GYERO ARCHIVE

[august-west]

I’m bullish about next season even with his past failures. I got one more great class, one more year in me. That’s it. BUT as hard as it will be to convince folks next years class is different, I’m riding on the front of telling you it is. I’m going down in flames with Cal for one more ride.

And yes, this years over, we got no chance to win 6 straight.


Hopefully, we add a reclassified Jackson, get Livingston and Oscar back and roll.

John isn’t stopping

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Like Red said, “Hope is a dangerous thing”. Why anyone would continue to do this to themselves is beyond me, definition of insanity and what not. I can only imagine how frustrating it’s going to be next year when we are a complete mess with the new supply of Burger Boys and the Sheppard kid is riding the bench. Boy howdy will that be fun!

 

[krazykats]

They scored 63 points. Our defense was fine. Since the early 1980s basketballs have been far more worried about scoring points.

Pretty sure you are making my point for since ware/Livingston played most of the 2nd half and CJ/Antonio Reeves didn’t.

Cry for Reeves/CJ with Wallace at the point all you want but those 2 can’t play defense and haven’t been able to hit shots in a game that matters.

It’s as if they belonged where ever they transferred from.

Couple all that with the fact that Oscar can’t protect the rim, and can’t defend in the pick n roll and you have some serious defensive liabilities on this roster that aren’t playing out well at all.

I know it sounds like I’m defending Cal, I’m not, I hope he leaves like anyone else and wish it happened 4 years ago. This roster to me just isn’t what ALL of you think it is, IMHO.

 

[BleedBlueCats21]

In more capable hands, this roster would probably be pretty lethal. Caveman offensive philosophy and square peg/round hole lineups makes everyone look like ass.

 

[cut_itloosedoubledeuce]

I just can’t see how asking to play ware more bc of his defense is the right answer when we can’t score.

 

[gobigbluebell]

I just can’t see how asking to play ware more bc of his defense is the right answer when we can’t score.

It ain’t the answer if we have dreams of winning a title…which we absolutely do not have. It was an answer to beating UCLA…which we did not do, in part because we benched Ware at 12:00 and went with Toppin the rest of the night.

Nobody gives a shit anymore.

Our SEC football squad is crushing the portal again.



Ray Davis come on down.

 

[UnfrozenCatfanLawyer]

 

[cawoodsct]

Does the receiver have a job tomorrow?

 

[august-west]

In more capable hands, this roster would probably be pretty lethal. Caveman offensive philosophy and square peg/round hole lineups makes everyone look like ass.

Not sure about that. We have a ……
-PG that needs great players around him so he can make them better instead of being relied on to be the man
-Oscar is obviously frustrated, on both ends. Whether it is because of the injury, lack of practice, or just not knowing the plays who knows
-Reeves/CJ are no shows when the bright lights come on. In their defense they are not really used to the big moments coming from ILLINOIS ST & IOWA.
-Wallace appears to be scared of the big moments too. Hasn’t hit a meaningful FT yet.
-Livingston shows promise but not reliable from game to game.
-Toppin…don’t get me started on his soft ass.
-the bench is the bench

This roster on paper should be really good but once again that isn’t how it’s playing out. I’m not sure there is much that can be done to fix it short of hitting open shots and I wouldn’t bet on that. Maybe someone else would run something to get better looks but we aren’t shooting worth a shit, even when we are open.

 

[krazykats]

I just can’t see how asking to play ware more bc of his defense is the right answer when we can’t score.

I would understand this point with a lot of coaches because they’d actually push for offense. Maybe press some to speed teams up with our depth as a change of pace when those guys are in.

As is these guys aren’t producing like expected against anyone but the C level teams, and truth be told we won’t see many more of them.

I’m not pretending to have answers because I don’t think our coach will ever do what this roster needs.

 

[UK_Dallas]

Whenever the time does come I hope somebody is able to make a gif that features:

The Blazing Saddles welcome sign that says "Bye Cal" and then immediately flashes to the party scene in Buenos Aires earlier today.

 

[MaxPowerrr]

Some of you don’t have Joe Burrow in your life and that’s sad.

 

[btodd0224]

So Thursday night is forecast for 3-5” snow and Friday high temp of 9 with wind 30-35 gusting to 50mph. Sounds like a great start to the holiday weekend.

What’s the story on Thiero? Cal not talked him for awhile or something else?

 

[UKMKG]

Toppin is softer than Charmin

 

[Teriecat]

Lately I have wondered on quite a few occasions if Cal is in the early stage of dementia. It would explain a lot.

Whether it is dementia or just run of the mill stubborn idiocy, I am on the he needs to be gone bus. Sooner the better.

 

[Hank Camacho]

From the latest Hoops Insight article on UK's offensive issues:

Toppin has become a net negative against teams with smart defensive schemes; UK was -26 against Michigan and UCLA with him in and +20 with him out.

The clips of our offense in the article are absolutely brutal. Just constant examples of 3, 4, or 5 guys collapsing to the paint while Oscar tries to post up and UCLA openly ignored everyone on the perimeter other than Reeves and Wallace (and didn't exactly stick with them either).

Hoops Insight and Kyle Tucker's articles are must reads for Kentucky basketball fans who still care, imo.

 

[klambert6]

-Isn't this supposed to be fun?

-Patiently waiting until NSD to give the football staff the full felate, but damn they are getting after it.

-Was thinking about it all while driving my 3 year old around to look at Christmas lights checking my phone for score updates.

There are people who are actively investigating if some of the images received by our new badass telescope are from the literal beginning of time, and I'm stressing about the frontcourt lineup for a middling SEC basketball team. Seems like time is better served elsewhere?

 

[wcc31]

The most frustrating thing is all this shit was predictable. In fact, the fanbase as a whole was saying specific shit such as this before it happened:

- “Umm recruiting a 5’8” PG who can’t shoot at all? I don’t know about that.”

- “Livingston is 4. Playing him at the 3 will neuter his game.”

- “Jacquez is going to kill us.”

- “Yeah the personnel is there but what are the odds Cal puts the best lineups on the floor.”

^ On THIS F’ing ONE we still don’t know if we’re right or wrong because the stubborn MFer still hasn’t played his bes lineup this year and we’re a week away from Christmas.

Wallace
Fredrick
Reeves
Livingston
Tshiebwe

FFS. 🤬

 

[ksta]

- For all the talk about incorporating the 3, we are in the bottom quartile of the country once again in 3 point rate, at 292 out of 363.

- We are 55th in long 2 rate.

- Jacob Toppin has the 3rd highest usage rate on our team (after Oscar and Reeves) but has a 44.6 true shooting%. For context, Oscar TS% is 56. Livingston's is 62.

- Toppin's line includes 19/48 on midrange and 3/20 on 3s.

- None of these are new problems. This is the way we want to play basketball.

- Took this screenshot because it encapsulates our issues:

They had no fear of a corner pass for an open 3, because 15% shooter Jacob Toppin is standing there hoping to improve his draft stock instead of cutting to the basket. Wallace and Fredrick are standing on top of each other. Nobody on our team is doing much of anything because, well, we threw it in to Oscar, mission accomplished, time for him to shoot - we don't have a contingency plan, we don't move without the ball, we don't play inside out, etc.

- What we do is run the same sets we have for 5+ years with predictable handoffs that good teams know they can deny without any fear of a backdoor cut because we don't do that, either. So they challenge the handoff, forcing turnovers or at the very least disrupting our timing, allowing any trailing defenders to recover in the event that our minimal off-ball action momentarily freed somebody up.

- UCLA is weak defending the post, so they clearly planned to send a ton of help whenever we got the ball to Oscar. This was predictable, and yet we had no prepared counter measures.

- Our spacing is so bad. In the second half we had a turnover because two of our wings ran into each other causing one to dribble off the other's leg.

- Credit where it's due: the two big lineup with Ware and Oscar got us back into the game. Was that because Toppin wasn't in or because Ware was good? I'm not entirely sure, but I thought Ware did a really good job defensively on Jaquez, he set good screens, and he was in good position on offense.

- Burying my hot take deep in this post where fewer people will read: during certain games, I think we might be better off with Ware or Onyenso than Oscar, because at least then the other team has to guard other people plus pay attention to the big. Not Oscar's fault whatsoever, as he's obviously a better player than those two, but that's our scheme. Oscar is also pretty much a disaster defensively this season.

 

[PTI (pti)]

It's definitely become a popular take this year to criticize Jacob Toppin, or as I enthusiastically refer to him "Poppin Toppin," but the one thing you have to absolutely love about him is his upside. His upside is just off the charts. As a sophomore, he came out of nowhere to average a monster 5 points and 3 rebounds a game, which really showed off his upside. As a junior, his upside really took off, and he blew up for 6 points a 3 rebounds a game. Sure, he was stuck on the bench behind all-American Keion Brooks, but the upside was really there. And now as a senior with all the upside in the world, finally ready to show off his upside as a starter, we see his upside truly blossom as he's become the most in efficient, ballhogging upsider on the team. If he can stick around for 2-3 more years, there's no telling how much more upside he will have.

 

[Hank Camacho]

Per Hoops Insight, Ware's minutes in the first half where we caught back up coincided with Cronin resting Jaquez for the second half. I'm not going to go back and watch that abortion to see if that's right but it wouldn't surprise me.

At this point in the season, Ware is somehow a better option than Toppin. That's how terrible Toppin has been. Of course the solution won't be to sit Toppin and start Livingston. Toppin will still continue to start and Cal will use increasing Ware's minutes to try to force Toppin to do whatever the hell it is Cal is trying to get Toppin to do out there.

 

[ksta]

Per Hoops Insight, Ware's minutes in the first half where we caught back up coincided with Cronin resting Jaquez for the second half.

Mostly true, but we also got it to 40-40 in the 2nd half with Ware and Jaquez both in there.

Unfortunately we only scored 13 points over the remaining 14:30 in the game.

 

[wcc31]

Per Hoops Insight, Ware's minutes in the first half where we caught back up coincided with Cronin resting Jaquez for the second half. I'm not going to go back and watch that abortion to see if that's right but it wouldn't surprise me.

At this point in the season, Ware is somehow a better option than Toppin. That's how terrible Toppin has been. Of course the solution won't be to sit Toppin and start Livingston. Toppin will still continue to start and Cal will use increasing Ware's minutes to try to force Toppin to do whatever the hell it is Cal is trying to get Toppin to do out there.

Well it’s because Toppin is awful while having a high usage rate; whereas Ware is awful but doesn’t touch the ball.

 

[Kooky Kats]

The most shocking revelation is how horrible Frederick is. Dude is unplayable.

 

[cut_itloosedoubledeuce]

Put Livingston at the gd 4… this is not brain surgery. He has the size, he can create better spacing than Toppin, and you don’t lose anything on the glass…not that Toppin is a force there.

CJ has NOT played well but put him with other shooters and force the D to cover the whole court.

This is not hard for anyone other than our $8mm coach.

 

[cut_itloosedoubledeuce]

Anxiously waiting on KSR this morning to see if Matt and the crew go all in on cal.

 

[krazykats]

Actually it is. Putting a group of shooters on the floor because you want to relive pitino’s bambino’s knowing damn well at that point they couldn’t defend any team ranked higher than 75th is a damn shame.

Cal hasn’t forgot how to coach, he just strapped himself with shooters that can’t defend and to this point can’t shoot either!

 

[cut_itloosedoubledeuce]

I believe he has forgotten how to coach.

 

[Hank Camacho]

This isn't 1990s Big East basketball. You can no longer ignore offense and focus exclusively on defense. You need both but not being able to score is a guaranteed loser no matter how strong your D is.

 

[catfan in loserville]

Updated Cal replacement list.

1. Nate Oats, seems ready for the next step, great coach and recruiter.
2. Billy Donovan, he looks tired in the NBA, if his/Pitino’s style of offense came here that would make me giddy.
3. Eric Musselman, same as Oats, maybe better.
4. Sean Miller, IF, he can turn it around at Xavier.

Imo Cal has dipped below Tubby status.

Right before this season BBdK caught me comparing this team to 2012, 2015, and 2017 on FB and gave me a lil wake up call. He was completely right. Can’t believe I drank the Kool Aid. SMH

It hit me what we are missing. 4-5 first round draft picks. Those early Cal teams had several players with NBA lottery talent. The last team like that was 2017. Does this team have one? Maybe Wallace?

If he can’t succeed next year with arguably the best recruiting class that he has had, like most, I’m done with him.

Rant over, back to lurking.

 

[august-west]

Anxiously waiting on KSR this morning to see if Matt and the crew go all in on cal.

I suspect Matt won’t hold back. He’s been slowly getting more vocal about the situation and at this point he has nothing to lose “relationship” wise with Cal or Mitch. I wish Drew was going to be on because he is the one who has been the most critical and he is obviously fed up but it looks like it’s only going yo be Matt and Shannon.

 

[80 Proof]

I believe he has forgotten how to coach.

I believe he got fat and happy. He's lazy and doesn't work hard, hates his boss, and now that he's not the highest paid coach at his school his mind is distracted by the perceived injustice.

Dude's ego is still fully intact though, so he has no clue what the problem is.

 

[anthonys735]

^Ware came in to check Jaquez and we got 4 straight stops. Of course we didn't score a damn point on those 4 straight stops.

-Same f*cking topics new year, btw.

-I'll admit when I'm wrong, granted I didn't see it coming in this fashion, but Toppin is becoming damn near unplayable. Lock down defender, rebounds, put backs, lobs and drive and get fouled. That should be his game. Yet, he's actually a terrible defender, he floats around the perimeter avoiding contact, he doesn't rebound, and his defender can easily sag off him.

-Wheeler does nothing to make us better and drives me insane. He needs to be the back up PG and never play when Toppin is on the court.

-CJ has been terrible but we have actual tape of him being good. You have to let him play through this... just like he's doing with everyone else.

-O is frustrated because it's 1 on 4 out there.


-Sounds like we're in for a good day on the football front. At least we have that.

-Calm before the storm.

 

[Hank Camacho]

It is only going to be Matt and Shannon the Dude on this morning so there won't be any schlock from Lemond or Drew trying to be nice.

Hopefully they go whole hog.

I think the Wheeler hate is misplaced. He is being horribly misused but has played his ass off and seemingly kept a good attitude. It isn't his fault that his coach uses him in the worst possible way and puts the ball in his hands at the ends of games when that clearly is not what he's capable of doing.

I'm a big fan of that kid and a big hater of how Cal uses him. On another team, he would be an absolute menace in March. How many times has a guard like that caused us all kinds of problems in the tournament?

 

[IsRichieGonnaStart]

It’s all nonsense. We can analyze lineups and this and that until we’re all blue in the face but none of this giant mess is changing unless there’s a new head coach.

My suggestion… Pour some egg nog and follow football recruiting during this holiday season. You won’t be disappointed.

 

[MaxPowerrr]

Jacob Toppin isn’t good at basketball. For a deep dive analytic report on this check out my latest “MaxPowerrr’s Minutes” at www.noshitsherlocksports.com.

 

[PTI (pti)]

He came off the bench last year because Keion Brooks was clearly the better player, and in 3 full years of basketball he's proven he can't really shoot, dribble, or pass well at all. Why anyone thought he would suddenly decide to be a star player is beyond my comprehension.

That being said.....as a rebounder and clean up/garbage man, playing around the basket, he can be a huge asset. Unfortunately he and our coach have decided to let him dominate the ball like he's Lebron James or something.

 

[ThroughBlue]

I like how there are still some “ifs and buts” for some of you in regards to cal.

There isn’t an “IF he screws up next years class” take a look at the makeup of that class. Super athletes. Maybe even 2010 level athletes. S16 and that’s the ceiling

 

[wcc31]

- Yeah Wheeler plays hard and has some value BUT a PG who cannot shoot hamstrings you and the lineups you can play this day and age.

- Poor Oscar is going 1-4 all the time now. Who can look good in that situation?

 

[cricket3]

It is only going to be Matt and Shannon the Dude on this morning so there won't be any schlock from Lemond or Drew trying to be nice.

Drew is the biggest Cal hater at KSR. I think he legitimately doesn't like John.

 

[rudd1]

-bitch bus is full...those that are/were slow on the uptick can walk.