UK should have let the man finish out here. I'd rather be a Sweet Sixteen team with future NBA All-Stars and a real chance at a Final Four than a Sweet Sixteen team with a guy who has never won more than 75% of his games in a single season.
Torres: Calipari will land the #1 recruiting class again in 2027.
- Thread starter Son_Of_Saul
- Start date
I think 2027 is a weak class so I think having the #1 class in it, while impressive, isn’t the end-all be-all. College coaches are openly talking about how much more valuable the portal is with the new 5 for 5 compared to high school classes.
Now, the 2026 class? That one hurt. Letting Cal go a couple years before the greatest recruiting class in modern CBB history was poor timing. With full NIL support, I’m certain Kentucky would have been massively stacked…..
But many in the fanbase begged for Cal to be gone and then started doing the same thing to the next guy. The green is not, and was not always greener.
Now, the 2026 class? That one hurt. Letting Cal go a couple years before the greatest recruiting class in modern CBB history was poor timing. With full NIL support, I’m certain Kentucky would have been massively stacked…..
But many in the fanbase begged for Cal to be gone and then started doing the same thing to the next guy. The green is not, and was not always greener.
Could....not....care....less.....
You could give him OKC’s roster at Arkansas and he would still find a way to screw it up. No thanks! The NBA draft doesn’t mean that much to me.
Dude you and I I’m not gonna cast aspersions on you but you and I we did not want cal any longer. This is basically you I and most of big blue nation. And Barney blew it with his hire. That’s ultimately the problem. It’s not that we let cal go it’s that we replaced him with a coach far worse than him.
You don’t fire the man unless you’re gonna upgrade considerably. Mark Pope was the worst hire in athletics and sports in the last 10 years based on what Kentucky moved out to bring in. And the fact that we had a lame duck, corrupt athletic director who just wouldn’t leave hopefully this new athletic director will be quick on the trigger to get his guys in there especially the Basketball program.
And honestly Mark Pope. He needs to just step down if it’s a difficult season and somehow we get to a sweet 16 he needs to just step down.. because what makes getting rid of a cal stupid is replacing him with a guy who brought vibes from a period of time. That’s all he’s all his résumé was. I mean, Pope could have a decent season I want I’m gone.. he has an awful personality. He just not a good fit for big blue nation. He comes across his extremely desperate. And amongst other Blue Bloods were kind of laughing sock right now because of this guy so even in the SEC laughing stock because of Pope, I mean if cal was still the coach respect, we would be getting respect. I say there’s more to it than what Pope brings to the table.
So you would rather have more talent and lose at the same time as pope has
Arkansas had a top 5 roster last season. You could honestly argue that only Duke and Michigan had more talent. They lost 9 games, only had a 4-seed, and lost to a team they had more talent than, Arizona. Calipari can't even 30 games anymore with more talent than almost every one else.
How was that proven? He beat our '96 team with 1 player and 4 ball boys. He took out the number 1 overall seed Ohio St with Kanter never playing a minute.
But you go on with your personal attacks toward SoS. Just proves you have nothing else.
Look Cal was done after that 2015 Wisconsin game then last few years here kind of sealed the deal. In no way should Pope had gotten the job either he just wasn’t qualified for it and it’s showing!
Cal doesn't think that deep. He is one mode. He doesn't want to coach 23 year old guys. His entire mantra is selling young kids and sending to the NBA. With 5/5, he's going to keep having 4-5 18 year olds playing against 23 year olds.
I cannot stand Aaron Torres. The guy yells, and feels like he's a college podcaster. And he's such a Cal nut licker, and recycles info.
Getting these top freshmen classes will get him no more than a top 15ish type team. They're not going to win, titles unless there is a Flagg or Boozer in there. They will send kids to the NBA, as much as you want to get off on that.
Your last line is why it's going to be hard to get top coaches to come.
Cal is going to keep Cal'ing. It's really predictable. Him and Scheyer are going to hoard the top 10 kids. Zona and KU always seem to get one.
Arizona was pretty damn talented. Lottery pick, another first rounder and Krivas will be a first rounder this year. Plus Jalen Bradley.
SOS what happened to you dude? You used to be a rational poster, but the last year or two you have been completely overtaken by Pope Derangement Syndrome. I’ll never understand your dangling from Cal’s sack. The man gave up as a coach and leader of young men a long time ago. Recruiting was never his problem and still isn’t. It was everything else.
4 ball boys? Travieso and Padilla were very good college guards, and Bright and Dingle were highly regarded recruits. But even so, Cal only got us in the early season. He didn’t get us when it mattered. With one exception in 35 years of coaching, Cal can’t close the deal.
I'm the supposed snowflake but you have an absolute meltdown over basketball opinions you don't share?
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Not at all. Cal usually gets enough talent to trip his way into at least the Sweet Sixteen. With the right bounce of a ball, that talent often gives him a puncher's chance at an Elite Eight.
He's been to 12 Elite Eights and 17 Sweet Sixteens. The talent alone gives his teams a solid chance to compete in the second weekend and about a 33% of making it to the Elite Eight historically.
I was ready to move on from Calipari, but I had no idea we were going to downgrade when it happened. I would have rather just kept him and kept the UK NBA pipeline strong while still winning at a higher clip than Pope has in the last two years (50-23 for Cal while Pope has a 46-26 record in that same span).
"If Cal were still here, I'd at least have false hope for the next season!"
i wouldnt have fired him....
heartbroke getting over him..
Pope not making it easy....
unlubed.....
But still,
Championship Bound
heartbroke getting over him..
Pope not making it easy....
unlubed.....
But still,
Championship Bound
he was perfect for Kentucky, but no one else was responsible for the travesty of the last four years except him. then he ran away.
Cals time was over, but that also didn’t mean Pope was the only choice.
Just get Nate Oats here and all this goes away.
Cal didn't have to deal with a completely decimated roster, having to pick from a pot of transfers. Cal also didn't have the injuries to deal with that Pope did. But let's pretend like this hasn't been discussed a million times before.
Pass. His resume is not nearly impressive enough to ignore the fact that he is a scumbag.
But it is. Calipari was also a scumbag.
False and Oats is nowhere close to as accomplished as Cal.
Calipari had a runner up and 2 final fours before he came to UK. Oats has a final four, 2 elite 8s and 5 SEC titles. In a much harder SEC.
With 5in5 ,the 2027 class will be the most under utilized class in decades. Ky will have only a few scholarships available like most schools.
Yes!
It really was a tough call. I mean, you get the small satisfaction knowing you will always have the NBA Alum. Should have branded something like the Brotherhoood at the time.
All you need to know about Cal is he puts guys like Kenny Payne on his bench. Go get yourself a game strategist, not more recruiting faces.
Really interesting take in that if you had looked at the two upcoming recruiting classes, Cal could have put together some very good teams off those pools. I don't think he was ever getting Flagg, but imagine if he had put together a team with Knueppel, Edgecombe, Queen, Bidunga. And then the next class was historical. It probably was two years too early if you looked at it.
The irony is that his 25 team was older, and should have been in the Elite 8 if they held onto a big late against Texas Tech. They had a big lead late and blew it, team was really physically strong. They were up 13 with 4+ minutes to go and then up 3 with 9 seconds and gave Williams a 3. Brutal loss.
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I was quite fed up with him and the way he coached in his later years here, but there’s no denying one thing: the man can REALLY recruit. I never imagined he’d still be pulling classes like this at Arkansas.
He may be the single best pure recruiter in CBB history. Not sure how he does it, but nobody has ever been better at coaxing the top HS talent to play for him.
But his actual coaching on the other hand…
He may be the single best pure recruiter in CBB history. Not sure how he does it, but nobody has ever been better at coaxing the top HS talent to play for him.
But his actual coaching on the other hand…
Chill, dude. Did @Son_Of_Saul kick your dog or something? The guy poses a valid point.
I see what you are saying, but I'm not sure Calipari had the money like he does in Fayetteville. While there's more here, I think there were a lot of bridges burned between him and the donors to keep the that significant amount of money away from the program.
While he'll always be a great recruiter, in today’s landscape you also have to be able to pay to get the best players. At Arkansas he has his recruiting ability and also the backing of the donors.
I think we the fans were correct for wanting Cal gone. What we underestimated, was our clueless AD, who ended up hiring a 51 year old with a career 63% winning percentage, who's only job 'qualification' was that he used to play here. If Barney had waited another 3 days, we could've had Billy D. But he was so concerned with the portal being open that he rushed another hire that so far, has been a bust (again).
I was done with Cal after Saint Peters. The marriage was over. It was predictable he’d go date a ditzy 25-year old and appear to be temporarily re-energized. He’s never going to win at Arkansas like he won here from 2010-19.
With a top 10 roster last year Cal played only two top 15 ranked teams in the last month of the season and lost those two games by a combined 58 points
I was done with Cal finally after the Auburn Elite 8 debacle. He was mailing it in, he cared more about his personal image and putting guys in the NBA than achieving Kentucky's objectives.
Quit hanging on to the past and him. It's nonsense.
I'm not a Pope pumper either. He needs to get his act together. The fans who are incessantly preaching caution and patience with him refuse to acknowledge his results at BYU and UVSU. They are the same middling results he's put up here.
This job should take a great coach and put them over the top. There's literally nothing standing in your way from a support standpoint when you coach at Kentucky.
If you can't win here, and win big, the problem is absolutely you.
Finishing 6th and 9th in the SEC is flat out unacceptable. Especially when you had the (reportedly) largest recruiting budget in the nation.
I like Pope as a guy infinitely more than Cal. Pope is our guy. He's one of us. But that doesn't excuse him from being accountable for producing.
And before some knucklehead chimes in with "he needs time....."
....bullshīt. You can openly buy your roster. And we are willing to spend more money than pretty much anyone to do it. $$ doesn't guarantee you're going to win the natty every year, but it sure as hell should guarantee a roster capable of producing and winning bigger than we have so far. Period
Quit hanging on to the past and him. It's nonsense.
I'm not a Pope pumper either. He needs to get his act together. The fans who are incessantly preaching caution and patience with him refuse to acknowledge his results at BYU and UVSU. They are the same middling results he's put up here.
This job should take a great coach and put them over the top. There's literally nothing standing in your way from a support standpoint when you coach at Kentucky.
If you can't win here, and win big, the problem is absolutely you.
Finishing 6th and 9th in the SEC is flat out unacceptable. Especially when you had the (reportedly) largest recruiting budget in the nation.
I like Pope as a guy infinitely more than Cal. Pope is our guy. He's one of us. But that doesn't excuse him from being accountable for producing.
And before some knucklehead chimes in with "he needs time....."
....bullshīt. You can openly buy your roster. And we are willing to spend more money than pretty much anyone to do it. $$ doesn't guarantee you're going to win the natty every year, but it sure as hell should guarantee a roster capable of producing and winning bigger than we have so far. Period
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