Cal Talking About How He Hates Depth

[KCKUKFan]

I feel like Trevon Brazille has been in college for twenty years.

[KentuckyWild2020]

He's not back in the NBA because nobody will have his bum ass.

Wrong. It's because 40 games in he knows he could get canned,it's the NBA. Calipari would rather milk the system and get paid.

[KCKUKFan]

Wrong. It's because 40 games in he knows he could get canned,it's the NBA. Calipari would rather milk the system and get paid.

There isn't a single NBA team that would consider hiring John Calipari today.

He would have CRAWLED to the Garden to take the Knicks job, and meanwhile Dolan was considering hiring friggin Dawn Staley.

[KentuckyWild2020]

There isn't a single NBA team that would consider hiring John Calipari today.

He would have CRAWLED to the Garden to take the Knicks job, and meanwhile Dolan was considering hiring friggin Dawn Staley.

You do realize star players have great influence on who the coach is and that Cal Kentucky still has some of the best players in the entire freaking NBA right?

Regardless, don't matter, Cal likes guaranteed lifetime money. Walmart Jerry Jones Tyson Chicken pockets run deep..

[KCKUKFan]

You do realize star players have great influence on who the coach is and that Cal Kentucky still has some of the best players in the entire freaking NBA right?

Regardless, don't matter, Cal likes guaranteed lifetime money. Walmart Jerry Jones Tyson Chicken pockets run deep..

You think Cal wouldn't have taken the Knicks job if offered? I guarantee that he had his agent on the horn the night they fired Thibs.

And there only ten or so players, max, who have the sway to hire/fire coaches.

[Pobilly]

Just glad he is now talking Hoganeese instead of trying to talk to UK fans. Would rather hear Tiny Tim sing Tip Toe Through the Tulips on repeat for a whole day than listen to one Cal presser.

[UKWILDCAT2004]

Ive still never understood how it was a negative in recruiting and playing the game. Still get drafted and the load of the team not fall squarely on my shoulders. Knowing that if I have a bad night someone else is there to help carry the load seems like a benefit to me. 🤷

[KYJeff1]

I'm not understanding where you are coming from here. I didn't say anything about anyone hating Cal or Pope. You make the claim that Cal made playing time and position promises without any evidence of the sort. Cal says he's never made any such promises and no one has ever contradicted that. My point was that even the players that left didn't even say that's why they left. OK, if you think there's some big unwritten agreement to keep players from talking to not jeopardize playing elsewhere. But why can't say many years later after they are in the NBA or out of eligibility?

If Cal was ever making promises it would be talked about. But what is talked about is that Cal never promised them anything. To a man, every player that's ever mentioned it says Cal never promised them anything. Not one player in Cal's 30+ year coaching career backs up the claim that Cal makes promises. It's simply an internet hater story.

I gave you two examples of players that did talk though (Wenyen and Fletcher), but you're asking for something that just doesn't happen very much.
I mean, we just had a dude transfer from a national title winning program, to UK. He was obviously unhappy with something, but he's taking the high road and not saying a thing.
If you want to believe that Cal wasn't making promises, that's your choice, my eyes say different.
The second he broke that promise in 2023, Wheeler sat his butt on the bench and pouted and if you think Klutch didn't make Cal promise some things, you're just not paying attention.
Cal was so hard up for good players, he allowed Klutch to bully him. Do you think the 2010 version of Cal would have let a player use UK like toilet paper (Schaedon Sharpe), or play two struggling players over 2 lottery picks? No way. He made promises to get those guys and it's so obvious.

[KCKUKFan]

Do you think the 2010 version of Cal would have let a player use UK like toilet paper (Schaedon Sharpe), or play two struggling players over 2 lottery picks? No way. He made promises to get those guys and it's so obvious.

No way.

It goes back to what I said earlier: Cal got high on his own supply, and it became more about pulling families out of generational poverty than winning basketball games at Kentucky.

[KYJeff1]

I like this Arkansas team on paper. Pretty solid all the way around. Cal has his 8-9 that are going
to play.

G Acuff
G Wagner
G Knox
F Brazille
F Ewin

6 Thomas
7 Richmond
8 Pringle
9 Dzafic

That is a solid rotation, as long as there are no injuries.

Once injuries set in, Cal will be scrambling and making light of losses due to not having a full roster. He will be saying:

“Remember last year? We will be fine once we get all
of our guys healthy. Trust me, look what we did once we got healthy.”

That’s what I expect to happen.

If they stay healthy, they will be very good next season.

So the question for me is the coaching.

Will Cal choke again, like he has every year since 2012?

That’s the thing, talent has never been the issue. He always has talent, but his offense is garbage and now all the sudden his defensive philosophy isn’t working.

We see these guys struggle to play in his system, then move on to the NBA and almost immediately become damn good, to great, players. Edwards is a prime example.

We felt we had elite talent every year and it was elite from 2010-2017, but once he got lazy and focused on individual success, it was a joke.

Problem is, with NIL, Arkansas is going to see a better version of Cal. Players are staying now. I still don't see him winning anything of note, but he'll be better than he was at the end of his UK tenure.

[KCKUKFan]

That’s the thing, talent has never been the issue. He always has talent, but his offense is garbage and now all the sudden his defensive philosophy isn’t working.

We see these guys struggle to play in his system, then move on to the NBA and almost immediately become damn good, to great, players. Edwards is a prime example.

We felt we had elite talent every year and it was elite from 2010-2017, but once he got lazy and focused on individual success, it was a joke.

Problem is, with NIL, Arkansas is going to see a better version of Cal. Players are staying now. I still don't see him winning anything of note, but he'll be better than he was at the end of his UK tenure.

I actually think Cal did a good job with that Arkansas team last year. They were dead in the water, and could have easily rolled over. But he pulled some of his Old Cal magic and figured out how to play them. I think a big part of that was Boogie Fland getting injured, strangely. Earlier in the year, he couldn't figure out how to play Fland and Wagner at the same time (naturally, sitting Wagner wasn't an option), but then that problem worked itself out.

The Arkansas team that made the sweet sixteen was reminiscent of a couple of his earlier Kentucky teams, particularly Brandon Knight's team and the twins' first year. Not super deep, but played hard and followed the game plan.

I still don't think he's going to win anything of note going forward -- he still hasn't adapted to today's game, and he'll stick to his players-first mantra until it kills him -- but he did a much better job last year than he did with any Kentucky team since COVID.

[KYJeff1]

No way.

It goes back to what I said earlier: Cal got high on his own supply, and it became more about pulling families out of generational poverty than winning basketball games at Kentucky.

Exactky, but also, his ego couldn't handle the fact that Duke was taking every bigtime player right out of Cal's grasp,. For a while, he settled for second tier 5* kids, which are the worst type of one-and-done kids to get, but then, he started working with handlers, like Klutch, he got desperate and he made promises. It's obvious to anyone that has 2 eyeballs.

[KYJeff1]

I actually think Cal did a good job with that Arkansas team last year. They were dead in the water, and could have easily rolled over. But he pulled some of his Old Cal magic and figured out how to play them. I think a big part of that was Boogie Fland getting injured, strangely. Earlier in the year, he couldn't figure out how to play Fland and Wagner at the same time (naturally, sitting Wagner wasn't an option), but then that problem worked itself out.

The Arkansas team that made the sweet sixteen was reminiscent of a couple of his earlier Kentucky teams, particularly Brandon Knight's team and the twins' first year. Not super deep, but played hard and followed the game plan.

I still don't think he's going to win anything of note going forward -- he still hasn't adapted to today's game, and he'll stick to his players-first mantra until it kills him -- but he did a much better job last year than he did with any Kentucky team since COVID.

I think the stars aligned for him in March, but for someone that is a HOF coach, he crapped the bed with a damn good roster. You can't lose THAT many games with that roster.

South Carolina was awful and they had Arkansas down by 30 and if South Carolina got them that second time, Arkansas doesn't make the tournament.

But it was never his fault, how do I know, he told us in every post game presser, just like he did when he was here.

Lastly, when Cal really wants to win a game, he puts in the work. We see it constantly. He locks in and wins games he has no business winning, but usually goes back to being lazy immediately after.

So glad he's gone.

[BBNinSC]

I actually think Cal did a good job with that Arkansas team last year. They were dead in the water, and could have easily rolled over. But he pulled some of his Old Cal magic and figured out how to play them. I think a big part of that was Boogie Fland getting injured, strangely. Earlier in the year, he couldn't figure out how to play Fland and Wagner at the same time (naturally, sitting Wagner wasn't an option), but then that problem worked itself out.

The Arkansas team that made the sweet sixteen was reminiscent of a couple of his earlier Kentucky teams, particularly Brandon Knight's team and the twins' first year. Not super deep, but played hard and followed the game plan.

I still don't think he's going to win anything of note going forward -- he still hasn't adapted to today's game, and he'll stick to his players-first mantra until it kills him -- but he did a much better job last year than he did with any Kentucky team since COVID.

Fland’s injury forced Cal to change his line up. This was no great strategy by the coaching staff.
Arkansas made the tournament by beating a horrible South Carolina team, a loss in that SEC tournament game would have eliminated the Razorbacks. Then, they got 2 great NCAA match ups against a Kansas team that underperformed all year and had already quit on the season and a horribly over rated St John’s team that couldn’t shoot.

[KentuckyWild2020]

I definitely prefer teams with depth...... and lots of it. We saw just last year how the lack of depth affected the team, once Krissa and Robinson were gone for the year, and Butler and Carr missed entire games and parts of others and were hobbled when they played due to injuries

That said, it's a coach's responsibility to properly deal with the depth and prepare everyone for it. Thank God we now have a coach that seems to welcome that responsibility rather than shy away from it and use it as an excuse for whatever might go wrong.

Absolutely