The difference in Cal's recruiting

[Marleydogg]

I think the main problem people might not be discussing in Cal's approach.

The guys we recruit now are too nice. Good kids, but Cal was on top of his game when he was recruiting th÷ more shallbwe say marginal character issue players?

I mean, would Cal currently recruit cousins, Bledsoe and Wall? Joey Dorset? CDR? DRose?

Just curious as to what you guys think.

 

[Marleydogg]

For example, PJ is about the only guy in about 5 years that we (rightfully) celebrated his 'mean mug' aftrerblocking someone shot or dunking on them.

Cal's older teams at UMass, Memphis and early UK usually had a roster of those type of guys.

 

[Stenchymouse]

I just think that we're not getting quite as good of players (no elite point guards since Fox), and our potential solid upperclassmen aren't sticking around till they're truly ready for pro ball.

Kids come here, even lower ranked kids, and have the mindset to stay one year only.

 

[thepip]

Yes, he would definitely recruit those players. Lot of intangibles that fans often forget, eg: coaches saying Cal will recruit over you and if you are not one and done then Kentucky is not the place for you. Lot of crap spewed by the oppision.

 

[1992Volfan]

all kids are soft these days. Especially 5 stars coddled too much by their handlers

 

[LmdCat]

I think the main problem people might not be discussing in Cal's approach.

The guys we recruit now are too nice. Good kids, but Cal was on top of his game when he was recruiting th÷ more shallbwe say marginal character issue players?

I mean, would Cal currently recruit cousins, Bledsoe and Wall? Joey Dorset? CDR? DRose?

Just curious as to what you guys think.

I think the point that you might be missing is that Cal was the first to go after the one-and-done without any competition. Now that he has competition, he is getting the second tier 5 star players and he is getting non-shooters.

 

[Hutchkycat]

All of the above. Also, he has had these kids for a semester. What have they been doing? They can't bring the ball up the court and get off a decent shot without turning it over.

 

[65pacecar]

Still love the Cousin’s “Call Me” gesture during the game after his cell phone number got out. That was classic.

 

[Backer cutter]

When these higher rated kids are projected to be first rounders coming out of high school, I believe they think they have reached the point where they don’t have anything else to prove. Just go play one year somewhere, try not to get hurt, and in less than a year, start cashing checks. That’s why guys like Herro excel , he had something to prove because of his ratings, and he did it. Just my opinion.

 

[Marleydogg]

I think the point that you might be missing is that Cal was the first to go after the one-and-done without any competition. Now that he has competition, he is getting the second tier 5 star players and he is getting non-shooters.

Cal was ahead of the curve in stacking the roster with OAD.

Everyone was recruiting them.

 

[Marleydogg]

Anyone here remember how chippy Cal's first game against u6 was? Bledsoe-delk, cousins-swopshire, those guys were rough and ready.

Who on this current team do you think wouldn't back down from someone trying to bully them around the court?

 

[LmdCat]

Cal was ahead of the curve in stacking the roster with OAD.

Everyone was recruiting them.

Other coaches didn't think a team could win with a core of one-and-dones until Cal showed otherwise. Now he is being out recruited by the late comers.

 

[Cats_2010]

The NBA has ruined college basketball and can easily fix it. Of course they won’t unless they had a reason to. I won’t watch another NBA game probably the rest of my life.

 

[UKortho]

Are other coaches getting kids that reclassify? Losing that extra year in high school doesn’t help some.

 

[JohnBlue]

The greatest weakness of the one and done is the strength of each class. They are not all equal, years like this and the 2013 class for example didn't provide the talent that years like 2010, and 16 did for example. Last year wasn't as strong of a class either but UK had several returning players to count on. That is needed in every class and I do think that Kentucky has moved in that direction but the culture the early years of Cal created has made it harder than it should be and UK is having to deal with recruits that wouldn't have gotten a look five years yet they come here with the same expectations as top ten recruits.

I wouldn't say anyone out recruiting UK either. Other top programs were slow to accept it and have taken a few but Kentucky is still the king of one and done. Never did get them all and with a year like this missing out on a player like Cade Cunningham hurt a lot more than most years.

 

[willievic]

Yes, he would definitely recruit those players. Lot of intangibles that fans often forget, eg: coaches saying Cal will recruit over you and if you are not one and done then Kentucky is not the place for you. Lot of crap spewed by the oppision.

The heck of it, is it's true. Take a look at the past.

OLD STOLL FIELD GUY!

 

[willievic]

There is a lot of talk about Cal's recruiting, getting all the top players. However, since Cal has had the Number 1 recruiting class or tied for Number 1, ever year he has been here, it has not produced the results most of us had hoped for. He has since changed to, "Sending players to the NBA is more important then winning a National Championship." I know he feels that way, but most UK fans do not. I would love to see us go back to recruiting players who have basketball skills, and are here to represent UK, not play to go to the NBA after one year. Cal's only goal is to recruit long athletes, whose primary goal is to go to the NBA after having to spend one year in college. Do you really think winning a NC is important to them? NO way! They just want to impress the NBA scouts as to how great they are. Their attitude is, "GIVE ME THE BALL, AND LET ME SHOW YOU WHAT I CAN DO." When players that feel that way, don't get playing time, you have dissension on the team. We're seeing it at the present time with this team, and Cal does not know how or what to do, so he's putting it on the players back, while he makes excuses, and throws players under the bus. A coward's way out!

OLD STOLL FIELD GUY!

OLD STOLL FIELD GUY!

 

[CB3UK]

These guys are soft as Charmin, and I'm going to keep saying it until they show the **** up and prove me wrong. They don't like it? Good. Use it as motivation on the court. Fans are going to continue to be unrelenting about it. Man the eff up. This is Kentucky. Act like it.

 

[*Bleedingblue*]

Other coaches didn't think a team could win with a core of one-and-dones until Cal showed otherwise. Now he is being out recruited by the late comers.

Well to be technical Cal didn't have teams that were just nothing but freshmen or newcomers until here lately.
First season he had Patterson and a few guys left over. Same with the 2011 season in 2012 he had Miller who has a senior with Lamb and Jones who were sophmores.

We had a lot of losses over the years playing inexperienced players. With many seasons taking miracle plays to advance in the tourney.

 

[LmdCat]

The NBA has ruined college basketball and can easily fix it. Of course they won’t unless they had a reason to. I won’t watch another NBA game probably the rest of my life.

Most of the 5 star players who come here often state that they came because of Cal's history of getting players into the NBA earlier than most. If players had to play at least 2 years in college, would those players still come? I don't think so.

 

[TheWyldKat_rivals45219]

I think the main problem people might not be discussing in Cal's approach.

The guys we recruit now are too nice. Good kids, but Cal was on top of his game when he was recruiting th÷ more shallbwe say marginal character issue players?

I mean, would Cal currently recruit cousins, Bledsoe and Wall? Joey Dorset? CDR? DRose?

Just curious as to what you guys think.

That’s a really interesting point. Never really thought about that

 

[UK-Chulo]

The greatest weakness of the one and done is the strength of each class. They are not all equal, years like this and the 2013 class for example didn't provide the talent that years like 2010, and 16 did for example. Last year wasn't as strong of a class either but UK had several returning players to count on. That is needed in every class and I do think that Kentucky has moved in that direction but the culture the early years of Cal created has made it harder than it should be and UK is having to deal with recruits that wouldn't have gotten a look five years yet they come here with the same expectations as top ten recruits.

I wouldn't say anyone out recruiting UK either. Other top programs were slow to accept it and have taken a few but Kentucky is still the king of one and done. Never did get them all and with a year like this missing out on a player like Cade Cunningham hurt a lot more than most years.

We really aren't the king of the one and done if we are not landing the top player in the class. Just because we take a bunch of kids that only want to play for a year and declare does not mean we are good at it. It has hurt us taking the marginal five stars and hoping they will be able to compete on the college level. As much as it has worked is as much as it has backfired. Something that works half the time is not that great.

 

[BigKari]

That game was amazing! Louisville thought they were gonna punk us. Their fans thought they’d win by 20 over our inexperienced roster. They came out with a game plan to bully and be physical and Kentucky wasn’t even slightly intimidated.

 

[Marleydogg]

That game was amazing! Louisville thought they were gonna punk us. Their fans thought they’d win by 20 over our inexperienced roster. They came out with a game plan to bully and be physical and Kentucky wasn’t even slightly intimidated.

Um, dude we lost.

Still not really seeing any killer instinct out of any of our guys, with the slight exception of IJ. When he can stay on the floor.

 

[meteordealer]

Um, dude we lost.

Still not really seeing any killer instinct out of any of our guys, with the slight exception of IJ. When he can stay on the floor.

Um, dude, he was referring to 2009-2010.

 

[BigKari]

Um, dude we lost.

Still not really seeing any killer instinct out of any of our guys, with the slight exception of IJ. When he can stay on the floor.

Yeah I guess I forgot to quote what I was responding to...oops! But yeah I was talking about the ‘09 team...those were the days man...

 

[TBCat]

I think the main problem people might not be discussing in Cal's approach.

The guys we recruit now are too nice. Good kids, but Cal was on top of his game when he was recruiting th÷ more shallbwe say marginal character issue players?

I mean, would Cal currently recruit cousins, Bledsoe and Wall? Joey Dorset? CDR? DRose?

Just curious as to what you guys think.

Not sure I agree with this. Karl Anthony Towns was a nice guy. Didn't hurt him a bit. We also have some guys in recent years that are a little iffy on character. Didn't really matter.

The big difference to me is the AAU basketball atmosphere. Sure we had one and dones from the beginning but Wall had Patrick Patterson. Davis had Miller. These super star freshmen had stability around them that they were able to learn how to fit in. The guys we get now don't. Put Demarcus Cousins on this team in stead of Saar and we would still be 1 and 6. The only difference would be instead of Cousins being a top 5 pick we would be calling him a bust.

 

[UKNC89]

The difference is that he recruits pussies, I mean look at the hissy fit shown on the bench. The attitude, the behavior, the way they dress and look. Complete overhaul from where it was when Cal brought in pure alpha bulls. The AAU circuit hasn’t helped either with this. AAU is a playground of depravity.

 

[Marleydogg]

Um, dude, he was referring to 2009-2010.

Fair enough. I misinterpreted.

 

[Marleydogg]

Yeah I guess I forgot to quote what I was responding to...oops! But yeah I was talking about the ‘09 team...those were the days man...

Yeah, my bad, there, too

 

[Marleydogg]

Not sure I agree with this. Karl Anthony Towns was a nice guy. Didn't hurt him a bit. We also have some guys in recent years that are a little iffy on character. Didn't really matter.

The big difference to me is the AAU basketball atmosphere. Sure we had one and dones from the beginning but Wall had Patrick Patterson. Davis had Miller. These super star freshmen had stability around them that they were able to learn how to fit in. The guys we get now don't. Put Demarcus Cousins on this team in stead of Saar and we would still be 1 and 6. The only difference would be instead of Cousins being a top 5 pick we would be calling him a bust.

Not sure, if KAT was more like Cousins, think we get the shot clock violations against Wisconsin, or would Boogie have grabbed the twins and said get me the ball or you won't see tomorrow?

 

[JerseyCat84_rivals57050]

Recruit thugs that can shoot......basketballs.