Cal vs. Pitino on recruiting, or why...

[MdWIldcat55]

...I'm not worried about Kentucky.

Did you catch the Pitino excerpt about Bowen's signing in June floating around? Pitino talks about how he was approached out of the blue by someone and asked if he'd be interested in Bowen. He recalls seeing Bowen play "against some other top recruit" who he can't seem to name. Then he talks about it "falling in my lap" and how it was the "luckiest day in my 40 years of coaching." Some guy just shows up and offers him a 5-star recruit. That's lucky, all right. Then yesterday, he talks about how he knows less about "what's going on" than at any time in his career -- as if that's an ironclad defense.

Contrast that with Cal. He's working his ass off constantly watching these kids, meeting with their families and high school coaches, getting to know the environment surrounding them and what makes them tick. I guarantee you he knew about Bowen's major match-ups with other recruits, and a hell of a lot more about Bowen. And the same with Ayton and a host of other recruits.

That's not to say Cal doesn't ever win recruiting battle unexpectedly. But even when he does, he's laid the ground work, knows the territory, and would have every reason to know whether it was safe to go into the water. I can't imagine the description Pitino gave of Bowen falling out of the sky happening to Cal.

Pitino is probably telling the truth when he says "I know nothing." He'd grown lazy, and looking the other way was the chosen path to getting the kids he got without trying to compete in a losing battle with Kentucky and other elites. That's not an excuse for him. If anything it is as bad or worse of an indictment than if he was directly cheating.

 

[sambowieshin]

Cal doesn't need to cheat in order to get 5 star talent. He will land most of the kids all the money they ever dreamed of by playing in his system tailored to preparing you for the NBA. Not so much with Pitino. He won't play you as a freshman, then forces you to play in a system that looks nothing like the NBA. Kids want to be paid to play in Pitinos system because they may never see money like that again after languishing for years in his system.

 

[OHIO COLONEL]

MdWildcat55...'and looking the other way was the chosen path to getting the kids he gotwithout trying to compete in a losing battle with Kentucky and other elites.'

I started wondering when 'hookergate' came out if Pitino was always dirty, even while at UK, or if the pressure of having Cal just down the road winning, getting top recruiting classes every year, owning the UK-UL series, etc got him to where he is now.

 

[spotter34]

MdWildcat55...'and looking the other way was the chosen path to getting the kids he gotwithout trying to compete in a losing battle with Kentucky and other elites.'

I started wondering when 'hookergate' came out if Pitino was always dirty, even while at UK, or if the pressure of having Cal just down the road winning, getting top recruiting classes every year, owning the UK-UL series, etc got him to where he is now.

That's your answer right there. Pitino didn't adapt to the OAD rule and didn't recruit most of those kinds of prospects. Then he looked down the road and witnessed Calipari paving a gold road to Lexington for elite recruits and then watching most of them get drafted in the lottery or the 1st round and sign multi-million dollar contracts. He realized Calipari had cornered that market and he couldn't catch up and that meant defeat after defeat to Cal and Kentucky. At U6 you're measured by how often you beat UK.

Most people outside of UK believe Cal cheats. They think he works his connections and influence, along with some other stuff, to cheat the system and that he's figured out a way of not getting caught. So I think Pitino and others tried to devise their own way to mimic what they thought Cal was doing. If they were out on the road working like Cal does they would realize its all about how he establishes relationships with the players and there families. It's about how he weeds out those recruits who are looking for the easiest and fastest way to riches, and the ones looking for a handout. Cal is simply the best recruiter this sport has ever seen, hands down.

Pitino embraced the role of villain and ultimately his program followed suit. They entered the ACC and he saw coach K had already adapted to what Cal and Kentucky were doing and UNC always gets good recruits. To compete in that league and challenge Kentucky every year he turned to the dark side and hoped he could retire before anything was found out. It hasn't turned out that way and now he will be fired or forced to resign in shame.

He took over a program in the early 90's that had the "shame" label plastered all over it and he resurrected it back to national prominence and he made a name for himself. From there on he focused on his own name more than the name he worked for and it ultimately led to his ruin. It is a damn shame but he brought it on himself.