St Johns wears you out. They may be down a couple buckets at half but the other teams are usually gassed in the second half and St Johns ends up winning comfortably. Arkansas' thin roster and lack of depth (what 8 players available?) is why I give the edge to the Johnnies.
Cal vs Pitino, what's your thoughts, it's going to happen Saturday
- Thread starter thberea
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That would be a first.
St John's appears to be the much better team. They would win easily.
Great take on Pitino here. Really rooting for him. Not surprised he's rolling.
One of the GOATs and unlike other GOATs, he's kind of built to flourish in the modern landscape.
I suppose Cal is similar in some regards in that he is built for turnover. Some could argue is one of the founding fathers of the modern era. He was pushing and promoting all this new age stuff long before it was popular. Though, unlike Pitino, Cal needs a very specific player/athlete. Pitino will win with pros, joes, Xs and Os.
Turned around 7 different programs in 4 different decades, multiple conferences, and a couple different evolutions of the game.
One of the GOATs and unlike other GOATs, he's kind of built to flourish in the modern landscape.
I suppose Cal is similar in some regards in that he is built for turnover. Some could argue is one of the founding fathers of the modern era. He was pushing and promoting all this new age stuff long before it was popular. Though, unlike Pitino, Cal needs a very specific player/athlete. Pitino will win with pros, joes, Xs and Os.
Turned around 7 different programs in 4 different decades, multiple conferences, and a couple different evolutions of the game.
It’s actually even when neither coach is at UK, 4-4. This is the rubber match.
Rick held a 4-1 advantage over Cal as UK’s coach. Cal was 8-2 against Pitino as UK coach. Both won 80 percent of their games against each other while coaching Kentucky.
Cal versus Rick in NCAA tournament…… 2-2
Kentucky won every time
Kentucky won every time
Should be a good game. I want to see ARK win. They are an SEC team. It's that simple for me. I always pull for the Conference,
Arkansas or anyone else in the conference wouldn't piss on us if we were on fire. Why should we root for any of them?
I haven't yet gotten over my disappointment that Kansas lost the lead to Arkansas with 2:00 to play - and of course, lost the game. It just makes me sick to know that Calipari is gloating about it, when in fact anybody who watched the game knows that Kansas just gave it away !
My disaffinity for Calipari knows no bounds ... SO ... I hope Rick gets in a position to "pour it on", and I hope Rick beats Calipari by 30 if he can ... and by 40, if he can !
GO JOHNNIES ! ! !
My disaffinity for Calipari knows no bounds ... SO ... I hope Rick gets in a position to "pour it on", and I hope Rick beats Calipari by 30 if he can ... and by 40, if he can !
GO JOHNNIES ! ! !
If you tell me that Aidoo has 20 again I would be worried. Arkansas scores by getting to the basket and Davis will sprinkle in some jump shots. There will be no easy shots in this game. People point to Arkansas' talent and pose it as a reason they will win.....how many times did Cal lose to LESS talented teams here? Don't get me wrong....it is obvious Cal cares more now than he has in years but a leopard doesn't change it's spots. As crappy as Kansas was last night, Bill Self made a coaching move by going to zone and stymied Arkansas beyond belief. Who was shocked to see a zone completely neutralize a Cal team? Without Kansas players throwing the ball directly to Arkansas on about 7 straight trips, Kansas ends up with a 5-7 point win last night.
Good comments. I watched SJU last night and was scrambling to understand why lots of people thinks they are so good.
I didn't look at any metrics so that's on me but they don't seem final four good to me. The more I watched their game the less I was impressed. I think Arkansas will likely beat them. Especially if they get Theiro back.
There was a really good profile of Calipari in a February (I think) 2011 issue of Sports Illustrated. I’d recommend it. There were two stories in the piece about Calipari and Pitino that shed light on the falling out. Each story is exactly the opposite of what was generally thought.
First, anyone who knows much about Calipari’s history is familiar with the “Carnesecca has cancer” story. Supposedly very early in Calipari’s career he stole a recruit for Pitt away from St. John’s by telling the recruit that Carnesecca (St. John’s head coach) had cancer and would soon be dead. That was the start of a lot of people not liking Cal - as the writer said, it allowed people to say Calipari would literally do or say anything to get a kid. The writer dug into the story to find the origin, and discovered Pitino (then at Providence) told other Big East coaches the story - from what could be found, the story started with Rick. (Eventually Cal and Louie would be very close.)
Second, for several years while Cal was at UMass, the commonly told story was Pitino had gotten the UMass job for Cal - vouched for him, even dug into his own pocket to help pay his first year salary. Every time UK played UMass that story would be repeated several times in some form. The writer again dug in. He talked to the AD at UMass when Cal was hired. He said the accepted version of the story was false. He said there were 3 people in the room, 2 of them wanted Cal - “and neither of them was Rick Pitino.” Said the idea that Rick cut the school a check to help pay Cal’s salary was nonsense.
They were thought to be really close early on, big brother little brother kind of thing. But there is animus bordering on hate now (and for the last 25 years anyway). I have no doubt there are stories going the other way, where Rick could point to things Cal has done. But that piece in SI made Rick look really bad.
It will be interesting to see how Pitino coaches against Cal, now that Cal isn’t at UK. (I think emotions were so high on the “toughest day coaching at UofL”—aka game day vs UK—that it was overwhelming).
I feel that the Pitino we see coach against other teams will be on full display on Saturday (and I feel Pitino will win). But I think most agree that Cal will give his absolute best effort in that game. It should be a thriller.
St. John’s doesn’t just play zone; they have the top rated defense in the country per Kenpom. That’s not gonna be easy to beat with Cal’s offense.
How could you have thought that? They both are(were in cow’s place) competitive and thenobviously the big games in ‘96 and being huge in-state rivals. I would want to crush the soul of said rival and I think they feel similarly .
This article on the Pitino vs Cal coaching rivalry is interesting: https://www.cbssports.com/college-b...r-resurrection-saturday-in-march-madness/amp/
Here’s a notable quote from Calipari, “…He eventually worked his way to this next part: ‘But for all of us, the first battle you have, including us coaches, is with yourself. That's the first battle you have. You can't worry about anybody else. Battle yourself and get yourself in the right frame of mind, and I didn't want the albatross around my neck of my history of coaching. 'You're supposed to win every game.' No, no, you're not. Your job is to be about those kids and wherever the program is at that time; your job is to keep picking them up and make them better and make them feel good about themselves.’”
There are several Threads on this board about this game, here and here (poll) and here and here and here.
Here’s another article from ESPN: https://www.espn.com/mens-college-b...itino-discuss-relationship-ahead-ncaa-matchup
Should be a fun game to watch!
Here’s a notable quote from Calipari, “…He eventually worked his way to this next part: ‘But for all of us, the first battle you have, including us coaches, is with yourself. That's the first battle you have. You can't worry about anybody else. Battle yourself and get yourself in the right frame of mind, and I didn't want the albatross around my neck of my history of coaching. 'You're supposed to win every game.' No, no, you're not. Your job is to be about those kids and wherever the program is at that time; your job is to keep picking them up and make them better and make them feel good about themselves.’”
There are several Threads on this board about this game, here and here (poll) and here and here and here.
Here’s another article from ESPN: https://www.espn.com/mens-college-b...itino-discuss-relationship-ahead-ncaa-matchup
Should be a fun game to watch!
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Funny how time changes things. Still appreciate what both did for our teams over the years but today I'm pulling for Pitino.
So interesting to me that whomever was the UK coach at the time won the game!
I like Rick's squad in this. He built this St. John's team with athletes and they play his aggressive, up tempo style of ball. Their weakness is 3 point shooting but they are just after you for all 40 minutes. And my guess is that he will try to put Arkansas in a zone and just keep that the whole game as Cal struggles to do anything with it. I always argue that our defeat of Louisville kept them from a title in 2014 as there's no way Pitino would've lost that title game to a Kevin Ollie team that couldn't do squat against a zone.
Oh honey you know I think well of you
But why? The conference will actively cheer against us. We’ve seen it every freaking time
And Calipari…I never want that man to win anything ever again. I was pulling for Kansas even with the overall wins battle
Wonder if Thiero is back today? I heard there was a chance, could affect that game even if he’s rusty or on minutes restriction
2:50 tip! It’s almost here they are in the building. Are we going to use this as the game thread?
Exactly where I stand. Don't care for either coach any longer but have to go against Arkansas and what Cal did to us the past 5 years . Plus, leaving Pope a total empty shelf when he decided to part with UK.
