My take on recruiting losses

[Catlogic15]

Thought and thought about this. Can't buy the "platooning" reason as we barely have enough to practice now plus "platooning" will send 7 guys to the NBA.
Losing Orlando Antigua was huge in my estimation. Slice was a red herring that Cal thought he could trust.

 

[TeoJ]

I don't plan on being around much now either though the new format is cool. Way too many Cal slurpers here for a guy with only one championship from all that talent. That's exactly why we missed on all those recruits btw like it or not.

Thanks,know follow up and don't come around much, or at all would be better.

 

[SilentsAreGolden]

Yes. Cal isn't a top tier coach. Bo beat him with zero Mc'D's all Americans. K won the title with a substantially inferior team than Cal had. Yes kids this hurts recruiting. Hype is all good until you don't live up to it. Apparently winning more games without a loss in a single season than anyone else without a ring isn't as attractive as most slurpers would have us believe.

As big of a Duke hater as I am, but you lost all credibility when you said they had a "substantially inferior team". That's weak sauce man.

 

[kb22stang]

We still have a top 5 class, the whining on this site is hilarious. We will have a top 10 team again. Stop acting like the stereotypical UK fans, it's sad and unmanly.

 

[richbrookstomato]

We currently have the #2 class in the country. The top player in the class and the projected #1 pick for the 2016 NBA draft. The #1 point guard in the class. A Junior College All-American that is a 46% 3 pt. shooter and an outstanding athlete. A top 50 2/3 that would have been ranked possibly in the top15 if not for an injury last summer.

The kids we missed out on all wanted to be "The Man" on the team they chose. Cal makes no promises, so you are going to have recruits that will go elsewhere to get the shots and minutes they want. UK isn't for everyone. Our program is exclusive for those willing to put the effort into making themselves and our team better.

I want kids that want to be Wildcats!! I LOVE MY TEAM!!

It's unbelievable how any fan could be disappointed in our current class!!

 

[songsungblue]

I think the larder was full, the corn was bursting out of the crib and the hay was pushing off the roof. In other words, we were stacked, deep. For much of the year it looked like we had outstanding players that might potentially return in the form of Booker, Johnson, maybe the twins, maybe even Lyles. Plus we had some more definite returnees like Ulis, Poythress and Lee not to mention the substantial commits we already had. This was a very unusual situation, more so than I think any year to date with Cal.

Guys were looking at their options in case the larder remained full. Got late in the year and they stood on their cards.

That said, I'm not concerned. Basketball is a lot more than the biggest, fastest and quickest. Intensity, skill, hard work and team execution and development are still critically important. You can be the greatest athlete or the five greatest but you still have to play basketball. I firmly believe that the team for the upcoming year still has plenty of physical capability to perform surprisingly well if they master the things that Cal always preaches. I think the top notch athletes we've been getting have made a few of us forget all the ingredients necessary to make for a successful team. I don't think Mr Ulis and Mr Poythress have forgotten though.

For myself, I expect to be watching Kentucky Basketball next fall.

You nailed it squarely on the head.

Everyone needs to just read this post, relax, enjoy the gorgeous spring weather, and show a little faith in Cal and this program.

 

[wildcatdonf]

People who had nothing to contribute to this board through last year's Final Four excitement and this year's 38-0 run to the Final Four, but now think they have a license to spread idiotic negativity are like parasites. I wish the moderators would go into Terminix mode.

Preach it, brother!

 

[KyFaninNC]

They don't play zone in the NBA. Cal coaches players to prepare them for the league. I get why on the college level it irks some fans at times.

It irks me a lot. UK is not the development University for the NBA. I have no problem with him teaching the players skills needed for the NBA, but first and foremost Cal is the Coach for UK and I expect him to put the university ahead of the NBA. No need to panic over this class. If we flunk out on 2016 guys then we can start to worry. To be honest this is a weak class and we got two studs and a pretty darn good 4 star. Not many in this 2015 class that really stands out that much.

 

[anon_l8pbkn96tg3j6]

Heres what happened:
The Harrisions and Willie came back
We had 10 guys
Conventional wisdom says 10 guys can't all succeed
The 2015 class started looking harder at other schools
Cal platooned
We were unbelievable
The entire team went to the NBA
The 2015 class had already developed great relationships with other schools

 

[Aike]

It irks me a lot. UK is not the development University for the NBA. I have no problem with him teaching the players skills needed for the NBA, but first and foremost Cal is the Coach for UK and I expect him to put the university ahead of the NBA. No need to panic over this class. If we flunk out on 2016 guys then we can start to worry. To be honest this is a weak class and we got two studs and a pretty darn good 4 star. Not many in this 2015 class that really stands out that much.

By getting players to the NBA, he is putting the University first. In case you didn't notice, the University has been to 4 Final Fours in 5 years.

Cal plays man, not only because he's helping players get to the league, but because it's what he believes in.

For the record, he doesn't always play man exactly the same way. He changes within games, as well as season to season. Our defense this year was not the same as last.

Some other coaches believe in zone, while others believe in mixing it up. None of them are more successful than Cal.

It's easy to sit back and say, "If only we would have played zone..."

How much practice time is spend on that zone? Does your man suffer if you play zone?

Again, Cal sticks to what he believes in, and what he thinks is best for the players and the team. It works very very well. It just isn't perfect.

Because you have to play another team full of talented players, who also have a coach with a brain countering every move, or making moves that we have to counter. And Cal still wins more than anyone else.

 

[Aike]

Heres what happened:
The Harrisions and Willie came back
We had 10 guys
Conventional wisdom says 10 guys can't all succeed
The 2015 class started looking harder at other schools
Cal platooned
We were unbelievable
The entire team went to the NBA
The 2015 class had already developed great relationships with other schools

Yep. And Diallo and Brown being Adidas guys doesn't help. Weird set of circumstances, but we get who we are supposed to get. Let's roll with it.

 

[KYSailCat]

I don't plan on being around much now either though the new format is cool. Way too many Cal slurpers here for a guy with only one championship from all that talent. That's exactly why we missed on all those recruits btw like it or not.

This all the way. Any other FF coach would have won with what we had. I can't get excited anymore about final four and NBA players because in the end it brings home no more championships.All the coaching world took a deep sigh when we lost because if he could coach like he can recruit motivate then we would own college basketball but Cal found a way to lose.Bottom line and admit it he choked away this title when he didn't call time out when we had three shot clock violations in a row and in private he would admit it.he will not live this down.

 

[KyFaninNC]

By getting players to the NBA, he is putting the University first. In case you didn't notice, the University has been to 4 Final Fours in 5 years.

Cal plays man, not only because he's helping players get to the league, but because it's what he believes in.

For the record, he doesn't always play man exactly the same way. He changes within games, as well as season to season. Our defense this year was not the same as last.

Some other coaches believe in zone, while others believe in mixing it up. None of them are more successful than Cal.

It's easy to sit back and say, "If only we would have played zone..."

How much practice time is spend on that zone? Does your man suffer if you play zone?

Again, Cal sticks to what he believes in, and what he thinks is best for the players and the team. It works very very well. It just isn't perfect.

Because you have to play another team full of talented players, who also have a coach with a brain countering every move, or making moves that we have to counter. And Cal still wins more than anyone else.

Don't think I mentioned "zone" one time in my post. Whatever we played the last two games wasn't working. Lucky to beat ND and lost to Wisky because "we" never changed our defense and they switched us to death.

 

[dave5164]

I think this spring has been simple and we just had bad luck with a couple of the players. Just think about it and if St. Johns doesn't get Chris Mullins and then he comes and gets 'Slice' Rohrssen from us and that hurts us with Diallo. If we still have 'Slice' then I believe we get Diallo! Then the Ben Howland move at Miss. State taking over for Rick Bay hurt with Newman. I believe that if Bay stays at MSU then it was UK over LSU for Newman! So, we would have right now Newman, Briscoe, Matthews, Skai, Diallo, and maybe still Mulder. That would be 6 top kids to add with Ullis, Lee, POY, Hawkins, and Willis. That is 11 players for us this year.
Another way that bad luck hit us again is that alot of the experts thought Booker, Lyles, and Johnson would come back for another year! I believe that is why Cal kept saying 5 players to the NBA possibly 7 to NBA. I believe Coach Cal thought at least Booker and Johnson comes back. That would have gave us Ullis, Briscoe, Booker, Mulder, Skai, Lee, POY, Johnson, and Matthews. Then Hawkins and Willis off the bench. So, either way we would have been looking at 11 players and I believe in both situations we had some bad luck with either losing a coach or new hires for Head Coach, or losing 2 or 3 that we thought possibly would come back for another year in Booker, Johnson, and Lyles.

 

[Mojocat_rivals48469]

Highly rated kids want to go to a place 1) that will ensure they get to the league or at least not hurt their chances and 2) where they'll play for a contender. As Dan Wetzel said on Yahoo Sports a couple of weeks ago, in AAU/5 star world, the perception is that is UK and Duke.

Yeah, Cal can't win a title, except he did 3 years ago. Morons + keyboards = not a good look. A little less conversation and sailing away, both warranted....

 

[Mojocat_rivals48469]

I can't get excited anymore about final four and NBA players because in the end it brings home no more championships.

This is miserable. You need a new hobby, or at least find a new team. Please.

 

[ColonelCat_rivals376764]

win some. lose some, some get rained out. WE WILL BE BACK

 

[Aike]

Don't think I mentioned "zone" one time in my post. Whatever we played the last two games wasn't working. Lucky to beat ND and lost to Wisky because "we" never changed our defense and they switched us to death.

I mentioned zone in the post that you quoted. Since you quoted a post about zone, I assumed you were addressing the topic.

Our defense was good enough to win against Wisconsin. They did very little down the stretch of that game offensively. We clamped down as usual. Lack of offensive execution for a short stretch and some unfortunate calls doomed us that night.

 

[kybassfan]

Yes. Cal isn't a top tier coach. Bo beat him with zero Mc'D's all Americans. K won the title with a substantially inferior team than Cal had. Yes kids this hurts recruiting. Hype is all good until you don't live up to it. Apparently winning more games without a loss in a single season than anyone else without a ring isn't as attractive as most slurpers would have us believe.

Slurper here. So, you got this all figured out? I mean, Cal has only won one championship with a freshman point guard. How screwed up is that he only managed to coach one little freshman up to the point he could lead a team to the big crown, out of all those chances too. All those other coaches win the championship with freshman point guards every year. Don't they? Hmm. Cal only had one of the youngest teams in the NCAA several of the last few years but still managed to get into the final four what? Well, only four times. And this year really sucked right? Hell they lost didn't they? The defense was so bad that it was only arguably one of the best in history. Guy couldn't even avoid an argument like having the best defense.

I just thought I'd give you some more ludicris points to add to the ones you are already using. Clearly you have little to no understanding of what it takes to actually perform on the level we've been performing. The hype you are whining about is actually in the record books. As a matter of definition, that's generally called history, not hype. Lastly, we just finished a year with yet another team which had outstanding talent and played excellent basketball. Apparently not winning the championship all those other years didn't impede recruiting for last year.

Hype? Its never been so good, I've watch the team since the 60's. There's a movie called "Angel's In The Outfield". It has a beer slurping naysayer who provides a rather pathetic bit of comic relief to the film. If they ever reprise the movie, I suggest you consider auditioning for the part. Sounds like a perfect fit, though you may be at some risk for type casting.

 

[musrat59]

I really wouldn't over think it. Cal and KY are going to get theirs because in the minds of recruits right now Cal is JayZ, K is Drake and Roy is Conway Twitty.

 

[UKSlim]

Second guessing, and disceting John Calipari's recruiting is laughable... He is the best in the business.

 

[Phantom]

I think it had zero to do with losing in the Final Four. That's fans on couches projecting their disappointment onto kids who have one goal: Get to the NBA. It's a series of unrelated things that only seem like a pattern: * Newman wanted to play point guard and Kentucky had Ulis and Briscoe (if he cared about Kentucky losing in the FInal Four, what did he think about MSU not making the NIT, LOL) * Ingram was never going to leave North Carolina, when the UNCheats got shaky with the NCAA he went down the road to Duke * ZImmerman struck me as a mamma's boy who didn't want to be on the far side of the Mississippi from the apron strings. Again, why go to UNLV if losing in the FF was a factor? * Diallo probably thought he'd be forced into the shadow of Skal at Kentucky.

Beyond that, It had a little bit to do with guys like Dakari not getting starter minutes. And it probably had to do with negative recruiting; kids being told Cal could bolt to the NBA. I wish Cal would make some lifetime vow that he will be buried in Lexington after retiring from UK, but he's probably too honest for that.

In a word...."yep"

 

[hotelblue]

you guys forgot the little part about poythress getting injured. our best looking run was with him while we murdered ucla and kansas. that's when tanks were coming over the hill. if you think we lose with him anyway fine. but i respectfully disagree.