Let’s make the NCAAT first. It hasn’t been easy with Cal at the helm the last 3 years…
"kentucky is about to shock the college basketball world"
- Thread starter kyjeff1
- Start date
Once again it could be the dream team with MJ, Magic and Larry Bird.
Calipari is still the coach, which means CYE!!!
Calipari is still the coach, which means CYE!!!
This can be summed up in like 7 statements:
1) Kentucky will be extremely talented.
2) it will probably be January before you all start to gel
3) your cieling is as high as any team in the country
4) your floor is an early March exit as a 5-6 seed
5) Those who worry about “making” the tournament are crazy.
6) Cal has been frequently outcoached lately but has a team that better fits his style this year than last—needs high end guards to create as opposed to playing through post.
7) Aside from y’all in 2012, and Duke in 2015…. Teams that rely heavily on Freshmen don’t win championships. Still should be a fun year overall.
1) Kentucky will be extremely talented.
2) it will probably be January before you all start to gel
3) your cieling is as high as any team in the country
4) your floor is an early March exit as a 5-6 seed
5) Those who worry about “making” the tournament are crazy.
6) Cal has been frequently outcoached lately but has a team that better fits his style this year than last—needs high end guards to create as opposed to playing through post.
7) Aside from y’all in 2012, and Duke in 2015…. Teams that rely heavily on Freshmen don’t win championships. Still should be a fun year overall.
Quite the contrary, if Hart averages that many then it means something went very wrong with Reeves/Wagner/Sheppard …because that’s the only way he could get enough minutes for that to even be possible.
The OP’s link is just clueless cheerleader-ism.
Quite the doubt! I think it doesn’t mean something went wrong but that it went right. I think it is possible he gets that many minutes.
See how opinions work! 😉
You're finally getting what's going on this off year. This team is going to score a lot of points. How's the defense going to be. That's the real question on getting the elite eight or final four. If the defense can be elite, they have a real shot at it.
And it will be because Cal demands his players to play tough D or they will sit.
Losing is not an option.
Losing has been a pretty strong option lately.
On paper.
We can go back and read summertime Rafters comments every year since Cal got here, we rave about the talent Cal has amassed and yes, we did it the entire 2020 summer too.
Hopefully this will be different, but I'm not buying the hype any more, I need to see it.
Cal demands his players have a draft status or they will sit. Cohesion as a unit and team play matters little to the sham wow salesman. Green Room is better than UK winning.
If losing isn't an option. You should have told our 2020-21 team that. You remember the team that went 9-16.
That was an obvious total catastrophe of a team from a talent standpoint.
Cal has proven that when he has talent, he gets results.
This team has talent, without a doubt.
Big Z would give us 5 probable NBA Draft Picks next summer, 3 within lottery range and 2 second rounders, but maybe Big Z can play his way into a first (Edwards, Wagner, Bradshaw, Big Z, Dilly).
PLUS other truly impactful high-major guys that are all-conference level talents (Reeves, Mitchell), and a couple of role players (Sheppard, Thiero, Ugo).
That is a team that, without a doubt, is talented enough to make a big run if they can put it all together.
I expect us to be top-10 the majority of the year.
Thing is, so many people on here go on and on about how great the talent is that Cal brought in, then get chippy with guys like me that get on Cal for losing 10+ games and getting beat early in the tournament.
Then, the excuse is that the talent really wasn't all that good, even though another 2 or 3 guys get drafted, many of them in the first round, or lottery.
So again, we are ALL saying the talent on our next team is incredible. Well, okay, but my question is, what are you guys going to say if we don't win the SEC, don't win the SECT and get ousted early in the tournament again? What are you going to say if we lose to most of the ranked teams we play and what are you going to say if Cal loses 10 games again?
When ate you guys going to start holding Cal accountable instead of making excuses for the losing?
Of course Cal does better with more talent, but don't all coaches do better with top talent? Seems the best coaches are winning big with less talented players, why?
Then, the excuse is that the talent really wasn't all that good, even though another 2 or 3 guys get drafted, many of them in the first round, or lottery.
So again, we are ALL saying the talent on our next team is incredible. Well, okay, but my question is, what are you guys going to say if we don't win the SEC, don't win the SECT and get ousted early in the tournament again? What are you going to say if we lose to most of the ranked teams we play and what are you going to say if Cal loses 10 games again?
When ate you guys going to start holding Cal accountable instead of making excuses for the losing?
Of course Cal does better with more talent, but don't all coaches do better with top talent? Seems the best coaches are winning big with less talented players, why?
I think you're getting confused with the ultimate point.
Us not having the talent to win enough IS Cal's fault. That isn't me or anyone else making excuses for him, it's CAL'S fault when the talent isn't there to win at the level we should be.
And since 2015, the talent has largely not been there.
2017/2019/2020 are the exceptions to this.
2017 was good enough to win the title, but UNC was just as good and
2019 was an epic collapse in the Elite Eight and that's on Cal.
2020, we'll never know.
Every other year, we didn't have the talent to be truly elite and that is also CAL'S FAULT.
So what exactly is your issue with my post here?
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Sorry I meant Luke Maye. They are brothers- Drake Maye is UNC's QB and is Luke Mayes younger brother.
Hopefully after the Kansas game we'll be too ten. On paper we're really good. I think we seen a glimpse of that in Canada. It's hard not to be excited although I do know better.
In the history of college basketball, has anyone done less with as much talent as Cal had in 2021?
No, I'm not confused at all.
Read what I'm saying. Every summer, we brag about how great the talent is on the upcoming team. We dive head first into the hype.
But, is it just hype? Is it? Every year Cal has lottery picks and first rounders. That’s more talent than anyone else. But they underachieved at UK, why?
But then, after I critisize Cal, a lot of you guys attack me as you defend the guy. I don't get it.
Now, you say 17, 19 and 20 were the exception. I call BS. 2018 had 8 draft picks on it, including SGA, who is owning the NBA these days. Why isn't 2018 making the list? The talent was there. Can't use youth and inexperience as an excuse, because Cal is choosing to go that route.
Now, lets talk about 2021. He had 2 projected lottery picks and one other first rounder. The talent was there, he just didn't use it properly. Boston stunk it up, but he had length and athletesism, that’s what Cal goes after.
What about 2022? Cal had Tyty and a NPOY winner. Again, he had more talent than most.
2023, again, he had a NPOY winner, a lottery pick, a first rounder and a dead eye shooter that dropped 37 at Arkansas. Who had more talent?
Oh I fully understand, but what you guys don't get is we have a coach that relies on 'potential' talent instead of proven college veteran talent. What wins in college?
Sure, if you can get an Edwards, Fox, Wall, Towns, Randle, or an AD every year, yeah, go with it, but that's not happening and you guys defend Cal. You only do this if draft picks is your #1 goal. You wouldn't do this if winning college games and titles was the goal.
Well, Larry Brown did have Shaq three straight years and never made a FF.
It's amusing that the same guy who just called out a poster for inadvertently writing Luke Maye's brothers name (ie. Drake) now seems to think that "Larry Brown" coached Shaq.
And it's the same guy that's over on the football board giving it to fans for being negative and not knowing football. If you follow college football you know who Drake Maye is.
Talent has never been the problem....got plenty of that...it is the coaching that you need to worry about.
Thing is, do we actually know this to be the case? I mean we all think this but this is why I just think it's better to take a wait and see approach with this stuff. Honestly there was two seasons in this entire era where I felt completely comfortable about being hyped about this team.......2012 and 2015.
Not even just from a talent standpoint but lets say they are what we think they are from that viewpoint. It's still freshman. The real wildcard then becomes how long does it take for each of these guys to figure it out and play at their peak level.
I don't like to make excuses. For anyone. If this team has a bad season, that's on the players and that's on Cal. Period. But I'm willing to give people some slack here with this. There's a tendency to overrate what you have. All fanbases do this. Everyone looks "amazing" in practice. How many times do we sit here and hear about these practice reports and such and such looks like a brand new player. Then we get to the season and they give us exactly the same production as they did in previous years lol.
This team should be good. But I'm not going to make predictions on how good until they play some actual games against real competition.
Yeah, it definitely is best to wait and see, but the frustration set in many years ago. At some point Cal has to do something with the talent he has been getting, or move to a proven formula, which is player development over several years. That's what the most successful teams are doing.
We can't keep hoping for lighting in a bottle (a generational talent + a #2 pick + an NBA lockout). This one-and-done stuff just doesn't work, unless Cal gets a couple of guys every year that can overcome youth, experience and lack of skill.
On paper, 23/24 UK looks legit, but we say that every year.
I'm just ready for Cal and his culture to move on, it's not working.
