When you have as much NBA talent as Cal has had, those games shouldn’t be close enough to get beat by a buzzer beater.
Looking at all the teams Cal has lost to in the tournament, only one of those losses was to a team that was favored (uNC 2017).
Down 7, 4.08 minutes to go...Season on the line. Who do you take as a coach?
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Looking at all the teams Cal has lost to in the tournament, only one of those losses was to a team that was favored (uNC 2017).
Again, not defending Cal, but sometimes you do just get beat, especially at the buzzer. And especially in the tourney.
I can't blame 2017 on him, I just can't. We got so railroaded in that first half even national media and former officials were saying it. And we had to fight and claw against 8-5 all game. Not to mention, UNC was sadly damn good (and cheating all the way) That was a a screw job and not just to us, they screwed over Anderson and Arky as well. I've never seen such a rigged and poorly officiated tourney as that one.
The rest, he shares some blame on varying levels. It's the last 5 years I'm really disgusted with him on.
I'm not blaming 2017, 2011, or 2014 on Cal, we had epic runs in those tournaments and those runs happened because bigtime players made bigtime play after bigtime play, but eventually the well ran dry (11 & 14) and guys that typically hit shots, stopped hitting shots. That stuff happens.
2017 has it's own story, that was definitely a massive screw job.
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Living in the past...the game has passed Cal by....now he is content to count his $$$$$ and agitate the fan base.
I know a lot of people were peeved with Grady, but that man was playing on two broken feet. And really the same goes for CJ too, poor man was made of glass. They get a pass. But you're right, it's wild how our shooters just go ice cold when it matters most.
2017 really soured me on college ball. Like, that was so obvious the fix was in it killed my love of the game for awhile. Ol Daggum and K know where bodies are. That's the only explanation.
That 2017 tournament was horribly officiated. Northwestern remembers:
For those that don't.....this was called a block. A BLOCK. And Northwestern's coach went LIVID and rightfully so. Got T'd up.
Who ended up playing each other in the Finals? You got it. UNC and Zaga. That whole tourney was rigged
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I think you all may have been thinking 4 minutes and 8 seconds so the answer would be Pitino. The way the question reads, there is only 4 minutes and 4.8 seconds left so it's Tubby.
LOL and watch Shady jog it down the sidelines for the most crazy out of bounds play you’ve ever seen at Kentucky! 😂
Izzo is crap. Hasn’t done - thing in years and has very questionable “alliances”, I’ll call it.
It’s funny because at times it really seems like that’s what’s going on.
There’s positives and negatives to izzo. He flat out coached circles around Cal in that game last year. He hasn’t missed the tournament in 25 years. And he has 8 final fours.
The negative: He’s had 13 seasons with 10 or more losses in 28 years. He only has 5 30 win seasons in all that time. He’s only been able to convert 1 of those 8 final fours into a title and it’s been nearly a quarter century since that lone championship.
I think he’s been a great coach for a place like Michigan State. They couldn’t ask for much more. But i wouldn’t take him here.
I’d hope for more than 1 title in 25 years but sadly, we’re now in the same position.
There isn’t anyone out there right now that stands out to me in this situation. In his prime, i don’t think anyone was better at playin from behind than Pitino. Both his Louisville and Kentucky teams had tons of come from behind victories.
I remember watching his first Louisville team erase a 7 point deficit in the last 30 or so seconds against Tennessee.
And then for his first final four at UL they came from like 20 down against Beleins West Virginia team in the E8.
And ofcourse the big come back at LSU is the greatest comeback in the history of the sport. I think we were down 9 to arkansas in overtime of the 1995 SEC final and won.
Yeah…give me prime Rick Pitino and i’ll take my chances.
I remember watching his first Louisville team erase a 7 point deficit in the last 30 or so seconds against Tennessee.
And then for his first final four at UL they came from like 20 down against Beleins West Virginia team in the E8.
And ofcourse the big come back at LSU is the greatest comeback in the history of the sport. I think we were down 9 to arkansas in overtime of the 1995 SEC final and won.
Yeah…give me prime Rick Pitino and i’ll take my chances.
The question is who I'd take in the end of game situations. It wasn't about who I want as coach.
To answer the question as stated and not taking anything else into consideration, I know who I wouldn’t take and that would be Cal.
I'm not going to put all that mess down. Besides I said I don't necessarily buy into it.
Cal is famous for saying he never watches “the tape” of his final games of the year that are losses (which would be all but 2012). I wonder, though, had he analyzed what went wrong in that 2008 Championship Game how many other ones listed would be there? My best way of learning from my mistakes is to analyze what I did and try not to repeat the pattern. To me, it seems like the losses have familiar, preventable patterns.
