Jaylen Brown -- Didn't Pick Kentucky

[Joneslab]

I know he is a Dukie but....

@NdotSmitty: @GoodmanESPN nobody wants to play in a platoon system.. And not win a ring.

These players have had to listen to some pretty clever negative recruiting to buy the platoon thing.

We've got ten scholarship players including a former walk-on and a couple of guys who've never played. Who do they think is going to make up the platoons?

I can see other coaches coming in and laying some of that down, but you'd think a cursory look at our roster would suggest we aren't going to platoon. And you know it's the first thing Cal said when he went into all these living rooms.

[JFCats22]

@GoodmanESPN: Still shocked Jaylen Brown chose Cal -- and not Calipari -- last night. Cuonzo Martin and Bears in business for next season. Top 15 team.

[Joneslab]

And listening to Nolan Smith about Kentucky is like turning on 790 KRD and getting some analysis.

Grew up a Cardinal fan and went to Duke. Dad played at UofL. Has always maintained he doesn't like Kentucky going back to his interviews before the Derby Classic.

His Twitter feed is basically like a fan's. No insightful commentary there at all.

[Katmendo]

Regarding the "They didn't come here because we didn't win the title" argument:

What's the mental calculation in that? Do you think the player is sitting around saying, "Man, I want to win a title and Calipari couldn't get it done, so I'm going to go to UNLV, Cal, and Mississippi State, with their history of college basketball dominance, because I know I can get a title there."

Not winning the title doesn't make any sense when you look at how this class has gone and you look at how Cal's tenure has gone.

Every time we've had a mass exodus, beginning with Terrence Jones and the infamous flip, Cal has had trouble assembling a class in the normal Cal fashion.

You're making the mistake of defining the justification as the end result being the ability to win a championship. In other words, a resume stuffer.

MY POINT is that the outcome of this season reinforces the fact that all that stuff about playing for each other and self sacrifice and "Anthony Davis took the fourth most shots and was the number one pick. Mike Gilchrist took the fourth..."

All that means nothing (to these young people), because the fact is, at the end of the day, you get no conceivable guaranteed chance to win a championship. And insofar as marketing goes, it serves no better than if you go to a school where you get yours. Maybe another school with maybe two other guys.

BUT, the one thing that has proven to be true, if you want to be a real candidate for the Naismith POY, and you aren't the next Anthony Davis, you might as well go to where you can inflate your stats by ten points per game, and get better first round money.

I'm not saying I can't argue this. I'm saying how I can see the faith is shaken.

But, what's the defense, if you're Cal? "Hey, no one is promised a championship." Or do you plead, "Well, we were the best team, but I just didn't get it done as a coach." Oh wait, I get it, "Let's reload and do this again!!!" ,,,, Uhm,... do what coach? Win the SEC? Wow.

Sorry, but that's the reality of it.



Like it or not, this UK team should have won the championship. They weren't cheated out of it. They weren't some small dreamers who "Hickory-ed" their way into a championship. That was the team. It had the attention and imagination of the nation. It was the most talent. It had the hottest coach. It had all the exposure. It was the team every coach, even the eventual champion, would have picked some players from.

...and as of today, is as forgotten as the fourth placed horse in the Kentucky Derby in 2002.

Ball, dropped. firework, fizzle.

Not the 2015 Men's NCAA Champion University of Kentucky.

...No, it's the "No one, outside of Kentucky, cares how many" wins, and 1 loss, enjoy the same final four banner as VCU, Kentucky.

2015 NCAA Men's Basketball Champion will forever read "Duke University". Not Duke university that had guys who didn't play as selflessly as Kentucky and only lucked into a title. Not Duke, but it should have been Kentucky. No asterisk. Just "Duke University".

Guys who went to Duke, were the stars of their team, won the POY, and took a title. All in playing twice the minutes of the guys from KEntucky, and uhh.. oh yeah, they're champions.

And, it's like that because the rest of the world knows that you have no excuse. We have no "Oh, gee, the star was injured." That was the excuse last year, remember? No, we fumbled it away. And, IMO, it cost us a little selling juice.

[BBNalldayeveryday]

Waiting for Cal to be asked about all the guys we missed out on so he can use his "this is not for everybody" shtick lol.

[DA#23]

^ Salt on a wound! ouch

[George]

Waiting for Cal to be asked about all the guys we missed out on so he can use his "this is not for everybody" shtick lol.

This spring, Kentucky wasn't for anybody.

[BBNalldayeveryday]

This spring, Kentucky wasn't for anybody.

Well it became increasingly obvious that Mailk Newman was a me player and not a team player. He wasn't looking to be successful at the collegiate level. He figured I'm going to the NBA next year, does it really matter where I play. So with that in mind he just took the stay in state route

Jaylen Brown, I'm still flabbergasted by his decision. The warm weather, the California girls, I don't know, you tell me lol..

Mike Thorne, I'm (still) even more flabbergasted by his decision than I am by Brown's.

Stephen Zimmerman just wanted to stay close to his mother.

Brandon Ingram, hey Duke is a successful program that is coming off a National Title which makes them an attractive option. That and apparently just another guy who wanted to stay in state.

I don't think we really ever had any interest in either Swanigan or T. Bryant. And I think they are both just Dakari Johnson version 2.0. I may be wrong in that assessment. Time will tell

I also think that Cal arrived a little late to the party in regards to some of these guys.

[Wonderstruck]

You're making the mistake of defining the justification as the end result being the ability to win a championship. In other words, a resume stuffer.

MY POINT is that the outcome of this season reinforces the fact that all that stuff about playing for each other and self sacrifice and "Anthony Davis took the fourth most shots and was the number one pick. Mike Gilchrist took the fourth..."

All that means nothing (to these young people), because the fact is, at the end of the day, you get no conceivable guaranteed chance to win a championship. And insofar as marketing goes, it serves no better than if you go to a school where you get yours. Maybe another school with maybe two other guys.

BUT, the one thing that has proven to be true, if you want to be a real candidate for the Naismith POY, and you aren't the next Anthony Davis, you might as well go to where you can inflate your stats by ten points per game, and get better first round money.

I'm not saying I can't argue this. I'm saying how I can see the faith is shaken.

But, what's the defense, if you're Cal? "Hey, no one is promised a championship." Or do you plead, "Well, we were the best team, but I just didn't get it done as a coach." Oh wait, I get it, "Let's reload and do this again!!!" ,,,, Uhm,... do what coach? Win the SEC? Wow.

Sorry, but that's the reality of it.



Like it or not, this UK team should have won the championship. They weren't cheated out of it. They weren't some small dreamers who "Hickory-ed" their way into a championship. That was the team. It had the attention and imagination of the nation. It was the most talent. It had the hottest coach. It had all the exposure. It was the team every coach, even the eventual champion, would have picked some players from.

...and as of today, is as forgotten as the fourth placed horse in the Kentucky Derby in 2002.

Ball, dropped. firework, fizzle.

Not the 2015 Men's NCAA Champion University of Kentucky.

...No, it's the "No one, outside of Kentucky, cares how many" wins, and 1 loss, enjoy the same final four banner as VCU, Kentucky.

2015 NCAA Men's Basketball Champion will forever read "Duke University". Not Duke university that had guys who didn't play as selflessly as Kentucky and only lucked into a title. Not Duke, but it should have been Kentucky. No asterisk. Just "Duke University".

Guys who went to Duke, were the stars of their team, won the POY, and took a title. All in playing twice the minutes of the guys from KEntucky, and uhh.. oh yeah, they're champions.

And, it's like that because the rest of the world knows that you have no excuse. We have no "Oh, gee, the star was injured." That was the excuse last year, remember? No, we fumbled it away. And, IMO, it cost us a little selling juice.

Kudos on a fantastic assessment. This was a great post.

[Joneslab]

I know he is a Dukie but....

@NdotSmitty: @GoodmanESPN nobody wants to play in a platoon system.. And not win a ring.

@NdotSmitty: @GoodmanESPN another problem today is.. Parents. They want their kids to shine! 20 min isn't making a parent happy in the stands.

Also tweets that he "doesn't like" Kentucky and has historically celebrated Kentucky losses on Twitter.

Meaningless POV.

[Joneslab]

And, it's like that because the rest of the world knows that you have no excuse. We have no "Oh, gee, the star was injured." That was the excuse last year, remember? No, we fumbled it away. And, IMO, it cost us a little selling juice.

Again, this doesn't make any sense when you're losing recruits to Misssissippi State and UNLV.

[Joneslab]

But we have definitely lost "selling juice" due to something.

Probably a lot of things. Weird class. Most of these guys going close to home. The loss of Antigua. Cal getting in late on some of them, as bbnalldayeveryday says. Probably stuff we don't know about.

I just hope that it doesn't have to do with Cal to the NBA.

[J.Jennings]

Right, but that's been our recruiting pitch for the last 6 years.

Im not talking about NBA money, im talking about right now money.