I also wonder - do they review film of both their team and scout others? I know years ago, Cal said he didn't scout Wisconsin. I knew Mizzu would hit them with the 1-3-1 because they did Illinois. I thought their coach called it at the exact right time. UK was swinging the momentum, boom 1-3-1 - two turnovers, two 3's. Boom game.

Then you have Ware & then Wheeler flashing the middle. Sorry but this right here tells me that either Cal is lacking, frustrated, stupid, or just too damn stubborn to figure it out. WHY have Oscar on the block, Oscar can hit that turn around jumper at the free throw line. Oscar is strong, he should have been flashing the middle. This is all pretty common stuff.

I don't blame it all on Cal or the staff. There's a lot going on here. I think the only way this gets better is a complete swing in minutes. Wallace at the PG. Adou, Reeves, Livingston, Oscar and let them figure it out. Use Ware, Toppin, Wheeler, CJ sparingly and see what happens. YES, there will be some freshman blunders but I think talent wise, that's your best bet. Reeves isn't good by the way. He's a mid major guy at best.

[Jody Porter]

I'm not that moved by Cal's charitable stuff because that's part of his contract. And coaches all over the country engage in charitable causes and so on.

Not saying that I don't like what he's done here but to me it doesn't move the needle much. I'll guarantee the next guy we hire does much of the same sort of stuff.

It doesn't move the needle for me either as far as basketball coaching is concerned, but I disagree that just anybody will step in and do what he's able to do. Other coaches in Kentucky could have done it but did not, or were not as successful.

I'm ready for him to go, though. I'm no longer even interested in waiting until after next season.

[justford]

Deandre Liggins
Terrence Jones
Doron Lamb
Josh Harrelson
Derek Willis
Dominique Hawkins
Willie Cauley-Stein
Andrew Harrison
Tyler Ulis
Nick Richards
Isaiah Quickley
PJ Washington

You could make a list that's just as long with players who regressed, and/or players who looked like they had promise and then transferred.

Forgot to say this year🙁 Sorry and I went back and corrected it.

[TrueblueCATfan]

Heres a interesting tidbit I just saw on Twitter

Biiy G in 2 seasons had a 40-27 record

Cal the last 2 seasons is 44-28

[GOCAT15]

Heres a interesting tidbit I just saw on Twitter

Biiy G in 2 seasons had a 40-27 record

Cal the last 2 seasons is 44-28

BIlly G had some talent on those teams, actually my third favorite Kentucky player was on his teams, Mr. 54 point Jodie Meeks.

[TrueblueCATfan]

Tyler Ulis will be a grad assistant when new semester starts

I hope he can help us some