You of all people ought to know. This is Kentucky. No other place is the same and the talent attraction is not the same. He won one at UL technically and would have won more if he had stayed here.
How many more titles do you think we would have if Pitino never left?
- Thread starter silentsaregolden2.0
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I agree, I think 6-8- Pitino had us rolling, great talent and he could coach
I'd say 3 more would be a very realistic maximum. It is extremely difficult these days to be dominant like that for very long periods.
If that one in Fayetteville Arkansas did not choke and could coach we would have 4 or 5 under him god what a waste of elite talent under that clown
It was the coaches. Tubby didn't want to put a lot of effort into recruiting. Calipari has a hard-on for the NBA and I've felt for a long time that he was intent on showing the NBA that it HAD to have him as its main player developer. Championships at Rupp were never really on Calipari's mind, in fact he told everyone that he was glad it was over with after he won the first one.
this is my guesstimation.
My father said before he passed away right after the title in 96, if Pitino stays he will catch UCLA. I'm glad dad got to go out with a UK title year. Too bad Pitino didn't stay.
I think had he stayed, we would have 4 clear cut mount rushmore coaches :
Rupp
Wooden
K
Pitino
Rupp for the beginning era, Wooden for the UCLA dominance, and Pitino and Coach K would forever be joined at the hip for UK - dUKe and what it WOULD HAVE BEEN had Pitino stayed. I really like bigbluedon's remark that " he could coach any talent level" .... Pitino is possibly one of the best in that regards anyway you slice it.
woulda', coulda', shoulda' .... damn shame everything went down the way it did.
I wonder if he looks back on his coaching career and regrets if he hadn't stayed at UK ?
I do know it’s different.
And he won 2 here.
He let Tubby hold one.
But he left here 28 years ago and only added one.
He started cheating at UL to keep up with Cal.
What makes you think he wouldn’t have started cheating here to keep up with Cal at Memphis?
He didn’t just wash out at UL. He was fired.
At Louisville??
The school that hired Pitrino twice.
He did win in Italy.
He hasn’t won anything of note since returning to college.
Pitino did wonderful things here.
And maybe he does continue to win without cheating?
I think he would have won at least one more. Anything more requires a leap of faith that he hasn’t shown he deserves.
Well he would have had Byron Mouton for the 1998 and '99 season. That alone gives you a guy who could shoot 35 to 37% from three, shoring up one of the major weaknesses for the 1999 team.
You put Vincent Yarbrough and Byron Mouton on the 1999 team and you've got a team that can suddenly compete with Duke or Connecticut as well.
I think he would have won the 1998 championship and also at least two more.
So Kentucky would be sitting at least nine championships right now, and quite possibly ten.
You put Vincent Yarbrough and Byron Mouton on the 1999 team and you've got a team that can suddenly compete with Duke or Connecticut as well.
I think he would have won the 1998 championship and also at least two more.
So Kentucky would be sitting at least nine championships right now, and quite possibly ten.
Changes in the sport. Pitino left. Tubby should've probably got one more (just had some bad injury luck with dudes like Bogans). Cal, well, lol, SHOULD have probably had at least 3.
It's just really hard to win multiple titles at the same school sometimes. Wooden was a cheater.....and K....well, was probably cheating.
Tubby had some bad luck in there too. But yeah, he was done, at least on the level of competing at a UK level.
I think the biggest thin Pitino would have accomplished would have been getting us put on probation and vacating some wins. As muchas he did while he was here,he is a dirtbagof a man. He would be one of the last people I would want as a neighbor.
I don’t know but if he would have let Anderson play we would have had one more for sure!
If Pitino were coaching the recrutis Cal brought in each year and if you include the 98 team I would say at least 5 for sure.
I am throughly convinced that Coach Pitino would have won 5-6 more titles. If I am not mistaken from his year 1 till he left he had more wins than any coach in college basketball. He had the style the recruits and the backing from the administration. I’m not sure I ever saw the fans more behind a Kentucky BB coach
It’s impossible to overstate how red hot Kentucky and Pitino were at that time. With his coaching ability, Kentucky’s reputation, and the momentum they had which would have continued attracting recruits, I honestly think his legacy had he stayed at Kentucky would have rivaled Coach K’s at Duke. 4-5 more titles would not have been far-fetched.
This does give me a fun idea for if we other develop tbe ability to move between alternate realities. I want to slip into the one where Pitino didn’t leave and he didn’t get caught in a scandal. I bet life in that reality is better.
I mean at the very least he does what he did at UL.
Most likely does more.
Overall another 25 years one can guess he does about what K, Izzo, Self, ole Roy, Wright…were able to do because he’s just as good if not better than those guys plus the UK platform.
Most likely does more.
Overall another 25 years one can guess he does about what K, Izzo, Self, ole Roy, Wright…were able to do because he’s just as good if not better than those guys plus the UK platform.
Agreed! I’m gonna say 5/6. Hell, he won one at Louisville. If not for our great 2012 team he possibly wins 2.
I don’t really know how many more titles he might have won. Say that he won a couple more championships, does he get complacent and just start skating by doing enough to please the masses but not really a threat to win it all? With his failure with the Celtics, that was his motivation to prove he is still a HOF Coach that wants to win more than anyone. I would say maybe 3 more, max 4 championships if he stayed, UK ages men a lot quicker than most women, married men, can attest, then add both and maybe a side hustle. Pitino would look worse than the Crypt Keeper.
How do you know he would've won in 98, he lost the year before with MORE talent, and many ppls excuse on this board was bc Anderson was out...meaning he needed even more talent. The 98 elite 8 game couldve been a tough one, there's no gaurantee how he would've handled certain situations.
Also to the OP, it depends...does he bang a skank on a restaurant table if he stays? Uk isn't uofl, they wouldve fired him for that...especially if he was putting up the type of seasons he was putting up at uofl at the time
He had the best of the best lining up to play here, turning superstar type talent away and had the program running like a well oiled machine. I wouldn’t be surprised if he had six by now at minimum. I’m thinking if he had the guys that cal brought in plus the older guys he would’ve no doubt had with them it would’ve probably been more like 8 or something crazy like that. He had a dynasty in the making. In my humble opinion of course. We will never know but it’s a fun question to think about. Thanks
You’re sure a lot closer than these guys guessing 3 and 4. lol.
6 at minimum. I hated him at UL and lied about how good he was then. He might be the best college coach ever. He’s top 5 easy.
He sure did
He's the reason Duke beat us.
He made some mistakes in the UNC game in 95 also
What about Arizona? Anderson should have played in that game and would have for any other team.
He was great in the 90's but he wasn't perfect by a long stretch
Or do you mean not coaching at UK is a huge difference? To our fans it is.... Nobody else believes that. We've had 3 titles in the last 47 seasons. I picked 79 because it was after a title but that also included a 10 year stretch that was about as good as any coach has had in the modern era
