John Calipari..

Cowtown Cat

Heisman
Aug 23, 2015
23,984
54,388
100
Look, he probably thought Hump would be here like I did. Can't help when Charles transfers or people leave before you thought they would. Before this season I heard Shai will be a player here for at least a couple years. For a guy that can't coach we sure do see players that are predicted to be 2-3 year players get drafted 1st rd after 1 year. He makes players better, I don't see how anyone could argue that. Not everyone pans out, but they don't always anywhere.
Matthews was the player we were missing last year. Prototypical college 3 that rebounds, plays defense and shoots it halfway decent. Lee would have also helped with rim protection. Something we were also missing. JMO.
 

FiveStarCat

All-American
Oct 3, 2009
10,758
5,580
0
At Memphis the players he had that were drafted were Dajuan Wagner, Shawne Williams, Antonio Burks, Rodney Carney, Chris Douglas Roberts, Joey Dorsey, Robert Dozier, Tyreke Evans, and Derrick Rose.

At UMASS he had Marcus Camby, and Lou Roe.

Cal has to be in the conversation as being the top recruiter of all time. He's got a history of doing a great job developing players as well. I've seen people post that he didn't have great talent at either school and that's false. He recruited and helped develope great players at both of those schools.
I excluded the Camby and Rose years from my post. How many of those other guys had more than a cup of tea (of that) in the NBA?
 
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FiveStarCat

All-American
Oct 3, 2009
10,758
5,580
0
Not being able to motivate us to beat a much inferior team KSU and not being able to motivate us enough so we lose the first game in the NIT. Sorry I can't agree with the great motivator comment.
You can’t win every game. Who would you consider a great motivator in college basketball history? Better find me a coach that has zero bad losses. I’ll wait
 
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Cowtown Cat

Heisman
Aug 23, 2015
23,984
54,388
100
There are 3 players that we had to play without. Baker, tai and Vanderbilt. Sometimes you get caught short.
This. We thump K State with Vanderbilt. Could've used Baker's shooting as well. Tai - meh, 5 extra fouls down low never hurts.
 

KyLegacyBBN

All-Conference
Jan 12, 2005
10,260
3,479
113
Is an excellent coach and a straight shooter as a person. He took the youngesr team in the NATION, and somehow git them to the Sweet 16. Kansas St loss hurt , however , Kansas St was battle tested as well. We made many freshman mistakes. SGA turned the ball over a ton, one specifially where he was going up for a 3 foot shot, turned his whole body and basiclly handed it to K state player. We were so big , just shot and we have 50 percent chance at putback. PJ played like a beast but his free throws absoulety desrtoyed us. I love Coach Cal and hope he stays until he retires. EOM

Serious question , no disrespect. I really don’t understand this post. So you love Cal but this team underachieved?
 

TankedCat

Heisman
Nov 8, 2006
22,792
21,500
0
I think he's a solid enough coach, a very good motivator

but there is only so much anyone can do with a team where the majority of kids went to their high school prom last year.

I'd like to think that will never happen again at UK, but so far I don't have any reason to believe it won't.
 
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crpoore

Senior
Mar 28, 2009
488
578
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I think he's a solid enough coach, a very good motivator

but there is only so much anyone can do with a team where the majority of kids went to their high school prom last year.

I'd like to think that will never happen again at UK, but so far I don't have any reason to believe it won't.
Pretty fair post.
 

FiveStarCat

All-American
Oct 3, 2009
10,758
5,580
0
It’s true. Good recruiter, good man, average coach
If only we had a sample of how Calipari would perform at a midmajor or two, without the advantages he enjoys at Kentucky. That might be able to give us a better idea of his coaching ability. Oh well, guess you’re right, he’s only in the HOF due to his recruiting ability.
 
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Woodrow24

Heisman
Dec 21, 2015
6,310
15,309
78
I excluded the Camby and Rose years from my post. How many of those other guys had more than a cup of tea (of that) in the NBA?
I proved my point that he had very talented college basketball players at both schools. Statistically, it's difficult to make it in the NBA. I gave him credit for his recruiting and player development. He is a hell of a motivator too. Criticisms on his in game coaching are fair to a certain extent but any coach can be criticized. Their isn't a perfect coach out there.
 
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FiveStarCat

All-American
Oct 3, 2009
10,758
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I proved my point that he had very talented college basketball players at both schools. Statistically, it's difficult to make it in the NBA. I gave him credit for his recruiting and player development. He is a hell of a motivator too. Criticisms on his in game coaching are fair to a certain extent but any coach can be criticized. Their isn't a perfect coach out there.
That’s fair, didn’t mean to attack you. Just get sick of every loss being an indictment on Cal’s coaching ability.
 
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UKat51

All-Conference
May 9, 2003
2,456
1,932
113
Average coaches do not do what he did at UMass and Memphis. 3 Elite 8s, 2 Sweet 16s (and yes, that is excluding the vacated years). Tell me what all world talent he has on those teams.

UMass had Macy’s Camby on a senior laden team
Memphis... he had one really good team that lost to Kansas after being up 7 with 2/3 minutes to go
Lost to UConn twice.. both teams were less than exceptional
Lost to Wisconsin leading by 5 with four to go. He really loved the Harrison twins with their three shot clock violations
Lost to K-State with a crappy game plan. Mis-use of time outs during the game

Richards was no better in games in the last game than you was in the first game. Development????

In my opinion, Cal is a decent recruiter, a good Christian man, average game coach
 

Woodrow24

Heisman
Dec 21, 2015
6,310
15,309
78
That’s fair, didn’t mean to attack you. Just get sick of every loss being an indictment on Cal’s coaching ability.
No problem, I understand what you mean. Some people take their criticisms to far on here. I agree and disagree with things Cal does but the man is in the hall of fame for a reason. We've had a lot of great teams since he has been here and I appreciate what he has done for the program.
 
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FiveStarCat

All-American
Oct 3, 2009
10,758
5,580
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UMass had Macy’s Camby on a senior laden team
Memphis... he had one really good team that lost to Kansas after being up 7 with 2/3 minutes to go
Lost to UConn twice.. both teams were less than exceptional
Lost to Wisconsin leading by 5 with four to go. He really loved the Harrison twins with their three shot clock violations
Lost to K-State with a crappy game plan. Mis-use of time outs during the game

Richards was no better in games in the last game than you was in the first game. Development????

In my opinion, Cal is a decent recruiter, a good Christian man, average game coach
He made 2 Elite 8s and 2 Sweet 16s EXCLUDING years with Camby and Rose.

I’m not going to go into the rest of it because I can see this is going to go on all night. He’s lost some games we should have won and won some games he should have lost. His entire body of work shows he is the 3rd best active coach behind K and Roy and both those guys’ days are numbered. By the way, check out some of the losses those guys have on their records... guess they are average coaches too huh?
 

chattanoogawildcat

All-American
Jan 21, 2005
17,470
7,703
0
UMass had Macy’s Camby on a senior laden team
Memphis... he had one really good team that lost to Kansas after being up 7 with 2/3 minutes to go
Lost to UConn twice.. both teams were less than exceptional
Lost to Wisconsin leading by 5 with four to go. He really loved the Harrison twins with their three shot clock violations
Lost to K-State with a crappy game plan. Mis-use of time outs during the game

Richards was no better in games in the last game than you was in the first game. Development????

In my opinion, Cal is a decent recruiter, a good Christian man, average game coach
You have 828 posts in 15 years. Why?
 

UKat51

All-Conference
May 9, 2003
2,456
1,932
113
An average coach doesn’t develop multi year players like Booker and SGA, into one and dones.

He had hd talent. He did recr
Only an absolute moron who is dumber than a box of rocks could look at what he's done in his coaching career with & without elite talent & post what you did.

I'll give you the benefit of the doubt that maybe you just didn't know. :flushed:

He had done the least with the amount of talent he had had.

Good recruiter, good Christian man, average game coach.
 

kyjeff1

Heisman
Sep 8, 2012
50,501
70,703
113
It's weird, it seems to me that his coaching is getting worse with each passing year.

I agree that when he coached at UMass and Memphis and did remarkable strategical work. Even here he did some great x and o's stuff, but he's coaching terribly at times now.

I mean, why in the hell did he come up with the game plan to play slow ball against K State?
That's just incredibly stupid no matter how big of a homer you might be.

Hell, even his own family should be questioning him.
Not sure why he chose to play grind ball against KSU, he always seems to allow the other opponent to dictate the pace.

As far as what he did at UMass and Memphis, he has stated a few times in the past that there was no restrictions on how much you can practice. They would get off the bus after a game and get right to the practice gym.

Plus he had really tough veterans.

That was probably more about his UMass days than his Memphis days.
 
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chattanoogawildcat

All-American
Jan 21, 2005
17,470
7,703
0
Matthews was the player we were missing last year. Prototypical college 3 that rebounds, plays defense and shoots it halfway decent. Lee would have also helped with rim protection. Something we were also missing. JMO.
Matthews would have been another FT clanker, shooting a pathetic 50 some odd % this season.
 

UKat51

All-Conference
May 9, 2003
2,456
1,932
113
You have 828 posts in 15 years. Why?

I like to read the posts. I usually only post when I feel strongly about certain subjects. Usually some topics turn into a sh_t storm.

Like I stated. I think Cal recruits good, except he has not had a top 5 recruit in several years. Duke seems to be getting them. I think Cal is a good Christian man because of his community involvement and because he attends mass everyday. I think Cal is an average bench coach due to losses we have taken because of his decisions. Lack of timely timeouts or misuse of players or his game plans.

I like Cal. Would have no idea on who I would want to replace him. I just expect more from a coach making 6-8 million dollars a year. One championship banner in nine years with the talent he has had is not satisfactory. We play for championships at UK, not sweet 16s, elite8s, final fours. All those are nice, but no one should be satisfied with anything less than a banner.

I realize one cannot be won every year, but I expect great coaching until the physically superior team beats us.

Now, do you think K-State was the better team or the better prepared team is that game?
 
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JohnKBA

All-Conference
Dec 2, 2003
4,233
3,955
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The KSU loss was the worst loss of the Cal era and a miserable coaching job.

Knox spent the majority of that game being face guarded by a guy 7 inches shorter than him. How many post ups did Cal run? You clear a side out and run the offense through Knox and if the double comes, you hit a guy for an open 3 or hit a cutter. Instead, Cal ran him off the same screens over and over for 40 minutes. A solid high school coach would have exploited that.

Great recruiter, exceptional manager of talent and egos, VERY mediocre game coach.
 

RDCat07

Junior
Mar 26, 2014
514
355
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I think he is a good coach with a lot of one year players we can't have a lot of offensive sets if you have to spend the year convincing guys to play together and get out of the aau "get mine" mentality. I honestly believe we have had this problem over the last few a seasons where to many guys don't buy in. I Would Like to see him not recruit over players ifthey are proving a role for us
 
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kyjeff1

Heisman
Sep 8, 2012
50,501
70,703
113
I think he is a good coach with a lot of one year players we can't have a lot of offensive sets if you have to spend the year convincing guys to play together and get out of the aau "get mine" mentality. I honestly believe we have had this problem over the last few a seasons where to many guys don't buy in. I Would Like to see him not recruit over players ifthey are proving a role for us
Until his priorities change, that's how it's going to be.
I get it, helping young people reach their dreams is a hell of a thing he's doing, he's great at it, but that requires sacrificing, one of the things that is sacrificed is strong roster building. Starting over from scratch every year puts us behind and creates a situation where we are always "young".
Unless we get another stacked team with a transcendent player, I just don't see another title. If we're always going to be young we are always going to be at a disadvantage.
The college game is ever changing, hopefully Cal rolls with the changes.
 

wfm101981

Senior
Jan 3, 2018
795
933
93
Oh ok...lol. Dude...lots of luck when you do it once. Not only that...its not nearly as impressive as it would've been as recent as 10-15 years ago.

It's ok...I know you're a simple man. :)
I dont know if your saying that to me lol. I know as much if not more than any kentucky fan out there. From 1995 till now, i eat sleep and breathe big blue. Test me if ya want. 1995 on and Ill blow ya out the water.