The guy is a hell of a coach. Give him some great talent and he is going to be awesome.
Nat saying Cal is going anywhere, just a thought...
Nat saying Cal is going anywhere, just a thought...
If Cal leaves... Give me Bennett all day long
- Thread starter kycats4383
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Flavor of the month. I agree he has been a good coach last two years
We as UK fans are so spoiled. After the train wreck of gillespie and the decade of mediocracy of tubby. Calipari came in here one his first season and started out 18-0 and has future NBA all stars in wall, cousins, bledsoe. M
Bennett was 15-16in his firs season and 16-15 in his Second
My point is most coaches at programs it takes time. Calipari was spontaneous combustion as soon as he arrived Could we as UK fans accept break even seasons for two years to get where Bennett is now. I don't believe so. I feel sorry for the next guy
We as UK fans are so spoiled. After the train wreck of gillespie and the decade of mediocracy of tubby. Calipari came in here one his first season and started out 18-0 and has future NBA all stars in wall, cousins, bledsoe. M
Bennett was 15-16in his firs season and 16-15 in his Second
My point is most coaches at programs it takes time. Calipari was spontaneous combustion as soon as he arrived Could we as UK fans accept break even seasons for two years to get where Bennett is now. I don't believe so. I feel sorry for the next guy
Hell no. He hasn't shown he can recruit at all. The only halfway top player he's gotten has been Justin Anderson and he was originally going to Maryland I believe. Recruiting is the name of the game and you have to recruit at UK. Especially if you follow Cal, or BBN will crush you.
That's why Sean Miller should be the top choice. He's very young yet he's one of the only coaches that can recruit like Cal can. Hate on him all you want but Miller at UK would be Calipari lite.
That's why Sean Miller should be the top choice. He's very young yet he's one of the only coaches that can recruit like Cal can. Hate on him all you want but Miller at UK would be Calipari lite.
Bored people to death, just like they do in the regular season. And lost.
He's 5-4 in the tourney. Last year was his 1st ever trip to the Sweet 16.
I you want a (very solid, admittedly) coach whose goal is to have a lot of 50-49 games, Bennett's your man. If you want a coach whose goal is to win 25 games and make the Sweet 16, Bennett's your man. If you want a coach who can lure top talent, then make them into a top team, without crumbling under the weight of consistent FF expectations? Ehh...not so sure about that one.
Bennett's teams remind me of our UK Tubby teams from 2003-2005 (although not as good IMO) with Tubby doing some good things with some undervalued guys out of HS at times, but the talent problem always kicking us in the behind in the tourney.
With advances in modern technology, I don't see why Cal couldn't coach here for another 75 or 80 years..
yup flavor of the month, how many of them have their been?
Miller
Miller number 2
Marshall
Enfield
Bennett
Bennett is way too much ots at this point.
Miller
Miller number 2
Marshall
Enfield
Bennett
Bennett is way too much ots at this point.
I'll take issue with Miller number 1. He coaches a power school. He nabs blue chips. He's won a lot of games. That's a different animal than having one or two NCAA Cinderella runs. No, he hasn't gotten himself over the hump to put himself in the conversation with Cal, K, Roy, Pitino, and Donovan, but he's the guy in the best position to do so over the next 5 years.
Some people have a tendency to dismiss him as "doing less with more:, but that's holding him to a ridiculously high standard that the other guys you listed never had to worry about. Consistently "getting more" is the key to coaching a power school, and the guys who do it are almost always derided by a certain segment of goofballs who think a top 5 recruiting class should result in a FF every year.
This post was edited on 1/21 7:06 AM by mj2k10
Boring as watching paint dry and I remember Clyde no thanks! Doesn't recruit and did I mention boring.
This is why I hope Coach O KILLS it at South Florida and Kenny Payne goes somewhere and KILLS it also.
It will be nearly impossible to follow up Cal and I really feel sorry for our next coach, but I think it would soften the blow if it were Coach O or KP
Sean Miller is a fine coach but I for the life of me can't understand being on his jock. He's never won anything, he coaches in a conference that is either equal to or worse than the SEC and has won it 2 out of 6 years at the preeminent power school, and recruits only the west coast and more specifically every elite player has come from the Oakland Soldiers and now he is going to get all those kids who Cal also offered to leave the west coast to come to UK? No freaking way. Josiah Turner, Nick Johnson, Stanley Johnson, Aaron Gordon, Brandon Ashley all Oakland Soldiers. Not going to happen. To those that say Bennnent went 15-16 and 16-15 in his first two years at Virginia, Sean Miller went 16-15 his first year at Zona and missed the tournament there for the first time in 25 years at ARIZONA and missed the tournament again in his 3rd season going 23-12. Tony Bennentt also took Washington St. to the tournament twice and went to the Sweet 16, that is more impressive really than anything Miller did at Xavier or Zona. IU tried to hire Bennentt before they hired Crean and he turned them down, thank god for that or they would have been good these last 7 years.
Even having said all that I don't really want either guy as the next UK coach but I'd sure as hell take Bennentt before I would Miller. I don't know if Fred Hoiberg would leave Ames for anything other than the NBA but we should offer him the job 1st if he would. That is assuming the unrealistic options are still unrealistic. Finally I'd love Brad Stevens to be the coach here, don't think it would ever happen, but most UK fans seem to be in agreement he'd be the 1st choice, well he and Bennentt basically play the same style of ball and Stevens honestly is a little bit more grind you into the court than Bennentt is. Although he has let this years Celtics team get out and run a bit.
This post was edited on 1/21 7:59 AM by miracle7s
Even having said all that I don't really want either guy as the next UK coach but I'd sure as hell take Bennentt before I would Miller. I don't know if Fred Hoiberg would leave Ames for anything other than the NBA but we should offer him the job 1st if he would. That is assuming the unrealistic options are still unrealistic. Finally I'd love Brad Stevens to be the coach here, don't think it would ever happen, but most UK fans seem to be in agreement he'd be the 1st choice, well he and Bennentt basically play the same style of ball and Stevens honestly is a little bit more grind you into the court than Bennentt is. Although he has let this years Celtics team get out and run a bit.
This post was edited on 1/21 7:59 AM by miracle7s
Arizona's record in the 4 years prior to Miller: 80-53. Miller's record: 143-50 (which makes him 127-35 after the first team that he inherited). And he's been to 2 Elite 8's and a Sweet 16 the last 4 years.
People act like anyone could go into Arizona and do that. I don't buy it. Too many cases of massive failure at schools like Arizona. See IU, see UCLA, see UNC with Doherty, see UK with Clyde.
As for where Miller's recruits come from, who cares? He gets top players, at a level few can match. The only schools that can really recruit nationally on any consistent basis are UK, Duke, UNC, and (sort of) Kansas.
I'm not even arguing that Miller is the obvious choice to replace Cal. I just think people hold him to an impossible standard. You had people on here last spring seriously arguing that his brother would be a better choice. The brother who had coached a whopping 3 years, with 1 tourney appearance. I find that absurd.
The issue with the "Who's next?" discussion is that there's not a whole lot out there.
There isn't a John Calipari who's going to be available. There are some guys who are aging and then there are a few unknowns. It's going to be very tricky this time around IMO when Cal leaves.
I think Bennett's a great coach but I agree that you're playing with fire with his style. This is a guy who has no problem winning games in the 40s.
There isn't a John Calipari who's going to be available. There are some guys who are aging and then there are a few unknowns. It's going to be very tricky this time around IMO when Cal leaves.
I think Bennett's a great coach but I agree that you're playing with fire with his style. This is a guy who has no problem winning games in the 40s.
Look at Pitino and Calipari
pick out what traits and accomplishments they had in common before they came here.
Apply those traits/resume to the next coach we want.
All others need not apply nor are they wanted.
simple equation.
This post was edited on 1/21 9:31 AM by TankedCat
pick out what traits and accomplishments they had in common before they came here.
Apply those traits/resume to the next coach we want.
All others need not apply nor are they wanted.
simple equation.
This post was edited on 1/21 9:31 AM by TankedCat
Shaka Smart is an awesome recruiter, plays a great style, is young, and wins big on his level. He'd be #1 on my list.
For the A-10 he may be, but a quick glance shows that Smart has never signed a 5-star player and has signed just two four-star players.
To me recruiting is the end-all requirement. Nothing else matters as far as I'm concerned. The next coach needs to have had success recruiting in the upper echelon of high school basketball, because if you bring in somebody who doesn't have that experience you run the risk of making all the amenities Kentucky's worked so hard to build over the last decade-plus go to waste.
Style of play. Charisma. Media savvy. Likeability. X's and O's. All of that to me is nonexistent next to whether the guy can recruit.
An argument could be made that Shaka Smart at Kentucky would be able to reel in 5-star players. And that may be true. But that's the same thing they said about Anthony Grant.
He's at VCU, he's not gonna be getting 5 star guys to go there. Cal had 5 McDonalds Americans in 17 years at UMass and Memphis, now he signs that many a year.
Brad Stevens I must admit I wasn't that high on him to be a future UK head coach but now I am. He has the NBA coaching experience at one of the more storied NBA programs of all time. He is very poise and could handle UK fanatic fan base. His stock with me is growing each and every year. My question is will he be able to recruit at a high level and then I thought about absolutely he could.
No one brings up Jay Wright at Villanova. I personally believe he would be fantastic at UK. He would definitely be my 1st choice for the head coach position if Cal left. I truly believe he would come on board if an offer was extended to him.
No one brings up Jay Wright at Villanova. I personally believe he would be fantastic at UK. He would definitely be my 1st choice for the head coach position if Cal left. I truly believe he would come on board if an offer was extended to him.
Yes but Cal had that reputation as a killer recruiter even going back to UMASS, and really even before that as an assistant at Pitt. Kentucky hired him as he was compiling one of the greatest classes ever...at Memphis.
You may put Smart at UK and it would be a kind of lightning-in-a-bottle situation, but it's a risk when you take on a guy who has absolutely no experience in doing the one thing that an elite college basketball coach has to do, which is luring in the best of the best.
There are some other candidates out there who do have that experience, and if I were in charge that's where I would start.
But I would certainly support Smart if he came here and he'd definitely make it exciting.
I wouldn't want Bennett, primarily because I don't think he would recruit elite talent to play his system. Cal has us spoiled.
I do take exception with the notion that Virginia is consistently playing games in the 40s. They actually average right at 70 points. Their conference scores have been in the 65-55 range...sort of like ours last night.
Now you might say that they like to play slow and we like to play fast, but the bottom line is that the results aren't much different.
I do take exception with the notion that Virginia is consistently playing games in the 40s. They actually average right at 70 points. Their conference scores have been in the 65-55 range...sort of like ours last night.
Now you might say that they like to play slow and we like to play fast, but the bottom line is that the results aren't much different.
First off, considering what Bennett was left with, a coach like him needs a few years to bring talent in that he can win with. Second Cal would not leave the cupboard bare so it would take him 2 years, third I hate when people talk about our coach leaving. How about we talk about how long he may stay. I am betting he stays til he retires, and by then who knows who the hot coach willbe at that time.
Bennett needs more time.
To make the next hire you don't make premature idiotic moves like hiring coaches who aren't ready. Coaches like Antigua are nowhere near ready and might not ever be. Bennett could be the man but we don't know that yet.
I also think all this talk of Miller could be an issue. The guy has zero personality to be the coach here. I'm not sure he'd even take it due to that. The guy hates the spotlight.
To make the next hire you don't make premature idiotic moves like hiring coaches who aren't ready. Coaches like Antigua are nowhere near ready and might not ever be. Bennett could be the man but we don't know that yet.
I also think all this talk of Miller could be an issue. The guy has zero personality to be the coach here. I'm not sure he'd even take it due to that. The guy hates the spotlight.
Not a big bball fan...used to be when Rupp coached, then Pitino, now Calipari. The tubby years put the nail in the coffin for me. Couldn't stand the boring style of play combined with moderate level of talent he recruited. Read a quote from tubby once...something like " his dream game would be a 52-48 win".....that did it for me.
If Cal ever left, I'd go straight to Petino.....just for the fun of it
. Whoever they get, he has to have a style of play that attracts players; enough charisma to recruit them; and at least average X/O skills.
If Cal ever left, I'd go straight to Petino.....just for the fun of it
Shaka Smart has had 10x the success of Anthony Grant and Billy Gillispie. I'm not sure how that's a comparison.
