Cal chooses to play freshmen so don't complain we are young or not as physical. You are giving up 2-3 yrs of prime physical maturation and skill development.I'd be more apt to agree if Diallo was playing and taking minutes. How does a kid who is not even getting/taking minutes negatively impact the team? He can't be anything but an upgrade to go against in practice, so what is the issue?
Or is it the fact that team is just lacking some pieces, plays a small 3 guard lineup with 1 shooter being relied upon to hit, and has a hole at SF, and a PF who has to masquerade as a Center and has limited and robotic post moves? The bench is bad, although I'd give Dom Hawkins some shoes next game instead of the ice skates or whatever the hell he was wearing that forced him to slip/fall on the court all night. Willis is an unmotivated, soft minded guy who is a good front runner. Humphries isn't a UK caliber player. Neither is Wynyard. Briscoe is a Slice recruit and plays like that. Some love that gritty, street ball, pound the ball into the ground and create a shot for myself game. I think UK is better with him scoring 8-10 a game and deferring. I also think they'll be better when he leaves. Others disagree.
Great coaches can have off years and I agree that Cal has done a poor job to this point with this team. They haven't shown a proven leader, yet he's taking trips/time off as if they can be trusted in the hands of a leader. UK isn't paying Cal to have Ulis coach the team or Briscoe. The Ulis coached team had worst results of any NCAA UK team under Cal. This one could surpass that unless he takes over and starts doing his job. That doesn't mean to yell/scream and try to make these guys into past UK greats. It means find a way they can play their best TOGETHER and adjust to coaching them that way--and force them to play that way. Or take people's minutes and stage away from them. But he's had a ****** year imo as a Coach to this point in terms of understanding this group isn't as elite as he may have assumed. And he certainly has done a lot of things away from the program that benefit him and don't benefit UK.
Do think he's understanding this program needs to move away from small ball and get bigger and he's recruited like it. My friend who has some insight mentioned that Cal privately thinks this group is too soft and he can't stand 2 players on the team. He may say publicly how much he "loves his team" but he's realizing need for size and toughness.
How many times can the 5th grade all-stars beat a 7th grade team?