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Cal its unreal

My
He's never been a good coach. He has done less with more .. more than anyone I seen. Look how many players are in the nba. Imagine giving a coach like pope those players he would have had 3 4 titles. He literally thinks just throw the talent out there and we will win. He did it one year with a.d. it's unreal
Unbelievable we win a huge game today and you make a post about this clown .
 
I do not agree that he was never a good coach. That is silly talk.

1. Part of coaching is recruiting. He is probably the 1/2 best recruiter of all time.

2. He used to be a really good coach. He went toe to toe with several of Pitinos teams in the '90's and beat them....he didn't have ridiculous talent then.

3. He's taken 3 different schools to a FF

4. Just because you can recruit great players, it doesn't mean it is easy to make them play as a team.

Cal was never great at the end of the game; I'll agree there. He also became far too stubborn and showed no willingness to change. He lost the fast ball he had.

Just an objective take.
Lifetime contract made him lazy and fat. He was once a good but never great in game coach. After the big contract he completely shut it down.
 
I just can’t look at what he did at Umass and say he was never a great coach. He had two guys there and a bunch of nobodies. He got Camby and I think maybe Donta Bright was the other highly rated guy. He took arguably the greatest team in the modern era to the wire with a starting backcourt of Carmelo Traviosa and Edgar Padilla.

At one point he was a great coach.


I think he’s still a decent coach. Much like tubby, he just wasn’t good enough to stay here anymore. It’s so frustrating because the way he started here I thought we were going to be dominant for a long time.
His only final four appearances that count were with UK. He cheated to get his first two so there's that.
 
He's never been a good coach. He has done less with more .. more than anyone I seen. Look how many players are in the nba. Imagine giving a coach like pope those players he would have had 3 4 titles. He literally thinks just throw the talent out there and we will win. He did it one year with a.d. it's unreal

Pope can't get those players. It's a moot point.
 
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Never really got the "he should win X number of titles"

1) This is a one and done tournament. The best team is typically given odds in the 30%.

2) What years were we even considered the best team? 2012 when we won and 2015. That's it.

I always thought 1 was the likely outcome in that era.
It’s not who’s the best team overall but the best team that gets to the final four. Cal choked twice against UConn. Certainly 2015 was the best team overall and in the final four.
 
It’s not who’s the best team overall but the best team that gets to the final four. Cal choked twice against UConn. Certainly 2015 was the best team overall and in the final four.

Were we really better than Uconn tho? Maybe maybe not.

It wasn't like we had stellar years in 11 and 14.

According to KP, we were 7th and they were 10th in 2011. In 2014 we were 13th and they were 15th.

There really wasn't a gap between those two teams.

In 2015 we obviously were the best but I think people didn't realize how small that gap was. ND almost knocked us off before the final four and Wisconsin did. Both ND and Wisconsin had incredible offenses that season. It wasn't as if we we had a massive gap there.
 
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I just can’t look at what he did at Umass and say he was never a great coach. He had two guys there and a bunch of nobodies. He got Camby and I think maybe Donta Bright was the other highly rated guy. He took arguably the greatest team in the modern era to the wire with a starting backcourt of Carmelo Traviosa and Edgar Padilla.

At one point he was a great coach.


I think he’s still a decent coach. Much like tubby, he just wasn’t good enough to stay here anymore. It’s so frustrating because the way he started here I thought we were going to be dominant for a long time.
Basketball changed and his style was obsolete and he wouldn’t hire a proper staff to change it or his style. Then Robic having his issues really hurt him. He was the brains on game prep and adjustments and it showed greatly after he could not be in the program anymore. Cal was determined to show he could still win his way and it didn’t work.
 
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I do not agree that he was never a good coach. That is silly talk.

1. Part of coaching is recruiting. He is probably the 1/2 best recruiter of all time.

2. He used to be a really good coach. He went toe to toe with several of Pitinos teams in the '90's and beat them....he didn't have ridiculous talent then.

3. He's taken 3 different schools to a FF

4. Just because you can recruit great players, it doesn't mean it is easy to make them play as a team.

Cal was never great at the end of the game; I'll agree there. He also became far too stubborn and showed no willingness to change. He lost the fast ball he had.

Just an objective take.
I agree with every part of this.
 
Never really got the "he should win X number of titles"

1) This is a one and done tournament. The best team is typically given odds in the 30%.

2) What years were we even considered the best team? 2012 when we won and 2015. That's it.

I always thought 1 was the likely outcome in that era.
No doubt it’s hard but when you make the final 4 you have a great chance. Granted he was robbed of 2 titles I’ll give him that. The Roofer had an agenda.
 
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No doubt it’s hard but when you make the final 4 you have a great chance. Granted he was robbed of 2 titles I’ll give him that. The Roofer had an agenda.

In a way he was probably unlucky to have not won more.

Not even just the four final fours but in 17 and 19 we were one possession away from those years being final fours as well.
 
In a way he was probably unlucky to have not won more.

Not even just the four final fours but in 17 and 19 we were one possession away from those years being final fours as well.
Exactly, and we was screwed flat out in 17 and I could argue 19 as well since Auburn was down all game yet somehow didn’t foul us the last 10 minutes of the game. Ridiculous.
 
Cal was great or he wouldn't be in the HOF just like all things come to an end rather he can coach or not "it's everyone opinion" most colleges would take what Kentucky has had the last 5 years but it was time to move to a new chapter and wish nothing but the best for Cal
 
Imagine he actually had an x and o mind with all that talent. 3 4 titles easy.
He did last year. The kids were running the new offense up to a certain point when Cal's precious bigs were starting to play, and then he just decided to do things the way he always does them.
 
Never really got the "he should win X number of titles"

1) This is a one and done tournament. The best team is typically given odds in the 30%.

2) What years were we even considered the best team? 2012 when we won and 2015. That's it.

I always thought 1 was the likely outcome in that era.
Then why pay him so much money and give a lifetime contract?
 
I think what makes Cal's loses in the tournament even worse than what they were, was who ultimately ended up winning it those years...

2010 - Duke
2011 - UConn
2014 - UConn
2015 - Duke
2017 - UNC

All 5 of these years UK was one of the best teams in the Cal era minus 2012, and yet we lost and three teams won 5 of those titles combined. Hard to believe we couldnt pull off any of those.
 
I really liked Cal for a long time, he was the right guy for Kentucky when he came here. We had some great runs. Losing in 2010 and 2015 really hurt, we definitely had the best team in college basketball those two years, Cal just never recovered from that 2015 loss! That’s when the wheels started to fall off!
 
I just can’t look at what he did at Umass and say he was never a great coach. He had two guys there and a bunch of nobodies. He got Camby and I think maybe Donta Bright was the other highly rated guy. He took arguably the greatest team in the modern era to the wire with a starting backcourt of Carmelo Traviosa and Edgar Padilla.

At one point he was a great coach.


I think he’s still a decent coach. Much like tubby, he just wasn’t good enough to stay here anymore. It’s so frustrating because the way he started here I thought we were going to be dominant for a long time.
I'll have to agree with this. I just rewatched that 1996 game with UMass. Cal had a hellofa team and did it with a huge splash. I hand it to him. I just think the game has caught up with him and he can't change and adapt to the changes of the game, Like Coach Rupp warned other coaches. Stay innovative. And he hasn't. Nothing I've seen Cal do for the past 5 years as a coach was revolutionary or evolutionary. Certainly not enough in game coaching to satisfy even a pedestrian college basketball follower. Let alone a true Kentucky fan.

He's just going to learn to lose (again) to Kentucky teams. Same with Pitino and Tubby, Calipari will just have to get used to losing to playing as coach against Kentucky.

It's like Al McGuire said : "(Kentucky basketball) had it before you, while you were here, and will have it after you're gone. "

I think that sums it up best. They can put it on my gravestone, as far as I'm concerned.

Go Big Blue !
 
Never really got the "he should win X number of titles"

1) This is a one and done tournament. The best team is typically given odds in the 30%.

2) What years were we even considered the best team? 2012 when we won and 2015. That's it.

I always thought 1 was the likely outcome in that era.
With Cal, I expected 2. That 2015 team lo9sing deflated him after that. It was dead by 19.
 
You give Cal this current UK roster and it would be a 9-16 type season.
His UMASS teams were stacked towards the end. His Memphis teams were as well. And his UK teams uber stacked!

I think 95% of college basketball coaches would’ve won 2 titles minimum at UK with the same talent CCC had.

He’s done the least with the most. Even Dean Smith won 2 titles.

Cal will never win another and will honestly be lucky to win another NCAAT game.

Definitely won’t make another FF.
 
He's never been a good coach. He has done less with more .. more than anyone I seen. Look how many players are in the nba. Imagine giving a coach like pope those players he would have had 3 4 titles. He literally thinks just throw the talent out there and we will win. He did it one year with a.d. it's unreal
I think Calipari deserves the criticism for not winning more at UK. But looking at the former UK players in the NBA to make a point that Calipari should have won a lot more championships is not a strong argument in my opinion. I think a good basketball coach might actually argue that you’re missing the most damaging coaching failure of Calipari – roster construction. You think Calipari had the best college basketball players. He didn’t. Calipari might have had the most “talent,” but he didn’t have the best players (i.e., the players who had the biggest impact on winning in the moment). Overwhelmingly, the best players in college were (and are) upperclassmen. So, while UK’s OAD freshmen were more talented and usually realized much of that talent to eventually become the better players, they became that after a couple of years. Plus, the superior athleticism of many OAD freshmen became increasingly less advantageous as the 3pt. shot became more crucial to winning basketball.

What Calipari was able to do with his rosters was actually pretty impressive. He got teams full of OAD freshmen to play above what should have been expected by dumbing down the offense (a couple of sets and individuals just trying to make plays on their own) and coaching effort on defense and rebounding. However, Calipari’s goal should have been winning games (in season and in the tournaments), not getting freshmen drafted. That goal required a willingness to construct rosters differently, which Calipari was not willing to do, in my opinion, because of his self-branding interests.
 
He's never been a good coach. He has done less with more .. more than anyone I seen. Look how many players are in the nba. Imagine giving a coach like pope those players he would have had 3 4 titles. He literally thinks just throw the talent out there and we will win. He did it one year with a.d. it's unreal

He has been a great coach, but he's a shell of what he used to be. I call 'em Low T Cal. He's just old and set in his ways, mainly.
 
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I think a large part is also timing.

First three years elite 8, final four, title.

A few years after that possibly one of the greatest teams. Run to 38 straight wins.

I think some of it was piss poor luck and bad timing. The last two years the seasons weren’t even bad. And in 17 and 19 they very well could have turned into final fours.

It’s odd because most want to use 2015 as some mark but the beginning could have gone way different and so could have the end of that era and it makes you wonder if roles were reversed if he’d still be here.
 
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