As of right now, I have changed my mind.

[megablue]

I thought we'd be better, but we are not as good as last year.
I think we MIGHT be about the same, but that seems a stretch now.
I thought our defense would be better, but now I'm not so sure.
This season is ALL going to boil down to shooting the basketball.
If we shoot well in March, especially free throws, we can make some noise.

 

[Dontworryboutit23]

The team at best is equal to last year, the roster isn’t better, and players who should be role players are having to play major minutes on top of having a bad coach. This is a round of 32 team, who can maybe make a sweet 16 if they get lucky

 

[Gromcat]

Cult.

 

[CUJO_1970]

We will all probably have to put up with this shyt for 2 more years.

Incomming class is absolutely meaningless other than for Cal to put a couple more dudes in the NBA and sit in the Green Room ending generational poverty or whatever. He will ruin that team as well. Disgusting.

 

[megablue]

We will all probably have to put up with this shyt for 2 more years.

Incomming class is absolutely meaningless other than for Cal to put a couple more dudes in the NBA and sit in the Green Room ending generational poverty or whatever. He will ruin that team as well. Disgusting.

As good as we all hope they will be, it is hard (if not impossible) to win the NCAA with a predominance of Freshmen. We will still need some experience in the mix, some how, some way.

Kentucky vs. West Virginia (March 27, 2010)

Kentucky vs. Connecticut (April 2, 2011)

Kentucky vs. Kansas (April 2, 2012)

Kentucky vs. Connecticut (April 7, 2014)

Kentucky vs. Wisconsin (April 4, 2015)

Kentucky vs. Indiana (March 19, 2016)

Kentucky vs. North Carolina (March 26, 2017)

Kentucky vs. Kansas State (March 22, 2018)

Kentucky vs. Auburn (March 31, 2019)

Kentucky vs. Saint Peters (March 17, 2022)

 

[Jsngabbard]

There is one common denominator in all this that will detour this program from further post season success…

 

[UKBB4Ever]

We should be better than last year but who knows. Last year we were Oscar and Tyty. This year we are Oscar and Wallace.

Last year the only guy that could guard was Tyty. This year the only guy that can guard is Wallace.

Is Toppin better than Brooks? Already answered, no.

Is Livingston better than Toppin? It would seem yes.

Are Frederick and Reeves better than Grady/Mintz? It would seem yes.

Collins is the same guy. Wheeler is the same guy. Ware is the same guy.

Wallace seems to be a better player than Tyty.

Onyenso has a lot of promise.

Theiro has a lot of promise.

Overall this roster looks better on paper than last year's roster.

It's still a mismatched team just like last year. No defense. No identity. Can't use the "young" excuse with this team.

 

[SaltyCat22]

We should be better than last year but who knows. Last year we were Oscar and Tyty. This year we are Oscar and Wallace.

Last year the only guy that could guard was Tyty. This year the only guy that can guard is Wallace.

Is Toppin better than Brooks? Already answered, no.

Is Livingston better than Toppin? It would seem yes.

Are Frederick and Reeves better than Grady/Mintz? It would seem yes.

Collins is the same guy. Wheeler is the same guy. Ware is the same guy.

Wallace seems to be a better player than Tyty.

Onyenso has a lot of promise.

Theiro has a lot of promise.

Overall this roster looks better on paper than last year's roster.

It's still a mismatched team just like last year. No defense. No identity. Can't use the "young" excuse with this team.

Livingston is a better brick layer than Toppin.

No one can be any worse than Brooks. Rest agreed.

 

[true blue1]

With all the experience back anyone would’ve thought they might be better this year but that’s not the case.

 

[blackcat714]

We should be better than last year but who knows. Last year we were Oscar and Tyty. This year we are Oscar and Wallace.

Last year the only guy that could guard was Tyty. This year the only guy that can guard is Wallace.

Is Toppin better than Brooks? Already answered, no.

Is Livingston better than Toppin? It would seem yes.

Are Frederick and Reeves better than Grady/Mintz? It would seem yes.

Collins is the same guy. Wheeler is the same guy. Ware is the same guy.

Wallace seems to be a better player than Tyty.

Onyenso has a lot of promise.

Theiro has a lot of promise.

Overall this roster looks better on paper than last year's roster.

It's still a mismatched team just like last year. No defense. No identity. Can't use the "young" excuse with this team.

Guess we have to use the we are not very good excuse might be the reason they still here.

 

[OHIO COLONEL]

I wonder if Mike Pratt would still be here if Cal didn’t go 9-16 and lose to a 15-seed. You could just hear the pain and sadness in his voice the past two seasons. Can’t believe Cal has allowed this to happen, it is quite sickening.

95% (or more) of the 'pain and sadness in his voice the last two years' was all about Mike's health issues.

 

[bookerfan66]

I would be curious to see how this team would be under a different coach.

 

[Creed Bratton]

Our issue is the same as last year...our team defense is pathetic. The only place we took a significant jump in individual defense was with Wallace. Other than that it's the same players who haven't improved or with guys who aren't any better defensively than the ones they replaced. If you can't stop teams that is a recipe for another early exit.

 

[calismyhero]

I would be curious to see how this team would be under a different coach.

I believe Scott Davenport would get more out of this group. Not a guy out there that knows basketball any more than him. Never happen but he’s the one I’d choose right now just to fix a broken team

 

[BigRedMachineBigBlueNation]

Cult.

💯

 

[yoshukai]

I believe Scott Davenport would get more out of this group. Not a guy out there that knows basketball any more than him. Never happen but he’s the one I’d choose right now just to fix a broken team

Oh hell yeah . There are dozens of coaches that could. Of course all these guys may not be here with Calipari and his staff . But we’re Kentucky so I believe we could still recruit pretty good . Even a coach like tubby that wouldn’t put much effort into recruiting was getting better results than Cal.

 

[UKBB4Ever]

Livingston is a better brick layer than Toppin.

No one can be any worse than Brooks. Rest agreed.

I'm no fan of Brooks. I'm glad he's gone. But it turns out the reason he played over Toppin is because he is better than Toppin. That's not high praise. I thought Cal should have just played Hopkins over both of them last year and see how he developed.

 

[MidseasonTweak]

We aren't a championship team. That's for certain. Perhaps Cal's mega class of non-shooters next year will somehow work finally.

 

[Catzman]

I'm beyond pissed about the losses. Truly. But I think this teams CEILING is higher than last year's but I do feel like we're behind where we should be by now. We notoriously start super sloppy and are a well oiled machine going into March, MOST years (not all). Whereas teams like MSU are usually great early on then fizzle out by the end of the year because their ceilings are low and they're already there. But this year we seem to be even farther behind. I'm banking on Wallace, Livingston and Ugonna growing over the year and I have no expectations from Topping outside of 10 and 6 a game. Oscar is Oscar. Reeves and Fredrick are the disappointments thus far in my opinion.

 

[docholiday51]

I think the jury is still out on this issue. Cal has to figure out who to put on the floor and he has to be willing to do it

Oscar is probably better tan he was last season
Toppin is better
Ware, Collins and Wheeler are the same
Not popular but Livingston is not as good as Brooks yet
Grady and CJ are equal
Wallace is better than Washington
Reeves is a little better than Mintz

That leaves Ugo and Theiro as wild cards combined they are better than Allen but neither will see the floor enough to make a difference(not sure they should) but Thiero deserves a look.

Last year we had the first half of the season team and the last half of the season team (which were very different)

One can make equally good cases that this team should be better right now or that they have a chance to be better late in the year.

I think we are better with Toppin at the 4 and Reeves at the 3 with CJ and Wallace in the back court. Livingston 1st off the bench for Reeves or Toppin and Ware off for Oscar

 

[kennyskywalker34]

Same problem this season as last. They can't stop straight line drives.
Simple fix. Zone Defense. With a zone this team might be undeafted right now.
We all know Cal is never playing zone. So against good teams plan on several more losses.

 

[IL Wildcat]

I thought we'd be better, but we are not as good as last year.
I think we MIGHT be about the same, but that seems a stretch now.
I thought our defense would be better, but now I'm not so sure.
This season is ALL going to boil down to shooting the basketball.
If we shoot well in March, especially free throws, we can make some noise.

Yeah, we've shot well against bad teams but against the 2 good teams we've played, it's been awful. I don't get it myself. It makes no sense. I think at least part of it is mental. Maybe these guys are all emotionally fragile or something. No confidence. They looked beat when they took the floor vs Gonzaga. Nobody will be giving them a night off, though. Guaranteed.

 

[megablue]

Our issue is the same as last year...our team defense is pathetic. The only place we took a significant jump in individual defense was with Wallace. Other than that it's the same players who haven't improved or with guys who aren't any better defensively than the ones they replaced. If you can't stop teams that is a recipe for another early exit.

100^ this

 

[megablue]

Same problem this season as last. They can't stop straight line drives.
Simple fix. Zone Defense. With a zone this team might be undeafted right now.
We all know Cal is never playing zone. So against good teams plan on several more losses.

I do not disagree with what you are saying, but for conversational purposes, what teams play significant zone ?? What teams press a significant portion of the games ?? I do not see much of either, quite frankly.

 

[HagginHall1999]

Cult.

😡😡 Calt!!!!

 

[Disappointed Cat]

I thought we'd be better, but we are not as good as last year.
I think we MIGHT be about the same, but that seems a stretch now.
I thought our defense would be better, but now I'm not so sure.
This season is ALL going to boil down to shooting the basketball.
If we shoot well in March, especially free throws, we can make some noise.

Drinking too much of the blue Kool aid.....don't look for improvement until the elephant leaves the room. Also, the old wait till next year in not the answer either.

 

[megablue]

Drinking too much of the blue Kool aid.....don't look for improvement until the elephant leaves the room. Also, the old wait till next year in not the answer either.

No kool-aid, just watched the games against weaker teams and hoped for similar performance against better teams.

 

[Rideordiewildcat]

Our issue is the same as last year...our team defense is pathetic. The only place we took a significant jump in individual defense was with Wallace. Other than that it's the same players who haven't improved or with guys who aren't any better defensively than the ones they replaced. If you can't stop teams that is a recipe for another early exit.

I have just been amazed with the ease teams score at the rim against us.

 

[docholiday51]

Yeah, we've shot well against bad teams but against the 2 good teams we've played, it's been awful. I don't get it myself. It makes no sense. I think at least part of it is mental. Maybe these guys are all emotionally fragile or something. No confidence. They looked beat when they took the floor vs Gonzaga. Nobody will be giving them a night off, though. Guaranteed.

I agree, it also occurred to me today that I wonder how many uncontested shots the Zags got off last night? I thought about re-watching the game but just couldn't bring myself to do it. Seems to my they got a ton of them(running a good play or breakdown on our part) These shots came from all levels 3's, mid range and lay-ups

 

[CatPhight]

Cult.

Don't drink the Cal-aid...

 

[Fox2monk]

The team at best is equal to last year, the roster isn’t better, and players who should be role players are having to play major minutes on top of having a bad coach. This is a round of 32 team, who can maybe make a sweet 16 if they get lucky

I don’t even see the tourney right now, Oscar is forcing, the offense is in the toilet. I’m not sure this team beats enough quality opponents to get in at this rate.

 

[Fox2monk]

I have just been amazed with the ease teams score at the rim against us.

We have soft interior players and Oscar can’t go all out due to foul trouble. Cal should play Ugo as many minutes as he can take right now for the future.

 

[chroix]

We suck. We look great against weak competition but absolutely lost when we face decent schools. St Peter’s wasn’t a fluke. We are fundamentally unsound and will continue to lose if something isn’t changed. I’ll never say another man should lose his job but something has to change. The team is regressing and that is squarely on the coaching staff to fix.

 

[JohnnyGreen1975]

I thought we'd be better, but we are not as good as last year.
I think we MIGHT be about the same, but that seems a stretch now.
I thought our defense would be better, but now I'm not so sure.
This season is ALL going to boil down to shooting the basketball.
If we shoot well in March, especially free throws, we can make some noise.

Agree. Some so called fans on our board want to throw in the towel. I still think if we can get the PG cleaned up then we are a FF favorite.

 

[megablue]

Agree. Some so called fans on our board want to throw in the towel. I still think if we can get the PG cleaned up then we are a FF favorite.

I do not see us ever being a FF favorite, but think we can make a run, but ONLY if we shoot well when it matters. That is the only way to overcome the defense and rebounding deficiencies we have.

 

[Dontworryboutit23]

I don’t even see the tourney right now, Oscar is forcing, the offense is in the toilet. I’m not sure this team beats enough quality opponents to get in at this rate.

I’m not that far yet, I can atleast see them making the tournament and winning a game

 

[BlueThunderstruck]

Agree. Some so called fans on our board want to throw in the towel. I still think if we can get the PG cleaned up then we are a FF favorite.

How can you say we’re a Final Four “favorite” based on what we’ve seen so far? Could we improve greatly throughout the season and make the Final Four? Yes, but favorite? No way.

 

[Dontworryboutit23]

Agree. Some so called fans on our board want to throw in the towel. I still think if we can get the PG cleaned up then we are a FF favorite.

Go home your drunk if you think this team is anywhere close to making a final four this year

 

[the nail at the foul line]

For 5 years I thought I was wrong because we disagreed, now I am vindicated.

 

[Jmeeks54thebest]

I’m not convinced that the roster is problem. The roster was ranked #4 in the country. Sure, guys definitely have to execute but they also need to coach to prepare them for games.

He doesn’t have a John Wall or AD. He does Oscar. And he is awesome. But the rest of the pieces aren’t #1-5 pick caliber players. But most of them are still top tier college players. I’m sure another coach could do more with it.