Anyone that thinks Cal has it easy

[kyjeff1]

Because he gets superior athletes needs to watch the game UK just played. Cal doesn't just roll the balls out. He has his work cut out for him this year. Skal is so far from being ready to play at this level, he's not tough enough and is as lost as as a guy can be when he's out there.
Briscoe is out of control and forces too many things.
Murray has skills but he needs some serious guidance.
This is why there are only 2 or 3 coaches that are willing to do what Cal does. It's hard. Harder than keeping guys through their senior year. I was glad we had a couple veterans on the court tonight. If we didn't have those guys who knows what would have happened.
But this is what's going to happen, Cal is going to mold Skal, Briscoe and Murray into bigtime players but all the skeptics are going to say they were pros before they came to UK. Bullcrap, these guys are not pros right now but just like every other year Cal will develop these guys faster than any other coach can.
If he gets Skal to lottery pick status it will be his best coaching job to date.

 

[buckkiller]

I agree with everythi g you say. Cal will get them there he all ways does.

 

[MegaBlue05]

Some of our fans don't understand that our November team is not our March team. By mid-February we will know exactly what kind of team we've got.

Cal does a great job taking these guys from being blue-chip recruits to NBA-ready prospects in 1-2 years.

 

[Willy4UK]

Noel had a killer drive. Davis had a killer drive. Cousins had a killer drive. Even Harrelson with his limitations had a killer drive. Towns had a killer drive.

Skal so far is a nice guy. I think he will improve, but his biggest challenge is himself.

 

[KWilt43atbuzz]

Agreed. Plus Poy is still healing and possibly the best player in America is hurt and didnt play for the Cats tonight.

My goodness we are loaded.

 

[ulismyman]

Very good take OP

 

[kyjeff1]

Noel had a killer drive. Davis had a killer drive. Cousins had a killer drive. Even Harrelson with his limitations had a killer drive. Towns had a killer drive.

Skal so far is a nice guy. I think he will improve, but his biggest challenge is himself.

Good assessment. I agree, Skal is the one that needs to put the effort in so Cal CAN help him.
I would feel better if Skal fouled out early, then we could say he tried hard he just doesn't get it yet but he only picked up a couple of fouls.

 

[DodgerDukie1985]

You guys are starting to see how Duke and Krzyzewski had it for years. Granted he wasn't getting multiple one and dones like Cal, but he was getting multiple 5 star McDonald's All-Americans to where some thought all he had to really do was not mess it up and all the talent would just gel. Doesn't always work that way. If it did, athletic departments wouldn't need to pay coaches millions of dollars. It's far more often a process than it is something that comes together right away like it did last season for both programs.

 

[kyjeff1]

You guys are starting to see how Duke and Krzyzewski had it for years. Granted he wasn't getting multiple one and dones like Cal, but he was getting multiple 5 star McDonald's All-Americans to where some thought all he had to really do was not mess it up and all the talent would just gel. Doesn't always work that way. If it did, athletic departments wouldn't need to pay coaches millions of dollars. It's far more often a process than it is something that comes together right away like it did last season for both programs.

Mike K doesn't get ripped like Cal does. Everyone looked at the one and done like it was killing cbb until K started doing it. Now it's great.
I don't recall Coach K getting criticized the way Cal does.

 

[KWilt43atbuzz]

Dodger Duke,
Whats funny is no one has got within more than 11 points of this "work in progress" including Duke thru 7 gms.
Kinda scary isnt it?

 

[DodgerDukie1985]

Mike K doesn't get ripped like Cal does. Everyone looked at the one and done like it was killing cbb until K started foing it. Now it's great. I don't recall Coach K getting criticized the way Cal does.

I was referring to the times before Krzyzewski started seriously dipping into the one and dones. Prior to the 2010s, the only one and dones he had were Corey Maggette (1998-1999) and Luol Deng (2003-2004). Even without those type of players for the most part, he was still getting multiple five star burger boys. Just making the point that getting these multiple five star talents (one and done or not) doesn't always mean Cal or K have to just get out of the way and the rest will take care of itself.

And I don't agree with Cal being ripped for recruiting one and dones and getting ripped for it while Krzyzewski gets praised for it. Gotta lean one way or another for both guys. If people don't like the rule, they should rip the rule and not Cal.

 

[DodgerDukie1985]

Dodger Duke,
Whats funny is no one has got within more than 11 points of this "work in progress" including Duke thru 7 gms.
Kinda scary isnt it?

Well I would hope not. Other than Duke, Kentucky's best opponent has been Albany. They should be one of the top two teams in the America East with Stony Brook. Although NJIT should be an upper tier Atlantic Sun team. Same with Illinois State being upper division in the Missouri Valley. Still, UK should be able to beat those teams on sheer talent alone. Especially at Rupp. That's not taking anything away from Kentucky. They're a great team, will only get better and be right there competing for another Final Four and national title at the end of the year.

And a lot of your UK fans would back me up on that. I came on right after the Duke game and created a thread congratulating UK on kicking Duke's butts that night.

 

[Aike]

Cal may not have it easy but he has it good.

And Skal could sit out the rest of the season and be a lottery pick. Yes, he has a lot of work to do, but his skill set makes scouts drool.

The test won't be whether Cal can get him in the lottery, but whether he can get him past Ben Simmons. Barring injury, Skal won't slip far.

 

[Son_Of_Saul]

Some of our fans don't understand that our November team is not our March team. By mid-February we will know exactly what kind of team we've got.

Cal does a great job taking these guys from being blue-chip recruits to NBA-ready prospects in 1-2 years.

Might even take longer than mid-February, but that's okay too. The '14 team didn't click until early to mid-March.



Cal's teams have been to 80% of the Elite Eights over the last decade and 90% of the Sweet Sixteens over that span. I feel good about this team's chances of coming together when it matters most.

 

[kyjeff1]

I was referring to the times before Krzyzewski started seriously dipping into the one and dones. Prior to the 2010s, the only one and dones he had were Corey Maggette (1998-1999) and Luol Deng (2003-2004). Even without those type of players for the most part, he was still getting multiple five star burger boys. Just making the point that getting these multiple five star talents (one and done or not) doesn't always mean Cal or K have to just get out of the way and the rest will take care of itself.

And I don't agree with Cal being ripped for recruiting one and dones and getting ripped for it while Krzyzewski gets praised for it. Gotta lean one way or another for both guys. If people don't like the rule, they should rip the rule and not Cal.

You should see what it's like from a UK fans perspective. I try very hard to not be biased and to see why things happen the way they do before I jump to conclusions but the whole one and done perception has been a hilarious chain of events.
Cal was nothing but criticized until K started doing it. Now the media and analysts don't really say anything about it but rival fans across the country all still take shots at Cal for running an NBA farm system. But Coach K is great, Cal is the only one ruining cbb.

 

[Willy4UK]

Good assessment. I agree, Skal is the one that needs to put the effort in so Cal CAN help him.
I would feel better if Skal fouled out early, then we could say he tried hard he just doesn't get it yet but he only picked up a couple of fouls.

Yep. Skal's deal is mental.

 

[Bkocats]

Noel had a killer drive. Davis had a killer drive. Cousins had a killer drive. Even Harrelson with his limitations had a killer drive. Towns had a killer drive.

Skal so far is a nice guy. I think he will improve, but his biggest challenge is himself.

yep - and you really can't fault him being a NICE guy; but that won't help him in this game. He'll be really good - but he has to overcome himself, as you said

 

[Willy4UK]

yep - and you really can't fault him being a NICE guy; but that won't help him in this game. He'll be really good - but he has to overcome himself, as you said

Well, I feel bad for him. There are times he screams after his dunks, but I feel that he is doing it to pump up the image that he needs to be. Skal will be a legit 15 ppg scorer in the NBA for sure. His offense is too good not to. But, on NBA defense he will have to push through. He definitely has self guidance to do it.

 

[Bkocats]

Well, I feel bad for him. There are times he screams after his dunks, but I feel that he is doing it to pump up the image that he needs to be. Skal will be a legit 15 ppg scorer in the NBA for sure. His offense is too good not to. But, on NBA defense he will have to push through. He definitely has self guidance to do it.

in the NBA he'll need to be paired with a defensive stopper - at least at first.

 

[Willy4UK]

in the NBA he'll need to be paired with a defensive stopper - at least at first.

Bingo. Remove Jokafer, and implant Skal and the 76'ers win at least 1 game.

 

[DodgerDukie1985]

but rival fans across the country all still take shots at Cal for running an NBA farm system. But Coach K is great, Cal is the only one ruining cbb.

I won't be naive enough to think Krzyzewski is completely clean (he isn't), but another reason Cal gets hated on by a lot of folks is for his pre-Kentucky history when he coached teams at UMass and Memphis where two Final Fours were vacated. Even though he wasn't implicated in the Marcus Camby stuff and I don't think he could have had any knowledge about Derrick Rose and his SAT, he does have the dirty stigma/reputation that's not going to get him the benefit of the doubt from rival fans (fair or not).

 

[AnarchoNeoLuddite]

Hell yeahdook and k had jrs and srs leading them to about every title,not even close to Cal.

 

[KopiKat]

I won't be naive enough to think Krzyzewski is completely clean (he isn't), but another reason Cal gets hated on by a lot of folks is for his pre-Kentucky history when he coached teams at UMass and Memphis where two Final Fours were vacated. Even though he wasn't implicated in the Marcus Camby stuff and I don't think he could have had any knowledge about Derrick Rose and his SAT, he does have the dirty stigma/reputation that's not going to get him the benefit of the doubt from rival fans (fair or not).

uh-huh . . . and if a Lance Thomas situation had happened under Cal it would NEVER have managed to just thin away into negligible circumstance. It would have been haunting suspicion to follow him around for the remainder of his days, and very likely would have cost him yet another final four (or in your case the 2010 national championship), regardless of the fact that it would have been yet another condition under which he had no control, yet it happened. THAT is the difference.

 

[StubbornPenny]

Wasn't Elton Brand a one and done? Just off the top of my head. Can't even remember what year he played, and I'm afraid if I do, I'll realize that I'm really old.

EDIT: He played two seasons at Duke, 1997-1999

 

[pikespeak1]

I won't be naive enough to think Krzyzewski is completely clean (he isn't), but another reason Cal gets hated on by a lot of folks is for his pre-Kentucky history when he coached teams at UMass and Memphis where two Final Fours were vacated. Even though he wasn't implicated in the Marcus Camby stuff and I don't think he could have had any knowledge about Derrick Rose and his SAT, he does have the dirty stigma/reputation that's not going to get him the benefit of the doubt from rival fans (fair or not).

I agree but why does K get the benefit of the doubt?