Why have things gone down hill in recent years?
It exposes the inherent weakness of the business model (OAD NBA Factory) he employs to run this program. You can literally list several key points (reasons) why you wouldn't want to use this system to uphold our winning tradition.
As evidenced by his commentary this week in addition to his espoused philosophy for years, it is literally MUCH more important, especially since he already is a HOF coach, to change generational poverty and get as many of these kids to the NBA as possible, and that means getting them in and out as quickly as possible to make room for more! Many stay less than a calendar year, and almost 90% (my wild guess) wouldn't know Joe Hall from Dan Issel. They don't care about our history (the name on the front of the jersey) nearly as much as the name on the back. Ask them how many Jack scored against Duke in the championship game of 1978 and most couldn't even begin to know.They probably aren't aware of how many titles we have.
Here's my off-the-top-of-my-head list on Super Bowl Sunday (I should be out practicing golf!) what results in having this program philosophy vice one that emphasizes one thing and one thing only: winning games. These are my by-products caused by this flawed system.
If winning games is not as important as getting to the NBA for the coach, then the kids don't mind losing too badly...it's OK, we're still going to be millionaires in a matter of months!
The team is......shall I daresay one more time, "young." This team is young EVERY YEAR. Calipari can't win because they're ALWAYS playing against grown men. There is now 330 million in this country, much larger than 30 or 40 years ago, so there are many more good basketball players than ever before. We get some pretty good ones each year, but now we see clear evidence that those recruiting good players who stay three or four or five years perform better than we do in our kids' usual lone season.
Fan frustration is at DEFCON 1. Maxey. Quickley. Washington. Gilgeous-Alexander. Booker. Boston. Richards. Etc. Etc. Good to decent players, but their teams didn't advance very far except for Booker's 38-1 team. Early departures of Patterson, Cousins, and many others, but most pointedly Jodie Meeks have cost us countless wins and with Meeks, likely a championship. No one stays long enough for a team to build Kansas-like continuity, hence, the very reason they have overtaken us in wins and success during Self's tenure. Look at the makeup of championship teams and overall recent program success and you will see that there is a maturity level that Kentucky under Calipari will never match in any season. How can we truly compete with that? The numbers say that we cannot.
Injuries...seems like we not only have more than normal, we seem to sit out more than normal. Are we protecting careers? A look now and in the past reveals some weird stories. Do you trust our injury situation? I don't. I think our kids end up being soifter here because they are coddled and protected...careers are protected and we lose games as a result.
I could keep marching on here with other evidence why you shouldn't employ thios system, but I'm fatigued. Another outcome of this flawed system...fan fatigue and indifference, which lends itself to intense frustration and dislike. I don't have trust anymore in Cal like I once did. For a while, like many of you, we were all in 100%. No more. I'm about at my 1967 13-13 record breaking point. This is absolutely NOT anything close to the "gold standard" because Cal and his implied philosophy has let this program down and let it jump off the track...the winning track. The four- or five-year numbers are dismal. Lesser coaches would have been dismissed. The "Kentucky Good" standard of excellence is not being met.
Finally, why is a lifetime contract at Kentucky with a tremendous foundation of winning tradition for which any coach would crawl miles to get to Lexington...it leaves me dumbfounded and shaking my head why anyone would believe it'd be ever necessary to use that as an inducement for someone to be here. We would literally have 100 of the best coaches in America today who would line up to coach here. You'd never have to "entice" anyone to come or to stay. We hold the cards because of our winning tradition since 1930! Think of YOUR top ten coaches in America who might be on your list. One of those would surely end up here if WE wanted them here. Talk about picking and eating first! We'd have no trouble whatsoever getting a great coach, and as a result, you never have to resort to giving a lifetime contract. That was a misCALculation. For whatever reason, Cal is not as good as before, and it's likely due to his stubbornness, his ego, and I think, an animosity with UK fans who dare to question his veracity, authority, and basketball knowledge.
In the short term, let's hope the turn around, like it did with Ole Miss in 1998, starts this Tuesday night. I love these kids and hope they all stay. I unconditionally love EVERY kid on this team and all those before them because they came here to my school to wear the blue and white. Of that, there is no denial. But, we have to win games. That has to be over everything else. Winning cures and takes care of everything else.
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