Cal’s call-in show 1/8

[JonathanW]

Because Wager and Edwards were promised starting that’s why

Starting doesn't mean as much as minutes. When are some of you going to realize that?

Sheppard averages 2.1 MORE minutes per game than Edwards. The past 5 games it has been 7.6 more per game.
I guarantee you if you asked the players would you rather start and play 2-8 minutes less, or come off the bench and play 3-8 minutes more, most players would select the more minutes!

Now Wagner does play more (1.3) minutes than Sheppard. And I'm not saying Wagner is better than Sheppard, but he does offer something different, something that we need with his ability to get to the rim, especially at times when our offense is struggling, that seems to be when he takes it upon himself to get us a basket.
I'm not going to defend playing Edwards more than 15mpg other than it's to hopefully kickstart him into playing better. Right now his value is at best our 7th best player, maybe 8th.

 

[ORCAT]

I'm going to again be very clear, just because something has a race element to it doesn't mean it's racist. You are both putting words in my mouth and seem to forget that I said there's nothing wrong with what I said was happening. I again point to the recent situation with Tommy Devito being so popular for the Giants because he's a local Italian kid. The city of Baltimore rallying around a local black athlete isn't racist (which is a large reason Lamar Jackson is so popular). The state of Kentucky rallying around Reed because he's a white Kentucky kid isn't racist.

Rallying around someone who shares your background is fine.

Not buying your rationale at all. You base it totally on being a "white" kid from Kentucky. There have been black kids from Kentucky that people loved here at UK too, or have you forgotten all of them? Your theory may have played to a Kentucky base 60 years ago or so but not that way any more other than with a group of folks who might always show some racial favoritism. I'll give you those but most UK fan s don't give a care if a Kentucky kid is white or black, theyre going to be crazy about them. Sorry, not going along with your remarks.

 

[Kybluedude]

If I’m Reed I like where I’m at. It’s working. Team is winning and I’m relaxed entering the game with Rob in the first five. I’m playing well in this role. Finishing games and getting a lot of National and conference accolades.

 

[gharding07]

Cal is a dick. Some fail to realize this.

Hes definitely in swaggy Cal mode

 

[ukcatz12]

Not buying your rationale at all. You base it totally on being a "white" kid from Kentucky. There have been black kids from Kentucky that people loved here at UK too, or have you forgotten all of them? Your theory may have played to a Kentucky base 60 years ago or so but not that way any more other than with a group of folks who might always show some racial favoritism. I'll give you those but most UK fan s don't give a care if a Kentucky kid is white or black, theyre going to be crazy about them. Sorry, not going along with your remarks.

Believe whatever you want. There have been articles since he got to the league about how much Lamar Jackson means to the black community. He's a southern black guy who uses southern black slang and wears southern black culture on his sleeve. So the black community roots for him. That's not perfectly fine.

And with Reed it's the same way. You relate to someone with your background more, and there are millions of white Kentucky kids, Reed among them, who grew up pretending to hit the national title winning shot for UK. So when you see one of your own succeeding, and in Reed's cause succeeding more than most people thought, you throw your entire fandom behind them.

I've said in just about every comment in this thread there's nothing wrong with doing that. Not sure how much more clear I can be about that. But for the sake of this thread and to prevent things from getting to a place where the mods need to nuke the thread this will be the last I say about it.

 

[KAB Cats]

Believe whatever you want. There have been articles since he got to the league about how much Lamar Jackson means to the black community. He's a southern black guy who uses southern black slang and wears southern black culture on his sleeve. So the black community roots for him. That's not perfectly fine.

And with Reed it's the same way. You relate to someone with your background more, and there are millions of white Kentucky kids, Reed among them, who grew up pretending to hit the national title winning shot for UK. So when you see one of your own succeeding, and in Reed's cause succeeding more than most people thought, you throw your entire fandom behind them.

I've said in just about every comment in this thread there's nothing wrong with doing that. Not sure how much more clear I can be about that. But for the sake of this thread and to prevent things from getting to a place where the mods need to nuke the thread this will be the last I say about it.

If you relate to Reed more, that’s you. You shouldn’t make blanket statement about “white people” relating more to white people, especially when it comes to sports…because if Reed Sheppard sucked, he’d just be another kid from Kentucky.

Freaking white people did the John Wall dance.

Having said that, more empirically, you aren’t necessarily wrong that people of similar backgrounds can relate more. You can’t even make a blanket statement about that though if you care about accuracy. It’s a stereotype based argument

 

[bnewt]

Cal is a real asshole. And patronizing. Reed is a winner and Cal is damned lucky to have him on the team. He's earned a starting role, but is enough of a glue guy to not derail the season being selfish. (A trait too common with other players Cal has recruited.)

Do you all think Reed is a bench player anywhere but for Cal? I am doubtful about it, other than a few other squads.

Reed is a good spark off the bench with Dillingham. He probably would be starting every place else, but as long as he is in during the final minutes to shoot free throws.

 

[cats2010]

Starting doesn't mean as much as minutes. When are some of you going to realize that?

Sheppard averages 2.1 MORE minutes per game than Edwards. The past 5 games it has been 7.6 more per game.
I guarantee you if you asked the players would you rather start and play 2-8 minutes less, or come off the bench and play 3-8 minutes more, most players would select the more minutes!

Now Wagner does play more (1.3) minutes than Sheppard. And I'm not saying Wagner is better than Sheppard, but he does offer something different, something that we need with his ability to get to the rim, especially at times when our offense is struggling, that seems to be when he takes it upon himself to get us a basket.
I'm not going to defend playing Edwards more than 15mpg other than it's to hopefully kickstart him into playing better. Right now his value is at best our 7th best player, maybe 8th.

Shepard is playing 25 minutes per game, that will need to increase especially when we get to the meat of the SEC as we lobby to win the regular season and keep on a high seed for the NCAAT. Assuming his play doesn’t just drop off you simply need him in the game as much as he can go as he just makes things happen for us. Think we played the first 7 minutes of the 2nd half at Florida before cal subbed him in. That BS can’t happen. No reason for him to miss any 7 minute stretch unless foul trouble is involved.

 

[ukcatz12]

Think we played the first 7 minutes of the 2nd half at Florida before cal subbed him in

The same 2nd half we started on a 14-4 run?

 

[gharding07]

The same 2nd half we started on a 14-4 run?

Beat me to it lol.

 

[UKBB4Ever]

I love how Cal didn't wish the kid a happy birthday after he questioned his coaching decision, and then went right into talking down to the kid the same way he does the media.

Hilarious!

I hope that kid ends up posting here.

He probably does post here.

 

[yoshukai]

Let’s not forget, we played like garbage and lost to Wilmington the one time Reed started.

As far as the race thing goes, I live in SE Kentucky and him being a white kid is important to some of the much older fans. But it’s the fact that he’s from Kentucky that makes everyone love him so much. Our fans were willing to burn the program down for Dante Allen and be sucked. But he was a local kid.

That was a whole lot less about Reed starting and a whole lot more about Wagner being out, imo. Personally, I don’t think it’s a big deal .

 

[king of cali]

The same 2nd half we started on a 14-4 run?

Naaa, couldn’t be that…just more BS from Calipari lol.

 

[yoshukai]

If I’m Reed I like where I’m at. It’s working. Team is winning and I’m relaxed entering the game with Rob in the first five. I’m playing well in this role. Finishing games and getting a lot of National and conference accolades.

Trust me , Reed couldn’t be happier with the way things have gone .

 

[docholiday51]

If you think there would still be the same fervor over Reed starting if he wasn't a white kid from Kentucky you're kidding yourself. I'm not saying it's a bad thing, but the fanbase absolutely would not care about this as much if he were a black kid from NJ.

You are dead wrong about this. If Sheppard was from outer Mongolia and playing like he is playing UK fans would want him on the court. The poster who referenced Theiro and Juzang is correct. The operative words here are UK fans.

Sheppard and Dillingham give us a nice lift off the bench, we all get that. We get the Cal horseshit too and UK fans don't like it

 

[kb22stang]

Normally I would side with the 'take a joke' stance. But this kinda thing comes too easily for Cal. I'm not necessarily a 'fiaaaarrr Cal' kinda guy, but he's made enough comments to/about the fans to make believe there is some genuine level of ....something, call it superiority or disdain towards the slack jawed holler bennies. I promise you that Cal likes Little House of the Prairie more than us.

As he should, have you seen the comments this fan base makes?

 

[cats2010]

The same 2nd half we started on a 14-4 run?

how many great runs has shep been a part of only to come out of the game? Missing the point with your response. Will be other times an 8 point halftime deficit is 12-14 before cal decides to play him in the 2nd half. Heck he didn’t have him in the final 3:00 for several possessions on Saturday. Simply no reason to keep your best statistical player on the bench for very long but cal will.

 

[jace2012]

Cal is a master agitator and a lot of our fans are easy pickins

I hope the next coach is just as arrogant as Calipari. You can’t let fans determine rotations and starting lineups, that would be nonsense.

 

[Rockfly78]

That was a whole lot less about Reed starting and a whole lot more about Wagner being out, imo. Personally, I don’t think it’s a big deal .

We missed DJ. That was at a time though when a lot of people didn’t like DJ and called for his benching in favor of Reed

 

[jrpross]

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First of all, the Richie joke was funny. Don’t be a bunch of Nancies. Second of all, his reasoning was sound. The rotation is working right now, he likes Reed and Rob coming in, and Reed doesn’t need to start to be seen by the scouts.

I can see the other side of the argument too, but my god some of you people need to lighten up.

 

[Rockfly78]

Good point about Dontaie. I think Jeff is a factor with older fans too. I don’t think Reed starting or Wagner being out had anything to do with the uncw loss though.

I don’t blame that loss on Reed either. But it is data relative to the argument. We lost because we are young and they struggled to fight their way out of a bad night. I think we probably win if DJ plays though. Reeves fouled out and everything. It was a cluster

 

[Mike-McD]

The fact that he compared the fan desire to see Reed Sheppard start to the same faction of the fan base that moronically wanted more minutes from Richie Farmer shows how deeply patronizing Cal can actually be.

Let's see, Cal, we must want Reed to start because he's white and from Kentucky, just like Richie? It couldn't possibly be because he's our best NBA prospect at this point in the season and our team's best player so far this season?

Cal just said he doesn't insult the fans. that's how I know you're wrong. Cuz Cal said so.

 

[Mike-McD]

there are millions of white Kentucky kids, Reed among them, who grew up pretending to hit the national title winning shot for UK. So when you see one of your own succeeding,

You just generalized millions of white Kentucky kids. Congrats, race baiter.

 

[Mike-McD]

The same 2nd half we started on a 14-4 run?

It's funny because this is literally the very first time all season that you've been able to point to a good run that happened without Reed on the floor. Any time it happened with him on the floor you just made cricket sounds. Convenient exception that proves the rule on your part.

 

[yoshukai]

We missed DJ. That was at a time though when a lot of people didn’t like DJ and called for his benching in favor of Reed

Not me though. I believe we win if DJ plays . No matter who starts.

 

[bbncal02]

I hope he gets better, but it’s a little concerning that he is still out when they have been labeling it as day-day for 2 weeks now

Back injuries are not an exact science either. You can feel great one day, they sleep on it slightly wrong and feel like you been shot.

 

[bbncal02]

Cal is a real asshole. And patronizing. Reed is a winner and Cal is damned lucky to have him on the team. He's earned a starting role, but is enough of a glue guy to not derail the season being selfish. (A trait too common with other players Cal has recruited.)

Do you all think Reed is a bench player anywhere but for Cal? I am doubtful about it, other than a few other squads.

Reed has said he’s fine coming of the bench. He’s a team player and doesn’t care. Fans shouldn’t care either.

 

[BlueWorldOrder74]

rotation is good the way it is. Reed and LY coming off the bench is a killer.

 

[Cal-4-Three]

Hey look another thread hijacked into a who's starting and who's coming off the bench on a 11-2 team LOL

 

[Cowtown Cat]

If you think there would still be the same fervor over Reed starting if he wasn't a white kid from Kentucky you're kidding yourself. I'm not saying it's a bad thing, but the fanbase absolutely would not care about this as much if he were a black kid from NJ.

Lmfao so back to the same bullshit narrative y’all concocted the first time around, huh! You know, “y’all only want Reed because he’s a white kid from Kentucky!” Now it’s morphed into, “y’all
only want Reed to start because he’s a white kid from Kentucky!” Both hilarious and predictable! 🙄

 

[UKNothinButNet]

Hes definitely in swaggy Cal mode

More like swaggy dick mode.

 

[Cowtown Cat]

Let’s not forget, we played like garbage and lost to Wilmington the one time Reed started.

As far as the race thing goes, I live in SE Kentucky and him being a white kid is important to some of the much older fans. But it’s the fact that he’s from Kentucky that makes everyone love him so much. Our fans were willing to burn the program down for Dante Allen and be sucked. But he was a local kid.

What was Reed’s stat line in that game again? This argument holds zero water.

 

[Son_Of_Saul]

It's amazing how brainwashed some of you are.

The same crew that have praised Cal for not showing favoritism and for only playing guys who "earn it", are now making concessions for Cal playing a guy - Edwards - who has no business starting.

I get that Edwards is a guy who Cal doesn't want to split his ego wide open by benching him, but I thought this program was about promoting "I cant hide you" and "this isn't for everyone" - mantras that point to guys earning their time and, to use Cal's own metaphor, "Getting on the train because the train's moving."

If Edwards remains in his hibernation mode for another two weeks, it's time to bench him in favor of a three guard lineup. At present, he can't even finish in transition. His time as a starter should be on the clock.

And it's bigger than rotation styles at this point, people. There is a principle at stake here. Stop rewarding guys who don't earn it, especially when they've had two months to prove themselves. Maybe a dose of humility would go a long way in getting the most out of Justin Edwards. It would probably be the first time in his life that he came off the bench. Let's see what he's made of.

 

[Son_Of_Saul]

Let’s not forget, we played like garbage and lost to Wilmington the one time Reed started.

As far as the race thing goes, I live in SE Kentucky and him being a white kid is important to some of the much older fans. But it’s the fact that he’s from Kentucky that makes everyone love him so much. Our fans were willing to burn the program down for Dante Allen and be sucked. But he was a local kid.

You mean that game where Dillingham and Edwards collectively shot 5-23 from the field? The game where those two combined for 6 turnovers and looked horrible?

The one where Reed shot 9/17 from the field, 3/6 from three, 4/4 from the line, scored 25 points, grabbed 9 rebounds, had 6 assists, and two steals?

You're right. We shouldn't forget that game. It clearly showed us Reed is more than capable of being our best player when he plays heavy minutes.

 

[Cowtown Cat]

It's amazing how brainwashed some of you are.

The same crew that have praised Cal for not showing favoritism and for only playing guys who "earn it", are now making concessions for Cal playing a guy - Edwards - who has no business starting.

I get that Edwards is a guy who Cal doesn't want to split his ego wide open by benching him, but I thought this program was about promoting "I cant hide you" and "this isn't for everyone" - mantras that point to guys earning their time and, to use Cal's own metaphor, "Getting on the train because the train's moving."

If Edwards remains in his hibernation mode for another two weeks, it's time to bench him in favor of a three guard lineup. At present, he can't even finish in transition. His time as a starter should be on the clock.

And it's bigger than rotation styles at this point, people. There is a principle at stake here. Stop rewarding guys who don't earn it, especially when they've had two months to prove themselves. Maybe a dose of humility would go a long way in getting the most out of Justin Edwards. It would probably be the first time in his life that he came off the bench. Let's see what he's made of.

Damn right! All of it!

 

[Cowtown Cat]

You mean that game where Dillingham and Edwards collectively shot 5-23 from the field? The game where those two combined for 6 turnovers and looked horrible?

The one where Reed shot 9/17 from the field, 3/6 from three, 4/4 from the line, scored 25 points, grabbed 9 rebounds, had 6 assists, and two steals?

You're right. We shouldn't forget that game. It clearly showed us Reed is more than capable of being our best player when he plays heavy minutes.

Thank you for researching his stats! I rest my case.

 

[Mike-McD]

It's amazing how brainwashed some of you are.

The same crew that have praised Cal for not showing favoritism and for only playing guys who "earn it", are now making concessions for Cal playing a guy - Edwards - who has no business starting.

I get that Edwards is a guy who Cal doesn't want to split his ego wide open by benching him, but I thought this program was about promoting "I cant hide you" and "this isn't for everyone" - mantras that point to guys earning their time and, to use Cal's own metaphor, "Getting on the train because the train's moving."

If Edwards remains in his hibernation mode for another two weeks, it's time to bench him in favor of a three guard lineup. At present, he can't even finish in transition. His time as a starter should be on the clock.

And it's bigger than rotation styles at this point, people. There is a principle at stake here. Stop rewarding guys who don't earn it, especially when they've had two months to prove themselves. Maybe a dose of humility would go a long way in getting the most out of Justin Edwards. It would probably be the first time in his life that he came off the bench. Let's see what he's made of.

What will Cal do when we lose a game? Will he stubbornly say "I like my rotation" or will he make "adjustments" like his bois like to brag about? All his tongue-bathers preach "iT's WoRkInG!" so what will they say when we get in too deep a hole to start a game?

 

[Lempface]

Cal has done so much for the state outside of basketball. Kentucky fans as a whole are some of the most knowledgeable and fervent fans in all of sport. They also feel compelled to let Cal know, constantly, what changes they would make. As a hall of famer, championship winning, coach with tons of wins and a long career, it has to be absolutely draining having to hear it over and over.

If any of you think interacting with Cal through any medium and giving him advice is legitimately going to spark a lightbulb for him and get him to implement your idea, you’re laughably out of touch.

He is a bit abrasive because of the above, in my opinion anyway. But he’s never cruel about it, he either brushes it off, calls you a basketball Bennie, or makes a joke like above. And so many of you are so thin skinned you can’t handle it.

As someone who would never try to offer up unsolicited advice to a HoF coach, I find it pretty funny.

 

[HoneyMoon155]

It's funny because this is literally the very first time all season that you've been able to point to a good run that happened without Reed on the floor. Any time it happened with him on the floor you just made cricket sounds. Convenient exception that proves the rule on your part.

Probably because no one was complaining about who was on the floor during said runs like some fans do when reed isn’t

 

[Son_Of_Saul]

What will Cal do when we lose a game? Will he stubbornly say "I like my rotation" or will he make "adjustments" like his bois like to brag about? All his tongue-bathers preach "iT's WoRkInG!" so what will they say when we get in too deep a hole to start a game?

I'd prefer that Justin Edwards deal with his demons in mid-January as opposed to March or April when we're in a close tournament game and he decides to make a few "I've got skills" plays that kill the team's in the last four minutes of a season-ending tourney game.

Cal should absolutely split the oak tree of Edwards' soul wide open over the next two to four weeks. Push him and make him confront his ego. Challenge him and push him to the edge of his soul's highest mountains and lowest valley. Let his feet dangle over the cliffside for a few games, and let the roaring wind of real, uncensored competition toy with his fragility.

Then let him see that he could survive it all, and let him taste that. When it's done, rebuild him and affirm him.

But whatever Cal does, he should absolutely resist the urge to keep holding this kid's hand for the long term. Edwards knows what it takes to scale the mountain now. Let him try it for a spell on his own. He has all the tools. Give him a window to remain a starter. Two weeks. He needs to earn it.

"Show us what you're made of, Justin" should be Cal's mantra going forward.