Cal is at a crossroads, which path will he choose?

[TFCats11]

After he debuts running all over the court throwing passes behind his back and raining 3’s. Never had that freedom again.

I’ll never understand why Cal didn’t give Z the green light to play that style! Well, actually I kinda do.

 

[the nail at the foul line]

All I needed to see from Cal was it being well established that the three R's was the best line up. He still starts his pets against Oakland. Even in the 2 nd half. Incredible amount of stubbornness. Won't change and can't change because his goal is to get guys drafted and not win basketball games for UK.

 

[NociHTTP]

Cal has found himself in a very unique situation, and how he handles the situation will determine his future.

Currently, he has 6 freshman coming in who most likely expect one of the 5 starting positions. Each returning player (Sheppard, and Dillingham will not be one of those) will be expecting one of those starting positions as well!

No high impact transfers will consider UK, or any other program, without a starting role and guaranteed NIL promised up front, and the same can be said for potential returning players from this past season, and he knows this.

So, we can safely assume that he has about 4 scholarships to play with between returning players and transfers, because he never uses the entire 13.

Every returnee takes a starting position away from a freshman, and every player who decides not to return, and every transfer who chooses elsewhere, puts a freshman in a starting position, which we know doesn’t work anymore.

So, how does Cal use those 4 scholarships to put an experienced, more mature team on the court next season, while keeping the 6 freshman happy that he has no doubtedly made “promises” to?

We will know which path he chooses to take very soon.

Do anything possible to get Reed to come back. How do you feel about that?

 

[NociHTTP]

Good analysis . I think we may see soon what the answer is as he is still recruiting a seventh freshman . If he secures that commitment we have our answer .

His only way out of this is to publicly announce we are no longer a one and done school . That no one is promised playing time . That he will hit the portal hard and the players who perform best in practice will start and each player will only play the minutes he earns.

Won’t happen. I fear that Rupp arena will get very ugly next year if we have an obvious display of favoritism to the detriment of the team as we did this year .

MB is a wus and a fool if he permits this to happen again.

He also needs to announce that as players enter the draft he is going to assume they are gone and recruit as best he can to build a winning team. If they opt out and want to come back we will take them back only if we have scholarships left as we have to think of UK and our fans first ,

We will see but judging from the same old boring say nothing platitudes we have heard from Cal and MB since this debacle I doubt anything will change .

As it should be. NO COACH should be waiting around, buying time, until his or her primadonna has "made a decision". By stating up front that if you choose to enter the draft you WILL be recruited over in the interest of the basketball program. As you stated. Very few coaches out there who encourage, let alone even allow to happen, this nonsensical (from the perspective of building a program) "take your time on the draft process and transfer portal" crap that Cal has. Put his feet to the fire.

 

[sluggercatfan]

Cal has found himself in a very unique situation, and how he handles the situation will determine his future.

Currently, he has 6 freshman coming in who most likely expect one of the 5 starting positions. Each returning player (Sheppard, and Dillingham will not be one of those) will be expecting one of those starting positions as well!

No high impact transfers will consider UK, or any other program, without a starting role and guaranteed NIL promised up front, and the same can be said for potential returning players from this past season, and he knows this.

So, we can safely assume that he has about 4 scholarships to play with between returning players and transfers, because he never uses the entire 13.

Every returnee takes a starting position away from a freshman, and every player who decides not to return, and every transfer who chooses elsewhere, puts a freshman in a starting position, which we know doesn’t work anymore.

So, how does Cal use those 4 scholarships to put an experienced, more mature team on the court next season, while keeping the 6 freshman happy that he has no doubtedly made “promises” to?

We will know which path he chooses to take very soon.

JVC has 3yrs and 33 million dollars and he gladly walk away. The sooner the seasons are over the better he likes it.

 

[TNCatfanforever]

Cal has found himself in a very unique situation, and how he handles the situation will determine his future.

Currently, he has 6 freshman coming in who most likely expect one of the 5 starting positions. Each returning player (Sheppard, and Dillingham will not be one of those) will be expecting one of those starting positions as well!

No high impact transfers will consider UK, or any other program, without a starting role and guaranteed NIL promised up front, and the same can be said for potential returning players from this past season, and he knows this.

So, we can safely assume that he has about 4 scholarships to play with between returning players and transfers, because he never uses the entire 13.

Every returnee takes a starting position away from a freshman, and every player who decides not to return, and every transfer who chooses elsewhere, puts a freshman in a starting position, which we know doesn’t work anymore.

So, how does Cal use those 4 scholarships to put an experienced, more mature team on the court next season, while keeping the 6 freshman happy that he has no doubtedly made “promises” to?

We will know which path he chooses to take very soon.

He came to the fork in the road and took it.

 

[Pelosigalore]

Since he is not making any coaching staff changes, I think we know the answer.

 

[cathouse]

Like I said, we’ll know very soon if that’s the case, and BTW, I expect nothing different from him, even though he knows it will be to his detriment.

It will not be to his detriment. It will be to the detriment of the UK basketball program....again!!

Cal is going to get PAID. I still think he is purposely tanking the program in an effort to get the buyout and ride off into the sunset with birds flying at the UK fanbase.

Cal doesn't GAF. He doesn't want to be at UK and the majority of the players he brings in don't want to be here either.

But, they all want the money the program and fans generate.

Cal needs to be paid and sent packing for the future of the program.

 

[wccat2969]

The path of least resistance. It's what lazy people do.

Yes. How can he expect the players to work their butts off if he and his staff doesn't.

 

[TankedCat]

him not changing any staff after he and Mitch said it would happen a week ago tells you everything you need to know

 

[rodserling]

Love to see Z back cal has zero clue how to use him and Z will not flourish under cal as he will lot be allowed to play to his skill set. Z will look much better after he gets away from cal.

I thought all players got better once they got away from CCC

 

[BigRedMachineBigBlueNation]

him not changing any staff after he and Mitch said it would happen a week ago tells you everything you need to know

Man he’s such a freaking jerk.

 

[TFCats11]

Do anything possible to get Reed to come back. How do you feel about that?

Reed isn’t passing up $20+ million over the next few years to play for a charlatan of a coach, and if he does, it will go down as the dumbest player decision of all time… Considering all the circumstances.

 

[Bluesbrother]

Reed isn’t passing up $20+ million over the next few years to play for a charlatan of a coach, and if he does, it will go down as the dumbest player decision of all time… Considering all the circumstances.

It sounds like you're telling everyone what "you" would do in that circumstance. To say that for Reed to do something different from what you would do would makes his "the dumbest player decision of all time" is a bit harsh. Tim Duncan played four years at Wake and could have declared early but waited and was the No 1 pick, so who knows what's best for Reed. People make their own decisions for their own reasons and who's to say that "coming back" for a second (or more) year in college (another program) may not be the better option? We don't know but it's his decision and whatever he decides, honestly, is none of anyone's business. I just wish him well in whatever he chooses. I do agree with your sentiment about the charlatan coach squatting and squandering at UK ... just not sure about Reed's sentiment toward Cal. If I had to guess, I would say it makes more sense to transfer or declare for no other reason than having to play another year under Cal. Two years of Cal and Thiero wants out. Reed is just one short year removed from HS so 3 more years under an authentic coach might be his best option ... just not Calipari, IMO.

 

[Pelosigalore]

It’s too risky to come back, not because of injury or draft status, but because he has to deal with a used car salesman and a guy who wears stupid looking glasses again.

 

[bucsrule8872]

It’s too risky to come back, not because of injury or draft status, but because he has to deal with a used car salesman and a guy who wears stupid looking glasses again.

Except Sheppard loves Cal and the coaching staff. He came to Cal’s defense after the last game, saying it wasn’t Cal’s fault. If he felt like us fans feel about Cal, then I would say you are right and he probably wants to get away from this mess, but he seems to genuinely believe in Cal. So I can’t really buy into that theory.