Cal Talking About How He Hates Depth

[KYJeff1]

Booker was a liability. Dekker had been cooking him all night.

And it didn't help that he hasn't really hit a shot for a month.

What sucks, is duke beat Wisconsin with a defense that was nowhere near as potent as ours and in fact, their center didn't guard anyone, because he was an awful defender, so they just stuck him in the paint and had him focus on rebounds and scoring.
Heck, they beat Wisconsin twice that year. That is salt in the wound.

[KCKUKFan]

What sucks, is duke beat Wisconsin with a defense that was nowhere near as potent as ours and in fact, their center didn't guard anyone, because he was an awful defender, so they just stuck him in the paint and had him focus on rebounds and scoring.
Heck, they beat Wisconsin twice that year. That is salt in the wound.

If we would have played Wisconsin ten times, we'd probably win eight of them. Maybe nine. They were good (and probably the worst matchup for us in the field, if you could say that), but we were the best team, and it wasn't particularly close.

But close only counts in horsesho... well, you know.

The great thing (and awful thing) about the NCAA tournament is it only takes one game.

[SportsFan]

But here's the other thing he did. He kept telling everyone he was helping these kids reach their dreams. It was bullcrap, the kids he was "helping", were already inked into the NBA draft. Those kids had length, size and athleticism, they were going pro no matter what. In fact, he hurt several players' draft positions by putting them in positions to fail game after game.
The players that needed his help, were glued to the bench. They weren't good enough for his help.

BINGO!!!

I've often wondered how many people saw this, or if they were buying in to something else.

To me, it should have been blatantly obvious that all Cal was doing....was taking guys that had already been rated by every basketball scouting service in the world....and allowing them to use the University of Kentucky as their mandatory "one year removed from high school Developmental League" destination. These were guys that, had the mandatory one year policy not been in place, would have already been drafted by the NBA. So Cal let them come to Kentucky for their one year hiatus. He didn't "see something in a kid" or "develop them".....he simply took players that otherwise would have already been drafted but couldn't because of the one year removal mandate. And other players that weren't at the top of the pecking order got the Jon Hood treatment.

And here's the thing about the "players first" nonsense.... like you said, it wasn't FOR ALL PLAYERS! Just the ones he thought were going to be drafted. That's why he made sure they had their PT, so he could showcase them for the league, and then recruit over them for the following year. And people bought in. For a while, at least. I think, after he had a team win 38 consecutive games and make the Final Four....AND COMPLAIN ABOUT IT.... because he felt that it "HURT RECRUITING"....that some people (I'm raising my hand here) started questioning his true motives. In reality , though, that actually should have been pretty apparent after his first year at UK when he called the NBA draft night "the greatest day in UK basketball history". That was a huge red flag early on.

[KYJeff1]

BINGO!!!

I've often wondered how many people saw this, or if they were buying in to something else.

To me, it should have been blatantly obvious that all Cal was doing....was taking guys that had already been rated by every basketball scouting service in the world....and allowing them to use the University of Kentucky as their mandatory "one year removed from high school Developmental League" destination. These were guys that, had the mandatory one year policy not been in place, would have already been drafted by the NBA. So Cal let them come to Kentucky for their one year hiatus. He didn't "see something in a kid" or "develop them".....he simply took players that otherwise would have already been drafted but couldn't because of the one year removal mandate. And other players that weren't at the top of the pecking order got the Jon Hood treatment.

And here's the thing about the "players first" nonsense.... like you said, it wasn't FOR ALL PLAYERS! Just the ones he thought were going to be drafted. That's why he made sure they had their PT, so he could showcase them for the league, and then recruit over them for the following year. And people bought in. For a while, at least. I think, after he had a team win 38 consecutive games and make the Final Four....AND COMPLAIN ABOUT IT.... because he felt that it "HURT RECRUITING"....that some people (I'm raising my hand here) started questioning his true motives. In reality , though, that actually should have been pretty apparent after his first year at UK when he called the NBA draft night "the greatest day in UK basketball history". That was a huge red flag early on.

It just blows my mind that he would use UK like he did. He badly wanted the UK job and I think his intentions were to kick everyone's ass for a while, but then he decided to turn UK into Individual-U, AKA, a farm system.
Then, he's such a narcissist, he justifies every failure, it's never his fault and he brags about how many players he put in the NBA. No, they put the work in to get there, UK gave them the stage.
But wow, how narcissistic does one have to be to not see that only winning one title, with half the NBA coming through your doors, is not a good look? I'm sure he has a boatload of excuses for that too.

[bucsrule8872]

Booker was a liability. Dekker had been cooking him all night.

And it didn't help that he hasn't really hit a shot for a month.

Dekker cooked everyone. He was unstoppable that game.

[KCKUKFan]

Dekker cooked everyone. He was unstoppable that game.

...and of course Cal didn't make any adjustments on him.

I'm not going to go back and subject myself to the misery of re-watching any parts of that game, but we had the personnel to make life hell for Dekker, and I seem to remember he just kept backing guys down early and then rolling off screens for jump shots late.

Maddening, but I got used to it as the Cal era rolled on.

[CrimsonCats]

It’s easy to rag on Cal, and goodness knows he deserves a lot of it after those last couple of years here. I’m actually not sure there’s any one right answer to how deep of a rotation to aim for though. Having a rotation 10-11 deep is actually much more the exception than the rule when you look at the best teams in a lot of years. In addition to the concerns about keeping everyone happy and engaged, I think a lot of coaches probably feel like being too deep can make it harder for players to get in a rhythm and to find their optimal lineup combos.

Of course, the downside to playing a really tight rotation is that it only takes 1-2 injuries to really derail things, and that bit us repeatedly in the second half of Cal’s tenure. It’s a delicate balancing act.

[SportsFan]

It’s easy to rag on Cal, and goodness knows he deserves a lot of it after those last couple of years here. I’m actually not sure there’s any one right answer to how deep of a rotation to aim for though. Having a rotation 10-11 deep is actually much more the exception than the rule when you look at the best teams in a lot of years. In addition to the concerns about keeping everyone happy and engaged, I think a lot of coaches probably feel like being too deep can make it harder for players to get in a rhythm and to find their optimal lineup combos.

Of course, the downside to playing a really tight rotation is that it only takes 1-2 injuries to really derail things, and that bit us repeatedly in the second half of Cal’s tenure. It’s a delicate balancing act.

When it comes to depth, I believe in the philosophy that "it's better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it."

From what I can tell, Mark Pope is doing a fantastic job with the screening process to determine who he wants to be a part of the program. I have watched several interviews where he talks about the "fit". With Cal, it was simply "how many stars does a player have, and are they projected to be a lottery/first round draft pick?". Pope cares more about the overall system than just the individual player. He has an extensive interview process to determine if a player is a good fit and will be able to adapt and adjust to his teammates, his role on the team, his allotted playing time, etc., etc. I don't think he cares to bring in guys with huge egos that won't be able to handle reduced minutes or a reduced role or that put individual goals ahead of team goals, etc. With this sport in this day and age, it is possible to be able to compete for a championship AND get drafted by the NBA. Those two are not mutually exclusive. And he wants players that buy in to a team concept that places winning on or at the same level as any personal goal. Considering the NBA is all about a big pay day and with NIL essentially so is college, there's really no need for any player to put the cart ahead of the horse. The Cal era of using Kentucky as a Developmental League to serve the mandatory one year removed from high school before turning pro is over (and thank God for that!)

[KentuckyWild2020]

Maybe will never see it again, the game and landscape has changed, what i really want is 10 deep 40 minutes of hell full court trap basketball.

My soul longs for it but with NIL and everything in between, aint no 18-22 year old kid running through walls for any coach these days..

[CrimsonCats]

Maybe will never see it again, the game and landscape has changed, what i really want is 10 deep 40 minutes of hell full court trap basketball.

My soul longs for it but with NIL and everything in between, aint no 18-22 year old kid running through walls for any coach these days..

I don’t think it really has anything to do with NIL or effort level in general. That defense is just prone to giving up a lot of easy baskets if the opposing lineup has multiple guys on the court who can handle the ball, which is pretty much everybody these days with the rise of 3-4 guard lineups and more versatile big men. It was fun to watch in its 90s heyday, but just isn’t a winning formula now.

[UKfan215]

I think the pros of having a deep bench outweigh the cons. It just gives you so many more options. And it gives you some extra insurance in case of player injuries.

[KentuckyWild2020]

I don’t think it really has anything to do with NIL or effort level in general. That defense is just prone to giving up a lot of easy baskets if the opposing lineup has multiple guys on the court who can handle the ball, which is pretty much everybody these days with the rise of 3-4 guard lineups and more versatile big men. It was fun to watch in its 90s heyday, but just isn’t a winning formula now.

I can agree with that to a extent but still, tired legs shoot bricks and miss shots.

Still, hard to convince a kid to run through a wall with a million dollar deal and side deal endorsements,just my opinion.

[KentuckyWild2020]

I think the pros of having a deep bench outweigh the cons. It just gives you so many more options. And it gives you some extra insurance in case of player injuries.

Only thing that worries me is managing the ego's and minutes ,they all want to play.

Good problem to have, better than having 6.

[UKWILDCAT2004]

Wasn't the rumor this summer that Cal did contact the Knicks through back channels and basically say he'd be willing to talk if he they wanted to but they didn't take him up on the offer?

[KCKUKFan]

Wasn't the rumor this summer that Cal did contact the Knicks through back channels and basically say he'd be willing to talk if he they wanted to but they didn't take him up on the offer?

I don't think that was ever confirmed, but I'd be willing to bet everything I own that as soon as Thibs was fired, he had his people making back-channel calls to gauge interest.

That James Dolan was getting turned down by everybody, and ended up considering Dawn Staley (!) yet never even mentioned Cal speaks volumes about how much his stock has fallen.