Cal's honeymoon at Arkansas is already over

[UKFBFan78]

Carbon copy? Good gawd, no! Tubby might not be the best coach in the country, but he is competent, humble, and a good, down-to-Earth person. He never dodged a question, never made fun of the fanbase, never put his desires above the wants and needs of BBN and the program. He remains among my all-time favorite people ever to be associated with the program.

I agree. Tubby was a good coach. He was just unfortunate enough to follow the Pitino years here...its hard to measure up to that

 

[Allcats08]

That's a boss move on a guy that thought he was a boss, now he's in Fayetteville wondering wth happened.

And begging fans to come to games.

 

[Allcats08]

I predict Cal will be a changed man next year - not because he wants to be but because he has to be.

He thought he could coast in at Arkansas and ride the "wait until March" wave but he just doesn't have the credibility from past performance to get the benefit of the doubt at this point. He'll need an elite 8 this year to over come it.

Next year he'll build a veteran team from the portal. he'll have at least 2 veteran 35%+ 3 point shooters, a true PG and he'll have at least a 9 man rotation. That's my prediction anyways, of course, he could just get the money, recruit and then just show up like he has for the past 6 years now

I think all of us on this board has said he’d change next year for the past 10. He’ll keep doing the same thing, freshman, few portal guys and 1-2 will return. Then he’ll roll the balls out for 8 scholarship players

 

[nickhorvathsuxazz]

One absolute noticeable change I've seen in Cal, which speaks to his awareness of the importance of winning games at his new stop, is his willingness to put pressure on the Tn big to hurry up and return from injury. That never happened at UK

 

[Myth Buster51]

One absolute noticeable change I've seen in Cal, which speaks to his awareness of the importance of winning games at his new stop, is his willingness to put pressure on the Tn big to hurry up and return from injury. That never happened at UK

To each their own. He’s gone, I’m among those thrilled he’s gone, and I personally don’t see the purpose of following CBP or his exploits at his new gig. 🤷🏻‍♂️ Reasonable minds obviously can differ.

 

[cathouse]

In his first season when UK played WVU in the E8. That 1-3-1 zone that Huggy Bear played. CCC had no clue how to attack it. The players had no clue what to do. That got me scratching my head, how does an experienced coach not know how to adjust here.

That did not surprise me at all. I had followed Cal at Memphis and watched many of their games, and it was painfully obvious that Cal was a very poor X and O coach.

I was just hoping he could out-talent the other top schools to overcome his coaching weakness. He couldn't.

Great recruiter, mediocre (being generous) bench coach.

 

[cathouse]

One absolute noticeable change I've seen in Cal, which speaks to his awareness of the importance of winning games at his new stop, is his willingness to put pressure on the Tn big to hurry up and return from injury. That never happened at UK

The only reason Cal is pushing the TN. Adou to get back on the floor is so he can run his offense through the post and get away from shooting 3s by Z, Boogie and Davis. (Cal is OK with DJ firing them up).

Cal can't run his low post offense with Z in the post because Z isn't a 5.

Cal also needs Adou to guard the rim as he still doesn't have a guard that can stay in front of the ball, and still doesn't know how to defend pick and roll.

Same old same old.

 

[BBUK]

Yeah, honestly, this is what I expected. I thought Calipari would be out to prove himself and it would drive him to push his players and his coaches harder, maybe as he did when he first arrived at UK. But I don't think we're seeing this.

I think we should also acknowledge that Calipari lost Assistant Coach John Welch when he left UK. Welch ended up back at Fresno St. Calipari ended up in Arkansas without Welch. I'm sure most remember, Welch was the guy brought in to help Cal's offense, and he did help, by all accounts, significantly. Last season's issues were on the defensive end primarily.

So, now Cal is back to running the offense and Welch is in Fresno. This has left some selling Arkansas stock and seeing Cal trot out the same offense he ran back when he had Wall, Bledsoe, Cousins, et al. I think the game has passed Cal by and he needs a guy like Welch to inject some analytics and modern offense to the team, but he has the same coaching staff he had before. We shall see what happens. Cal has some talent here, but i don't expect the same old offense to produce better results.

They call him.... ILL....

 

[Fox2monk]

One absolute noticeable change I've seen in Cal, which speaks to his awareness of the importance of winning games at his new stop, is his willingness to put pressure on the Tn big to hurry up and return from injury. That never happened at UK

No he hasn’t. At least when it comes to winning games. Check out this line from a recent article about the team. He’s already got the writers spewing his nonsense.

“Point is, don't get hung up on the Razorbacks' record as the season progresses. Yes, it matters greatly, especially for seeding at the SEC and NCAA tournaments. Still, as Coach Cal can attest, a high seed doesn't always lead to a deep run in March.”

 

[Digger-Cat]

And begging fans to come to games.

The guy knows no shame.

He brags about all his NBA draft picks, but it's like he never thinks he has underachieved with all that talent. I would he embarrassed.

He would rather lose games than bench one of his pre season on paper draft picks. He would rather his reputation take another hit, than try to win games.

All the losses to bad teams and underdogs with far superior talent, some at home, some in the NCAAT, then he acts like it's no big deal. What?

Begging for fans to attend games, knowing everyone watches his every move. He's supposed to be a HOF coach. Wtf are you doing?

The one that takes the cake for me though, is the one where he knew the news media was outside his house and this guy decides to take a stroller and his dog for a walk. That's some old man unawareness right there.

 

[Digger-Cat]

One absolute noticeable change I've seen in Cal, which speaks to his awareness of the importance of winning games at his new stop, is his willingness to put pressure on the Tn big to hurry up and return from injury. That never happened at UK

Well yeah, but Aidou isn't going to hurt his draft stock, because he doesn't have any.

If that was Fland, he wouldn't do that.

 

[nickhorvathsuxazz]

Well yeah, but Aidou isn't going to hurt his draft stock, because he doesn't have any.

If that was Fland, he wouldn't do that.

Good point

 

[YardCat]

And begging fans to come to games.

My have the mighty have crumbled, go from giving away TV’s to get people to come to games in Memphis to 23,000 for a practice session and outnumber everyone on neutral courts at UK. Now back to begging fans to come to the games, they are drawing around 8-9000 a game. Wonder what Big Z and Adiou think about the difference?

 

[L.O.D.]

Cal WAS a great coach n did GREAT at UK.
Then covid 9-16 season hit an it shook him to his core an destroyed his confidence. He's been forcing it since more he tries to cope worse he gets.

 

[Allcats08]

My have the mighty have crumbled, go from giving away TV’s to get people to come to games in Memphis to 23,000 for a practice session and outnumber everyone on neutral courts at UK. Now back to begging fans to come to the games, they are drawing around 8-9000 a game. Wonder what Big Z and Adiou think about the difference?

I hope big z regrets it everyday. Screw him. This fanbase spent their own money to put up billboards for him, pleaded daily to get him eligible, had his back, etc. He can rot with cal in seriously the ugliest state I’ve ever laid eyes on, well tied with Mississippi

 

[IFerg1969]

I agree. Tubby was a good coach. He was just unfortunate enough to follow the Pitino years here...its hard to measure up to that

True! Pitino went to UL when he left the pros for a number of reasons. He knew he could win there, obviously he and his family still had a lot of friends and business interests in the state. But, I always thought that maybe one of the reasons he chose UL, however small that reason may have been, was to get UK fans to totally embrace Tubby as their coach. Tubby being a former Pitino assistant and friend. There's no better way to get BBN to completely despise you and rally around their coach than that. I'm sure that wasn't really a reason, but I like to think it factored in there somewhere.

 

[Fox2monk]

The only reason Cal is pushing the TN. Adou to get back on the floor is so he can run his offense through the post and get away from shooting 3s by Z, Boogie and Davis. (Cal is OK with DJ firing them up).

Cal can't run his low post offense with Z in the post because Z isn't a 5.

Cal also needs Adou to guard the rim as he still doesn't have a guard that can stay in front of the ball, and still doesn't know how to defend pick and roll.

Same old same old.

Truth to a T.

 

[Fox2monk]

Well yeah, but Aidou isn't going to hurt his draft stock, because he doesn't have any.

If that was Fland, he wouldn't do that.

Adou should have some draft stock now. He’s gotten very good and he’s athletic enough for sure. He reminds me of Oladipo and he’s developing at the same rate he did.

 

[YardCat]

True! Pitino went to UL when he left the pros for a number of reasons. He knew he could win there, obviously he and his family still had a lot of friends and business interests in the state. But, I always thought that maybe one of the reasons he chose UL, however small that reason may have been, was to get UK fans to totally embrace Tubby as their coach. Tubby being a former Pitino assistant and friend. There's no better way to get BBN to completely despise you and rally around their coach than that. I'm sure that wasn't really a reason, but I like to think it factored in there somewhere.

That is another way to look at it, Pitino didn’t burn bridges on the way out. He had to take the Celtics, he was on top of the world in college basketball and wasn’t satisfied. I often wondered why Louisville but never thought about your explanation. 🤔

 

[chroix]

Adou should have some draft stock now. He’s gotten very good and he’s athletic enough for sure. He reminds me of Oladipo and he’s developing at the same rate he did.

He will lose 12 games and do nothing in the tournament and get Adou drafted 31st and it will be the greatest day in Arkansas basketball history.

 

[Fox2monk]

He will lose 12 games and do nothing in the tournament and get Adou drafted 31st and it will be the greatest day in Arkansas basketball history.

Sounds about right honestly

 

[chroix]

Sounds about right honestly

Haven’t not seen him.

 

[B.B.H.]

Sounds about right honestly

Nope greatest day in Arkansas history will be a shirtless Cal calling the pigs with all the adoring chicken legs at Bud Walmart Arena

 

[Fox2monk]

Nope greatest day in Arkansas history will be a shirtless Cal calling the pigs with all the adoring chicken legs at Bud Walmart Arena

I bet he had written into his contract that he never had to do that ever lmfao. I was so hoping he would at his announcement conference but he let me down there too.

 

[Digger-Cat]

Adou should have some draft stock now. He’s gotten very good and he’s athletic enough for sure. He reminds me of Oladipo and he’s developing at the same rate he did.

Yeah, but he's not one of Cal's blue ribbon prized stallions that he can brag about later on.

It's odd, because he picks some players out each year to be on his favorites list and 2 years in a row, Wheeler made the list. I think it was to keep him from pouting, but he was on the list.

Antonio Reeves wasn't on the list, but Cal had to play him. Somehow Rob and Reed weren't on the list.

Then he has a shit-list. Dontaie Allen and Bryce Hopkins were on it and Cal tried to convince us that they loved him and the split was nothing.

Cal is a weird dude.