From Matt Jones: the best explaination for a disasterous month

[lilproUK98]

http://kentuckysportsradio.com/main/so-what-happened-with-jaylen-brown/

An excerpt:

"At the end of the day, this much is clear. The platoon system killed Kentucky on the recruiting trail in the final weeks. What was a huge positive during the season, because it showcased how Calipari would take care of his kids and a group of players could sacrifice their individual interests for a collective goal, became a hammer that opposing coaches pounded UK with on the recruiting trail..."

Pretty much sums up what has happened and why the Platoon System killed UK on the recruiting front....and ultimately may have cost us a Championship, two or three players going pro that shouldn't and so on.

It's tough that these kids rely so much on what opposing schools have told them and how much that weighs in their decisions.

Cal will adjust. He almost adjusted on the fly so much that he nearly still pulled off a few big commitments. Hopefully this doesn't linger into the 2016 class and beyond....

[Wonderstruck]

Yep.

That's why it was crucial to win the title. Instead, we platooned, had guys take less minutes, sacrificed, all that stuff, which in the moment, was a ton of fun, and we didn't win the whole thing.

These coaches are pretty aware of how to attack opposing programs, and this was how they came at us, and it worked. The very thing we loved about this season was our bane in the end.

[lilproUK98]

And we only truly "platooned" for maybe 20% of the season.... SMH

[Joneslab]

I'd love to know how anyone with any foresight at all could look at Kentucky's team as it's assembled right now and think that Calipari may platoon next year. We have ten guys counting EJ Floreal. If these players were worried about platooning, then Cal seriously failed in every living room he went in.

It's not even close to logical.

[lilproUK98]

17 and 18 yr old kids are logical???

If two of them come to UK, in theory we could easily be platooning again, or at least that's what opposing coaches would tell them....

So, in the end, none of them came...

[Joneslab]

17 and 18 yr old kids are logical???

Their parents normally are.

It just doesn't make any sense.

Of course, I'll admit that Cal missing out on all these guys doesn't make any sense either.

[Vinnie]

I trust that we UK fans won't panic over the recruiting this season. John Calipari is nobody's fool and he will adjust. He always does adjust and we will be fine. I feel safe with Coach Cal at the helm. If coach K. could adjust so easily to the "one and done" reality of modern college basketball then Coach Cal can adjust to having too many players as was the situation last year.

[DA#23]

Certainly a Sunday Attention Getter, with intent of building up a week of radio shows.

With that said,

"If a Coach is determined to stay in the coaching profession, he will develop from year to year. This much is true, no coach has a monopoly on the knowledge of basketball. There are no secrets in the game. The only secrets, if there are any, are good teaching of sound fundamentals, intelligent handling of men, a sound system of play, and the ability to instill in the boys a desire to win." -- Adolph Rupp

[J.Jennings]

And since when did Matt Jones have a opinion that really mattered? Love the information that Kentucky Sports Radio provides but the buck stops there. To be honest, if you look at the roster for this season where are would some of these recruits play on this team. Is there another center that's going to play over Skal? Is there another freshman out there that would come in and seat Poythrees from the PF spot? What about Ulis and Briscoe, who would take there spot? Did anyone see Johnson, Booker, or even Lyles leaving for the NBA???

Maybe just maybe there was some recruits in this class that was actually afraid to come in and try to compete for a spot on this years roster. Cal doesn't guarantee anything unless your Wall, Cousins, Davis, or best of the best. Losing the title, platooning, and losing players unexpected may have hurt this team but from a talent standpoint, it's not like we are heading into next season with a group of walkons with the traditional headbands on...............

[Matt Dillon]

Since we only platooned about 20% of the time, Cal isn't much of a recruiter, in my opinion, if he let opposing coaches use this to take recruits away from UK. I agree with Will, and MC, that there were other, more important, factors responsible for for all the recruits UK struck out with.

[KevinHall]

I said this in another thread on the recruiting forum and I'll say it here. These players are a microcosm of a very selfish society. Everybody wants theirs and care little about the overall well being. These guys in the end want all the points,adulation and fame for themselves only. They know they don't really have to win to be drafted into the NBA. One year and they are gone. So why not go somewhere where I can score 25 a game and be the BMOC. They don't have to sacrifice any points or fame to win a championship or make a Final Four. Just show up and score, baby. Not everyone is like this but the vast majority are becoming this way and that's what happened to UK. In the end something good Cal tried to do got turned around on him for selfish reasons.

[catfaninin]

And since when did Matt Jones have a opinion that really mattered? Love the information that Kentucky Sports Radio provides but the buck stops there. To be honest, if you look at the roster for this season where are would some of these recruits play on this team. Is there another center that's going to play over Skal? Is there another freshman out there that would come in and seat Poythrees from the PF spot? What about Ulis and Briscoe, who would take there spot? Did anyone see Johnson, Booker, or even Lyles leaving for the NBA???

Maybe just maybe there was some recruits in this class that was actually afraid to come in and try to compete for a spot on this years roster. Cal doesn't guarantee anything unless your Wall, Cousins, Davis, or best of the best. Losing the title, platooning, and losing players unexpected may have hurt this team but from a talent standpoint, it's not like we are heading into next season with a group of walkons with the traditional headbands on...............

I think this is a really good point. This is going to be a really good team the way it is right now. Ullis, Briscoe, Poythres and Skal is a really good first 4. And thats not mentioning Matthews who is a top 50-60 ranked player himself. Those 4 with Matthews, Mulder, Willis, Hawkins and Lee will be just fine.

Who is going to be better? Off the top of my head I am not thinking of many. Duke and Kansas will both be counting on freshman just as much as UK. North Carolina should be good. Maryland. IU? Thinking about the teams next year doesnt exactly make me think we are in nearly as much trouble as a lot of people seem to think.

[Joneslab]

Since we only platooned about 20% of the time, Cal isn't much of a recruiter, in my opinion, if he let opposing coaches use this to take recruits away from UK.

Clearly Calipari is the best recruiter in the history of the game. I think that's been established.

What's also clear is that Calipari has had his only issues after our big seasons. After 2010 we needed the Terrence Jones flip. After 2012 we needed Nerlens Noel to avert disaster. After 2015 we seem to have struck out in the late period.

But if you look at these players--and the players that Kentucky was really in on, not the ones we gave cursory looks at--then you see overt reasons why they wouldn't come. They wanted to stay close to home in some cases, and Brown clearly didn't want the spotlight because of his personality.

I heard months ago--like last summer--that this was a highly unusual class. I don't think it's particularly strong and I don't think they bonded like most classes do, so you couldn't work the angle of trying to get kids to come and play together.

But there's also something that happens after Kentucky has big seasons that gets in the way of monumental recruiting hauls. It could have something to do with the time and effort the staff has to exert in actually coaching those teams that allows other programs to get a leg up on them.

[Joneslab]

And still, lest we feel too sorry for ourselves, we have two top ten players and the #1 overall according to Rivals.

A lot of schools would love to have found things so disastrous.

The only issue is that we needed more because of all that we lost. How big an issue that is remains to be seen, but I think it's pretty clear that so many things have to go right next year for Kentucky to contend.

[DA#23]

^ I don't think society made a huge swing in but one recruiting class. I also don't think one class means that Cal's suddenly not a top recruiter.

Fans like to portray themselves as though they are looking out for the players on the team, their futures, and their education, but in truth the players aren't the only selfish people in the building. How many fans have cut absolute shines over a player leaving early "because he isn't ready and needs his degree to survive" ?

So none of this is new or especially true of the 2015 high school seniors in America.