Pretty good interview earlier today. Not the usual stuff about the team. Talks Cbb season, nba, and pies to the face. 13 min interview for those desperate to watch anything basketball related.
Cal interview from DP show today
- Thread starter antiduke_99
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It looks like I'm going to go to my grave wondering why Calipari never goes full total war against Duke. More veiled shots at the dookies but nothing direct. I wish he would go back to burning villages down. Seems like he hasn't done that in years when it comes to open they calling out rivals.
Reckon he realizes he pissed in his own cereal?
This touches on something I wondered about from the beginning. When Cal came here, he was full of piss and vinegar. The conventional thinking about him was he was a street fighter - someone mad at the world because he was always on the outside looking in. Modest, blue collar roots. Never accepted by those who were the elite. Always made to toil at some backwater like UMass. Even at Memphis he really wasn't given much respect. Slimy, will do anything to win, etc. That was his rep. He naturally had an 'us against the world' mentality. I remember Robic saying "I've always wanted him to get a job where he had real resources, to show what he could do against the big boys. And now we're here, and you're going to see it." So, yeah, a fighter. "You hurt one of mine, I burn down your village" - that was him in a nutshell.
So....once you're one of the Fat Cats, once you've made it....how long can you keep that fighter, us against the world mentality? As he says - there's no crying on the yacht. The point there is, he lives on a yacht and has for 11 years now. Hard to stay hungry when you live on a yacht. You have to get soft at some point.....
Good take. I'll say this, it's why you need to shake up staff because that is where you can get the grimy/hungry guys who want to move and make their climb to where you are. Jai Lucas is a home run hire. Just think staff is 1 more hire like that way from getting the point Cal just has to come to an in-home to make it official like he did when Antigua/Payne were top 2 on staff and could close guys on their own.
As for the interview and comments on John Thompson coming into that gym--it's funny he was going to watch Milton Bell a McDonald's AA in loaded class of '88 that ended up a Hoya but transferred back to Richmond after not doing much in his 1 1/2 years in DC.
Let's not forget that Cal always and forever has to play by different rules, coupled with our Athletic Department and University that are seemingly sacred shitless of another problem within the program.. who is to say Cal wasn't going to keep his image here.. but instead, he was told to dial it back? Maybe he figured the only way to win this game was to play nice and do everything by the book.
Objectively speaking, he's been one of the more upstanding individuals of the major programs. No cheating, no bemoaning opposing players, takes defeat graciously, always takes the blame, no incidents, always skirts around drama, always complimentary of other coaches/players/families, looks after his players that left, even the disgruntled few.
You really can't name a coach that has been on his level of integrity and image.. maybe Mike Brey.
Objectively speaking, he's been one of the more upstanding individuals of the major programs. No cheating, no bemoaning opposing players, takes defeat graciously, always takes the blame, no incidents, always skirts around drama, always complimentary of other coaches/players/families, looks after his players that left, even the disgruntled few.
You really can't name a coach that has been on his level of integrity and image.. maybe Mike Brey.
He is in the Fraternity now. He cant speak against other coaches. Nor should he , at least not publicly.
Is his amount of hunger determined by big shots/buzzerbeaters/OT toss ups for UK in ‘11 and ‘14 and against us in ‘15, ‘17 and ‘19?
Or by the fact teams are openly buying recruits including our biggest recruiting rival Duke?
Good questions, and I don’t know the answers. I’m not saying he’s coasting or has lost his fastball. I’m just saying it’s something I’ve wondered about - even from the beginning, when he clearly had a Guinness level fastball.....
That was Cal.
Cal gets paid crazy money to keep his nose clean and simply not care like that anymore. I honestly think it’s rubbed off on the fan base to an extent and created its own form of apathy. Only in the last few years have I ever heard of a fan of U.K. with opinions on winning as mild as that of Calipari. It’s definitely turned from a coaches sport to a players sport which, as always, kills the allure of the game.
Now it seems the dreaded “Eh, we did well, it’s all luck in the end” crowd has resulted. BUT DID YOU SEE “former player X NBA guy” go for 43 in that loss!
After being a fan and , to a smaller extent, involved in college basketball over the last 25 years, I can honestly say the one thing that sticks out in my mind that separates the Goat list from the good list, is the pursuit of that coveted second title. Scandal aside, Pitino wanted that second title and was willing to run through walls (insert joke) for it. Quite literally at that. K will do anything to get the top spot of modern basketball.
People here have turned more into Indiana fans (excuses of morality In place of results) for example. And it’s a reflection of things other than a battle between right and wrong.
They are good questions and some of that probably plays a role. The issue to me is the lack of adjustments in strategy from Cal which leads me to believe he’s not as worried about the second ring as building his own player network in the NBA. He wants to be remembered for something other than winning titles at UK. And that’s enough to stop him from achieving more championships.
Cal is not about UK. He cares only about getting these guys to the NBA and hoping they do well. He has pissed away 2-3 titles because of ****** coaching and ****** judgment. He definitely needs to stay away from politics while he is our coach.
This. I have been saying this for the last 4 years. I think 2015 affected Cal as much as some of us fans. I think he now sees his legacy as how many NBA players he has associated with his name. I don’t think he coaches for UK any more. He coaches to send as many to the league as he can. I seriously doubt Cal ever wins another title because it just isn’t that important to him.
Not long ago i wouldn’t accept that, but now i’m beginning to lean.