The undercurrent of everyone's frustration is literally tournamentus interruptus. We didn't get to finish this season off and see what happens.
I'm starting to get frustrated, too.
- Thread starter IndyCat1995
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No, You have come to understand what many of us have been saying for a couple of years now. You simply can not lose 5/7 guys every year, and none to graduation, and expect to be a serious contender for a FF. Especially without top five recruits. Granted we have two top five guys for next year, but we also have holes, seems we always have holes. This coming year, we have no proven big man and no proven PG. This formula simply will not work.
It is amazing that a 4-7 seed team line the one we will have next year will be one of the worst Cal team’s.
It does show how good he has really been as a coach.
It does show how good he has really been as a coach.
That’s true. But I’m not the type of person who freaks out if we happen to have a year where we aren’t favorites. Next year, as it stands now, I do not see us winning the title and that’s fine. $hit happens sometimes...
Oh I don't think he was caught off guard at all. He sees these kids every day. Just because he doesn't say publicly, doesn't mean he's unaware. Part of it is the culture (and reputation in recruiting circles) that he has created. Part of it is kids today are wimps and "everybody deserves a trophy" types.
It's simple. To be down to earth with each recruit. Let them know some make the NBA in a year, some in four years, and some won't make it all.
You can't tell me Cal isn't telling these guys he'll get them to the NBA. I don't believe it.
Welcome to my not quite dark side. I came to the conclusion 6 or 7 years ago that unless Cal started structuring teams differently, he wasn't likely to win another title. The reason was quite similar to your statement "I just don't see how UK can get back to a final four so damn young. So damn talented, but when you get to that Elite 8 match-up, you really need dudes that have been there before. The Fab 5 almost did it with primarily freshman. Our cats almost did it in 2014. But it just takes so much for it to happen."
The closer you get to the title, the more the pressure builds or as I say it, the lights get brighter. These kids only hold up to so much of it. It isn't their faults, they just don't have the necessary experience. I love having Cal here but I've been frustrated for a while now.
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Exactly. They're the types who trash other fans on the board who dare criticize Cal. Just like woodwork they find their day to say "Love Cal, but ..." There is a pattern where recruits are trying to have "their" day trolling UK and Cal. When's he going to realize that?
JJ would have hardly played next year , let alone be the leading scorer
Maybe I'm simple minded but if it came down to playing ball in a foreign country, I'd just hang the sneakers up. Hagans never mentioned dreams of playing overseas. He wants to play in the NBA as would any other American kid. I understand the reality is they won't all make it though.
I also read a story a couple years ago about Goodwin, Aaron Harrison, and Dakari Johnson while playing overseas admitted that their best basketball days were behind them and stuck in Lexington.
It’s nice to see a “pumper” come to this realization. Sometimes it feels like I’m in the twilight zone with the fans that keep smiling like robots and claiming everything is ok.
I’m legitimately worried about having a less than stellar season in ‘20-‘21.
I’m legitimately worried about having a less than stellar season in ‘20-‘21.
True but that's also a bit deceiving. Many of these guys are gonna get paid base G League contracts or whatever the Romanian C League pays.
I get that. But like I said, when you have a decade full of players with the mindset that if I can't get to the NBA in two years or less, I'm quitting college with no plans on where I'm going next.
I could understand if you have a couple guys that play and are molded together that share that mindset. But from the decade between Daniel Orton to Johnny Juzang still having that mindset is mind blowing and has to be something Cal is telling these guys.
So you want him to recruit those who will never make it to the next level even after 4 years? Sounds like a Billy G team more everyday.
So what if we do have a less than stellar season? So what? It happens. It happens to literally every team and program sometimes.
Hey, the Joe Crawford's and Ramel Bradley's can play for me any day of the week. And show me where I said that. It's not about the NBA to me. It's about the University of Kentucky.So you want him to recruit those who will never make it to the next level even after 4 years? Sounds like a Billy G team more everyday.
Just remember that a lot of our frustration comes from three unique things this past year:
1. COVID basically stripping us of what should have been an Elite8 or Final 4. And now we have nothing to show for the entire season.
2. COVID forcing some guys to leave early, with an uncertain season next year.
3. ..and this one will sting.. but last year just a. didn't have a great leader and b. wasn't that cohesive. We had IQ and Richards as our standouts. But after that we had one of the worst PG's in the Cal era (Hagans), One player just up and quit (Whitney), and another transferred (Juzang). We've had some teams that didn't have ANY of these problems.. yet sure enough this year, we have quite a bit of lackluster talent and weak mentalities. That hurt for sure. It hurt this past year and it will hurt next year.
1. COVID basically stripping us of what should have been an Elite8 or Final 4. And now we have nothing to show for the entire season.
2. COVID forcing some guys to leave early, with an uncertain season next year.
3. ..and this one will sting.. but last year just a. didn't have a great leader and b. wasn't that cohesive. We had IQ and Richards as our standouts. But after that we had one of the worst PG's in the Cal era (Hagans), One player just up and quit (Whitney), and another transferred (Juzang). We've had some teams that didn't have ANY of these problems.. yet sure enough this year, we have quite a bit of lackluster talent and weak mentalities. That hurt for sure. It hurt this past year and it will hurt next year.
Exactly. Fans who pump the "number one recruiting class" drum simply miss (or choose to ignore) the bigger picture. A top 1-2 recruiting class is MANDATORY for the Cats to remain competitive at a high level each year.
Again, Cal is trying to change the approach (or maybe is being forced to change) but it's proving impossible at the moment. The brand is what it is right now. The bigger question is whether folks believe Cal is the coach to put UK in the best position to compete for a title over the next 5-7 years.
I love it when people starts threads trying to set the tone that they aren’t trying to bash Cal but yet they end up doing it lol.
An isolated incident does not a trend make. So tired of people looking at one individual situation and acting as if that completley invalidates an opinion formed over 11 yrs worth of data. Incredibly lazy way to try to form a rebuttal. Do better next time. Even Ronnie Millsap can see thinga have changed and we arent quite what we were at the beginning of Cal's tenure. If you dont see it, you are actively choosing not to.
Very true and officiating was extremely bad first half especially. That said, up 5 with like 4 to play we have to finish the deal against UNC. To go from up 5 to down 7 (I think) in a span of 2-3 minutes is pathetic execution on offense and defense...and then to somehow tie it up in the last minute was epic...only to lose to some guy that wears makeup on a BS shot. I agree about Auburn, but we still had a good shot with 10 seconds or so to go and even got an offensive rebound I believe and missed again (I try to forget that game as it still annoys me).
Yeah, but uncheat hit everything they threw up during that stretch. Hell, just take away the offensive goal tends they called on Bam alone and that’s like another 6 points I believe. None of which were offensive goaltending. They literally took three buckets from us.
Not to mention, the offensive goaltending that Maye got away with, which was 2 more points we were screwed out of. That one was more of goaltending than any of the ones Bam was whistled for.
Anyway, we’re ahead by a dozen or so at that juncture, instead of 5. That’s not taking any other BS calls into account, just the goaltending ones. Let that sink in.
In what 10-11 years? We’ve basically had 1 season that I would call a horrible job. And even in that season we lost our beast of a center that was swatting everything. Do we need a center for next year? Yes. But if if the absolute worst happens and we add not a single soul to the incoming class, that team is still top 15 and has the potential to be better.
So you didn’t complain about Tubby or Billy Gs results as long as players stayed around. That is total BS
might agree on JJ, but EJ didn't want to come back last year
he did not improve much at all in 2 years & was a major disappointment
My concerns go in a different way. Will there even be a 2020/21 college basketball season? I at least believe the future of all spectator sports is in question until we have a vaccine. I raced a 2004 Corvette Z06 with SCCA and NASA for years. Why can’t Formula 1, NASCAR, and Indy Car have events? Fans aren’t needed, and precautions can be taken. I want to watch a live sporting event. I know everyone else here does as well. And hey they’d help out the oil industry. Racing cars burns a lot of gas.
He has to stop recruiting these NBA guys and get guys who are going to stay 4 years Bobby Perry, Sheray Thomas, Derrick Willis, etc Then we can gripe about his recruiting. Well some already are
Some of us have have been saying this for 2 years. After the Wisconsin loss Cal lost a lot of his edge. Not sure he will ever make another elite 8 much less a final four or title. The G league will be the final nail.
I'm right there with you. I mean losing a guy to BYU who has a loaded frontcourt already including a 6ft10 and 6ft11 guys that followed Pope from his old school and sit out last year to play minutes this year for sure. I mean it's like no big man wants anything to do with UK. It's gotten to the point of very odd.
Of course, some fans will take what you said and run with it like we are the Cleveland Browns. I'm frustrated right now too, but Cal usually finds away. I do admit this is going to be one of his toughest challenges. Thank God Clarke and Boston picked UK.
Well apparently a lot of our former players seem to be cool with it. Playing professionally in a place like that seems to be the better option than staying at UK for a sophomore or junior season.
Come on man, don’t go down that rabbit hole. You know perfectly well what I meant. So was Nate or Reid ever a freshman at UK? They had already graduated and you know it. So what exactly is your point?
Here is a list of things the pumpers will all say next year:
games in November dont really matter
Have to play scrub teams at home because we are so young
wait till Camp Cal
wait till February
wait till March
cal will announce a tweak
wash, rinse, repeat
News flash. Last 4 years are close to last 4 years of Tubby, only we have had far better pure talent the last 4 years than Tubby had.
Neither did Nick, but Nicks third year shoed major improvement.
Do we have a vaccine for the flu? No. We may never have a vaccine for this thing.
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