Cal's Actual Goal Was...........

[J.Jennings]

It may be dumb for you but you're a lot younger than I am, and it's a lot different now, but when I was in HS playing ball and into my young adult life, I would had given anything to have been a part of any UK team. It's different now, but that's the way it was then, and I think it was a good thing,.

I grew up with a good friend of mine who was 6'11 and a die hard Kentucky fan. All he ever wanted to do was play basketball for the University of Kentucky and because UK never offered, he ended up at Louisville with Coach Crum. To this day, he's anti Uk not because he went to Louisville, because he had his feelings hurt that UK didn't offer. He would had given anything to sit on that bench and cheer lead for 4 years.

My cousin had a 6'4 frame and was a lights out shooter tfrom all over the court back in high school in the 80's. I had the opportunity to watch him compete and play against guys like Felton Spencer, Chapman, S.Draud, F.Persley, R. Hanson and others back in the day. I never had the skills or size my cousin had but that one time in the church league when i went off for 35 points, in my my head i was Rex Chapman and i was playing for Kentucky lol lol lol lol lol. Was up in Harrodsburg ballin man lol lol lol lol

[40bill]

It may be dumb for you but you're a lot younger than I am, and it's a lot different now, but when I was in HS playing ball and into my young adult life, I would had given anything to have been a part of any UK team. It's different now, but that's the way it was then, and I think it was a good thing,.

amen. twice.

LOL.....John Calipari continues to be the lightning rod of college basketball. Either nationally or in state. As Will pointed out very, very accurately.....how many programs other than perhaps the past decade of Duke and the old UCLA runs have had the success reaching the final four that John Calipari has? I think we get spoiled as a fan base in what we want compared to what we should legitimately expect. ( LOLOLOLOLOL....except for this past year's team....the final four was my LEAST expectation).

I'm ready for Kentucky/ SEC football to get going now. Basketball with all its laughs, tears, teeth gritting and possibilities is cold weather away. Glad to see John step out of the woodwork though.... he sure had kept unusually quiet from his normal self.
I don't think John Calipari will ever be considered a master technician as far as the x and o coaching. He's a guy that's a shrink coaching basketball, and he's a showman ( or showboat, whichever way you see it).

I think this next year may actually be enjoyable for the coaching staff getting a chance to show everyone they ARE coaches....not just NBA scouts stationed at college campuses.

[J.Jennings]

I think this next year may actually be enjoyable for the coaching staff getting a chance to show everyone they ARE coaches....not just NBA scouts stationed at college campuses.

I am actually excited about this upcoming season because of the unknowns and i like the underdog role. I am sure i will kick a chair or get ticked at some point in time but all in all, we have 5 good players as good as anyone else when it comes time to win 6 in a row. To me the perfect season would be to win it all with our local Kentucky kids coming off the bench contributing Cameron Mills style.

[BBNalldayeveryday]

What he said would of appealed to the masses if he just would of added "and to win national championships", because that is also his job.

[J.Jennings]

I'llsum it up like this. I don't know what Cal's goal was but mine was for Kentucky to go 40-0 undefeated so i could talk $$$$ for the next 30 or 40 years if i live that long lol lol lol lol. Oh well, not sure if a team that strong will ever be assembled again but we shall see.................

[KevinHall]

It may be dumb for you but you're a lot younger than I am, and it's a lot different now, but when I was in HS playing ball and into my young adult life, I would had given anything to have been a part of any UK team. It's different now, but that's the way it was then, and I think it was a good thing,.

Most boys who grew up in the state and had any interest in playing basketball dreamed of playing for UK. It's probably different now but I know its not a dumb idea for anyone who is my age (52) or older that had that dream of just being on UK's bench for four years.
It's good and all to win but a lot of the fun of the game has been taken out the last few years. The entire game of college basketball has been professionalized and I really don't like that. Its becoming harder and harder to stay a fan and with comments like Cal made yesterday it makes it all the harder.

[Joneslab]

When you go to Rupp you see a ton of young fans. I think KSR and the constant news/hype we get about the team adds to people's fandom. In that way I think the fanbase is as strong as it ever was, maybe stronger. A lot of that has to do with Cal.

But I think sports fandom generally has changed. ESPN really wants you to be a fan of a lot of teams and not just one. Being an obsessive fan of a single team is seen as weird or flawed somehow. Much better to follow sports in a fantasy kind of way: follow a bunch of teams, a bunch of players, listen to talk radio, buy gear from the team shop. Become a "sports fan" rather than a team fan.

I think a lot of younger kids have fallen into that. But generally I think it's much the same as it's always been. So many Kentuckians would run through a wall to play for UK.

But that doesn't mean that the guys who would "give anything" to play for UK would actually contribute. Desire and heart only takes you so far. We've seen that time and again at UK with Kentucky players.

[JFCats22]

It may be dumb for you but you're a lot younger than I am, and it's a lot different now, but when I was in HS playing ball and into my young adult life, I would had given anything to have been a part of any UK team. It's different now, but that's the way it was then, and I think it was a good thing,.

Clearly you didn't read my post. I never said it was dumb for KY kids to want to play at UK.

I said the whole notion that it means more to all KY kids (as JWorld continues to say) than kids from outside of KY is dumb and it is.

[Joneslab]

I'm on team crazzed with this one.

I think playing for Kentucky means more to certain kinds of people for whatever reason.

Some are Kentucky kids. Some might not be.

Some players come here with a good idea of our tradition. James Young claimed to be a Kentucky fan. Some Kentucky-born players come to UK admitting that they really weren't UK fans. Rex Champman, etc.

The thing people get into with this is when they assume that because a player was only here a year that they didn't care about the jersey. This is usually thrown out by people (and some UK fans) when the team loses, as if losing one game in the NCAA Tournament means that the player didn't have heart or something.

The logic there goes that if we just had some players from Kentucky who wanted to be at Kentucky for their entire career, then they'd have "heart." That's the part I don't agree with.

[BobS]

Since I cannot stand to listen to him talk, I usually avoid these things he says. But this is his thing, like it or not.

And just like I don't believe for one minute, the high level recruits give one flying flip about UK, I think Cal is hell bent on living up to his mission on making poor families wealthy, He wants that as his legacy, IMO. The titles fall into place when you recruit the best and make them rich. At least I feel this is what Cal believes.

It is the new approach. And if you disagree with it, then people think you are heartless.

This also Cal's marketing and recruiting tool and it works for the most part. He is a genius when it comes to that aspect.

I have made it clear more than once that I could not care less about the draft or the NBA. I am a UK fan and college basketball fan first and always. I am happy for the players that they will be rich, but I feel very little connection to them at all when they pass through here for a 6 month stint. Just the way I am wired.

[GOCAT15]

Since I cannot stand to listen to him talk, I usually avoid these things he says. But this is his thing, like it or not.

And just like I don't believe for one minute, the high level recruits give one flying flip about UK, I think Cal is hell bent on living up to his mission on making poor families wealthy, He wants that as his legacy, IMO. The titles fall into place when you recruit the best and make them rich. At least I feel this is what Cal believes.

It is the new approach. And if you disagree with it, then people think you are heartless.

This also Cal's marketing and recruiting tool and it works for the most part. He is a genius when it comes to that aspect.

I have made it clear more than once that I could not care less about the draft or the NBA. I am a UK fan and college basketball fan first and always. I am happy for the players that they will be rich, but I feel very little connection to them at all when they pass through here for a 6 month stint. Just the way I am wired.

I don't think anyone will argue that they would prefer to have guys stay 3-4 years, of course you learn more about players and become bigger fans of them. Look at WCS for example, he has became a very popular player with the fanbase, not only for his bball skills but for his personality and community work.

But unfortunately that is just not the nature of the game anymore, schools with a roster full of 4 year players just can't compete for championships. And the teams that do get lucky and have those kids come back....like Florida when they went back to back, they still have a roster with some pros on it. It's all about getting lucky and having a kid that could be drafted want to come back to school for whatever reason.

In a perfect world you would recruit 5-6 players like WCS, who at the time are around a 50th ranked player, but will turn into a lottery pick after 2-3 years, along with 1-2 one and done studs. To me that is the perfect way to recruit in a dream world.

[Joneslab]

In a perfect world you would recruit 5-6 players like WCS, who at the time are around a 50th ranked player, but will turn into a lottery pick after 2-3 years, along with 1-2 one and done studs. To me that is the perfect way to recruit in a dream world.

Problem is you almost always have to wait on those players to come around.

WCS was on a bad team as a freshman and was a project. He only became a force when he really honed his defensive game and got the other parts of his game to where they were at least acceptable. We like those kinds of players in theory, but we don't usually want to wait while they grow up. Because as they grow up, the team a lot of times struggles. We want winning and we want guys to stay, and that's a hard balance to accomplish.

The best-best-case scenario is that you'd get guys who are 4-star players and you'd pair them with the can't-miss one-and-dones. And Cal has really done that in a lot of ways, it's just that when Cal gets those kinds of guys they a lot of times end up on NBA radars. I mentioned Devin Booker above: your average fan will say about players like that (and Bledsoe, and Lamb, and some others) that "Cal only recruits one-and-dones," but that isn't true. Some of these players become one-and-dones.

[J.Jennings]

Problem is you almost always have to wait on those players to come around.

WCS was on a bad team as a freshman and was a project. He only became a force when he really honed his defensive game and got the other parts of his game to where they were at least acceptable. We like those kinds of players in theory, but we don't usually want to wait while they grow up. Because as they grow up, the team a lot of times struggles. We want winning and we want guys to stay, and that's a hard balance to accomplish.

The best-best-case scenario is that you'd get guys who are 4-star players and you'd pair them with the can't-miss one-and-dones. And Cal has really done that in a lot of ways, it's just that when Cal gets those kinds of guys they a lot of times end up on NBA radars. I mentioned Devin Booker above: your average fan will say about players like that (and Bledsoe, and Lamb, and some others) that "Cal only recruits one-and-dones," but that isn't true. Some of these players become one-and-dones.

Some of these players become one and dones possibly two and done when in reality, they are 3 to 4 at best. Orton, Teague, Lamb, Dakari, and probably Aaron Harrison are examples of bad advice or lack of know how in my opinion. Still, I agree that Cal has mixed it up pretty good overall and the fact we lost to Wisconsin shouldn't warrant a system overhaul.

[GOCAT15]

Problem is you almost always have to wait on those players to come around.

WCS was on a bad team as a freshman and was a project. He only became a force when he really honed his defensive game and got the other parts of his game to where they were at least acceptable. We like those kinds of players in theory, but we don't usually want to wait while they grow up. Because as they grow up, the team a lot of times struggles. We want winning and we want guys to stay, and that's a hard balance to accomplish.

The best-best-case scenario is that you'd get guys who are 4-star players and you'd pair them with the can't-miss one-and-dones. And Cal has really done that in a lot of ways, it's just that when Cal gets those kinds of guys they a lot of times end up on NBA radars. I mentioned Devin Booker above: your average fan will say about players like that (and Bledsoe, and Lamb, and some others) that "Cal only recruits one-and-dones," but that isn't true. Some of these players become one-and-dones.

I disagree, other than the first year would maybe be rough, but that would all depend on if the 1-2 one and done studs panned out or not.

But I am going to use that 2012 recruiting class as my example. On paper it was a great class......and I am using Rivals rankings for this.
#2 Noel
#8 Poythress
#14 Goodwin
#40 WCS

Once we landed Noel, we thought we were in good shape, along with the Ryan Harrow transfer. So on any given year, we would be happy with 3 top 15 players and another top 50 player to round out of a class. But once again, a lot of it goes back to Rankings.

Alex poythress was ranked above Marcus Smart(#10), TJ Warren(#17), Brandon Ashley(#23), Marcus Paige(#34) Justin Anderson(#35)
I'm not bashing Alex at all, he's a favorite of mine, but it would be hard for me to sit here and say looking back that he should've been ranked that high.
To this day I believe 100% that if we would've had a legit PG on that squad and if Noel didn't get hurt, we were a top 25 team, but that's the risk when you recruit like this, if you miss out on just one crucial piece, it is disastrous. Even if Teague would've came back we would've been fine that year. Not world beaters by any means, but far from a NIT team.

Noel was the only player on that roster that was a no brainer one and done.

But you can use TJ warren as an example, he was a projected first rounder, probably in the same late first round range that Goodwin was, but he decided to come back, and then ended up being drafted #14 after his sophomore season. Thats the kind of kids that you dream of having a team full of, future pros that are wanting to come back and improve their skills along with their draft status, like Warren did.

We have all debated this until our faces are blue over the last few years, but I for one have not one complaint about who Cal has recruited. Some worked out and some didn't.

It is very hard to gauge some of these kids potential when they are playing against lessor opponents in HS, and even on the AAU circuit, you find diamonds in the rough like WCS, and then some that just don't produce like you expect right off the bat with all the hype.

I agree Cal has done his best to mix in some 4 stars and lower ranked 5 stars along with his studs, and I give him credit because it's not easy to do. A lot of kids want to go where they can play and it's no secret that if you come to Kentucky, you better produce or you will be cheerleading and that scares some kids away. The best type of kids are the ones like Ulis that knew he was going to be second fiddle to Andrew, but he welcomed the challenge and made himself and Andrew better in the long run.

[JFCats22]

Someone needs to tell Cal to be quiet....

John Calipari ‏@UKCoachCalipari
I hate to drive you traditionalists crazy, but I'll say it again: our goal at the beginning of the season was to have eight players drafted.