2024 Roster (Enter Antonio Reeves & Tre Mitchell)

[Joneslab]

Is it bad that I've gotten to the point where I don't really care who Cal gets because I feel like he won't be able to figure out how to manage the team anyway? Lol

Same.

But you know we'll be holding out some hope when Big Blue Madness rolls around.

I'm a pretty optimistic person by nature so I tend to usually look on the bright side of things. But like you, I feel like we've been burned so much and the guy is so washed out that hoping for anything good is a fool's errand. But, you know, what are we gonna do? He's holding us hostage.

[lilproUK98]

I think we need a good portal guard no matter what happens with Dillingham.

And Livingston? Yeah, I’m with you. Lots to like about him, but not impossible to use the portal to replace what he provides. Get a steady upperclassman at his position and maybe it does turn out to be a net positive.

I wonder how Cal would work out the minutes, anyway. Wagner’s gonna start. Reeves is going to start. Edwards will probably start. And if Cal’s serious about playing Bradshaw at the four and Ugo at the five (assuming we don’t lose him to the portal), where would Livingston’s minutes come from? Maybe Edwards is first off the bench and Livingston starts at the three; maybe Cal realizes how idiotic it’d be to start Bradshaw and Ugo together, and Livingston plays the four and one of the other two at the five; maybe we lose Ugo, Edwards plays the three, and Livingston gets the four.

This is likely all for naught, regardless.

Great questions. Which makes me further believe that Cal has no plans. He just gets dudes and whoever leaves, leaves. Whoever comes, comes. Then he tries to figure it out and is not doing a very good job of doing that.

Maybe nobody has a real plan as far as rosters go. They're all just getting the best talent they can get and then coaching it and managing it the best they can. This is separating the true coaches and personality and ego managers from the guys that aren't willing to adapt. IDK, just thinking out loud

[Joneslab]

Great questions. Which makes me further believe that Cal has no plans. He just gets dudes and whoever leaves, leaves. Whoever comes, comes. Then he tries to figure it out and is not doing a very good job of doing that.

I posted the same thing back when we started to have to assemble rosters in the summer. I think I created a post one time here called something like "Rosters Shouldn't be Built Like This" or some other nonsensical crap.

So I'm right there with you.

Think about what would've happened if COVID hadn't changed the rules. Think about how screwed we would've been.

Watching him build rosters reminds you of how he coaches: old, lame, washed, spent. This is where we are now. I'm just hoping for some monumental luck this off-season.

[KCKUKFan]

Livingston isn't coming back. Still think Dillingham comes.

[George]

Great questions. Which makes me further believe that Cal has no plans. He just gets dudes and whoever leaves, leaves. Whoever comes, comes. Then he tries to figure it out and is not doing a very good job of doing that.

Maybe nobody has a real plan as far as rosters go. They're all just getting the best talent they can get and then coaching it and managing it the best they can. This is separating the true coaches and personality and ego managers from the guys that aren't willing to adapt. IDK, just thinking out loud

Your first paragraph is spot on. What sucks is he used to always figure it out. Even when we were all frustrated by draft night, we could enter the next season confidently, because Cal would have the new bunch tuned up and humming by February.

I think there are still some coaches who recruit with a plan, though. Bill Self, for example. You ever look at Kansas and not think they look like Kansas?

[Joneslab]

Kansas doesn't recruit on the notion of going pro after one year. If it happens it happens, but that's not their brand.

For instance a guy like Gradey Dick would never return if he played for Kentucky. At Kansas you could see it.

[George]

Kansas doesn't recruit on the notion of going pro after one year. If it happens it happens, but that's not their brand.

For instance a guy like Gradey Dick would never return if he played for Kentucky. At Kansas you could see it.

And there’s always a Gradey Dick at Kansas. And a Cliff Alexander type (which could be Livingston next year). And a Jalen Wilson.

Bill Self has a type.

[Joneslab]

When you can keep them more than one year I think it's easier to build a "type." Or a brand.

When they're always bailing out then that creates chaos and you've got to constantly patch holes, Bob the Builder style. That's what Cal has had to do.

And it's his own fault. He created the monster way back 15 years ago or so. And here we are.

[KCKUKFan]

Cal used to have a type.

Now he's just a whore to randos.

[George]

When you can keep them more than one year I think it's easier to build a "type." Or a brand.

When they're always bailing out then that creates chaos and you've got to constantly patch holes, Bob the Builder style. That's what Cal has had to do.

And it's his own fault. He created the monster way back 15 years ago or so. And here we are.

But even in the first half of the era Cal also had a type. It was a foregone conclusion that he’d land the best, most explosive PG of the class, and the best big man. So, maybe not a type type, but still some consistency in terms of approach.

[Joneslab]

But even in the first half of the era Cal also had a type. It was a foregone conclusion that he’d land the best, most explosive PG of the class, and the best big man. So, maybe not a type type, but still some consistency in terms of approach.

Totally. Like the Cal point guard: you knew what he was looking for every off-season. And he generally got that guy.

Things have gotten way more chaotic and...well, let's face it, desperate here recently.

Which is a microcosm of where the program is as a whole.

[lilproUK98]

This thread is depressing lol but so is Kentucky Basketball.

I just hope the basketball Gods smile on us and we get some luck and have an exciting postseason next yr. Lord, we need it

[George]

This thread is depressing lol but so is Kentucky Basketball.

I just hope the basketball Gods smile on us and we get some luck and have an exciting postseason next yr. Lord, we need it

God, it really is.

And maybe I’m feeling a little full of myself, but we’re a pretty sharp group and we see all of this for the way it is, so why can’t Cal?

[Catsrock]

When you can keep them more than one year I think it's easier to build a "type." Or a brand.

When they're always bailing out then that creates chaos and you've got to constantly patch holes, Bob the Builder style. That's what Cal has had to do.

And it's his own fault. He created the monster way back 15 years ago or so. And here we are.

More so even than what we’ve been saying. I blame the NCAA for the NIL fiasco. If they had addressed player compensation/exploitation then congress would never have stepped in and created a situation no one was prepared for. But there has been no one individual more powerful in changing college basketball from what it used to be to what it has become. His convincing every decent player in the world that it’s absurd and a sign of failure to be in the same college program for more that a year goes far beyond his own program. But that’s OK because he made John Wall rich. Wall never would have sniffed the league without Cal making him into a stud.

Maybe it’s all smoke about Dillingham, who knows for sure? But the class we’ve been waiting for for several years and the reason many have given Cal some slack is now being questioned before THIS season even crowns a champ. Oh what fun!

Can’t blame my kids for not catching big blue fever anywhere similar to what I did as a child. Thanks Coach.

[justford]

Unless I missed it, there has been very little discussion about Wheeler. Unless he could get a waiver, he would have to sit next year if he transfers.