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Kentucky is the only college program in the history of basketball that just...

How good were those guys in college?

Simple question. Are you willing to answer it?



And you make it seem like average 13 to 14 points per game in the NBA in year #1, as a 19 year old, somehow negates them from having been All-SEC level or All-American level players in college, which many of them were.

And you factoring in Randle's 2ppg in one lone game where he broke his leg in the his first NBA game, and after he led UK to a runner-up as a third team All-American in college, as a way to persuade us that he wasn't legitimate in college, is entirely laughable.

Surely you can do better?
I posted Randle’s 2nd year numbers dummy.
 
I've never understood how he promotes all the guys he's single handedly put in the NBA, but takes zero accountability for the lack of results with all that talent. Really highlights what John Calipari thinks is his priority is as head coach.
He doesn't have the fire required to be a winner of multiple titles. In 2012 after he finally won one, CCC said something like: "Glad this is over with"

What kinda statement is that?
 
Not sure what this has to do when they were 18 years old and at UK. Raw, inexperienced talent isn't the same as having those guys for 3 or 4 years like you get these types in football or used to in basketball.

That said, everyone agrees we should have won at least one more title from 2010 to 2017.
 
@Woodrow_Call_1998 , a little off topic, but I absolutely loved Lonesome Dove when I was a kid. SPOILER for those who haven't seen it:

Cried like a baby when Gus died

To this day, Robert Duvall is my favorite actor because of that performance.

tumblr_pigsygmzdK1xekk7jo1_500.gif
 
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So are you willing to answer the question: how good were those guys in college?
Chill. Not sure why you’re getting so upset. My post was to bring a little context because the OP was making it out to be as if they got out of high school ready to throw up 20 ppg averages. And of course they were good in college but it took them awhile to acclimate to the speed of the game. In SGA’s case , he didn’t break through til midway through the SEC schedule.
 
@Woodrow_Call_1998 , a little off topic, but I absolutely loved Lonesome Dove when I was a kid. SPOILER for those who haven't seen it:

Cried like a baby when Gus died

To this day, Robert Duvall is my favorite actor because of that performance.

tumblr_pigsygmzdK1xekk7jo1_500.gif
One of my favorite’s for years. The acting is phenomenal in that movie. If anyone hasn’t watched it, it’s a great western.
 
Not sure what this has to do when they were 18 years old and at UK. Raw, inexperienced talent isn't the same as having those guys for 3 or 4 years like you get these types in football or used to in basketball.

That said, everyone agrees we should have won at least one more title from 2010 to 2017.
You're a smart poster, so it's strange to me that you're going to play the "Raw, inexperienced," card. Does it really matter if they lack experience on the college level but perform like All-SEC or All-American-level players? Experience becomes an irrelevant component when you have Derrick Rose, John Wall, or Anthony Davis on your roster.



All SEC and 1st team All-American John Wall?
All SEC and 2nd Team All-American DeMarcus Cousins?
All SEC 1st Team Patrick Patterson? ** junior
ALL SEC 1st team Brandon Knight?
All SEC 1st team Terrence Jones?
All SEC 1st team Anthony Davis?
All SEC 1st team Michael Gilchrist?
NPOY Anthony Davis?
1st team All-American Anthony Davis?
2nd team All-American Michael Gilchrist?
1st team All-SEC and defensive player of the year Nerlens Noel?
1st team All-SEC Julius Randle?
2nd team All-SEC James Young?
3rd team All-American Julius Randle?
1st Team All-SEC Karl Towns?
1st Team All-American Willie Cauley-Stein? ** junior
3rd team All-American Karl Towns?
2nd team All-SEC Devin Booker?
1st team All-SEC Jamal Murray?
1st team All-American Tyler Ulis? ** sophomore
3rd team All-American Jamal Murray?
1st team All-SEC Malik Monk?
2nd team All-American Malik Monk?
1st team All-SEC De'Aaron Fox?
2nd team All-SEC Bam Adebayo?
1st team All-SEC Kevin Knox?
2nd team All-SEC Shai Gilgeous-Alexander?
1st team All-SEC PJ Washington? ** sophomore
3rd team All-American PJ Washington?
2nd team All-SEC Tyler Herro?
2nd team All-SEC Keldon Johnson?
1st team All-SEC Immanuel Quickley? ** sophomore
2nd team All-SEC Tyrese Maxey?
2nd team All-SEC Ty Ty Washington?
1st team All-American Oscar Tshiebwe? ** junior and senior


These guys were all legit in college.

Obviously they grew and developed exponentially in the NBA, but let's not pretend that they weren't legitimate college players, because they certainly were.
 
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One of my favorite’s for years. The acting is phenomenal in that movie. If anyone hasn’t watched it, it’s a great western.
It doesn't get any better than having Tommy Lee Jones and Robert Duvall costar in a western.

Danny Glover was also at the height of his powers back then. Factor in some eye candy in the form of a prime-level Diane Lane, and it's cinematic heaven.
 
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7/36 from three.

Lots of good looks, too.

UK was still close at 52-56 with a few minutes left, despite the horrific shooting.

Pitino adjusted the next season and installed an inside-out game that went through Antoine Walker.

Credit Pitino. He actually made adjustments when he was embarrassed on national television, and it paid off with the most exciting season of college basketball in BBN history with that 1996 team.
Was not afraid to take Rhodes' heart. Difficult but what was best to win.
 
That is a lot of talent but the other side is that those were one and dones who needed more time to mature. A Freshman future superstar isn't as valuable as a senior who was a 4 star in HS. I think your post does more to demonstrate the downside of recruiting one and dones.

I remember being bashed in the past for saying that it took more than talent to win a title. Experience goes a long long way.
The fact that he pushed them out far outweighs the fact that they needed time to mature. His refusal to build teams that can win titles is the problem, not that he got unlucky and all those players just happened to get better after a season.
 
7/36 from three.

Lots of good looks, too.

UK was still close at 52-56 with a few minutes left, despite the horrific shooting.

Pitino adjusted the next season and installed an inside-out game that went through Antoine Walker.

Credit Pitino. He actually made adjustments when he was embarrassed on national television, and it paid off with the most exciting season of college basketball in BBN history with that 1996 team.
After that game,Pitino said on the radio that he apologized to UK fans for the loss and promised he would correct the problems during the off season...he did..Rhodes left,we got Ron Mercer and Derrick Anderson on board and won the whole damn thing in 96
 
After that game,Pitino said on the radio that he apologized to UK fans for the loss and promised he would correct the problems during the off season...he did..Rhodes left,we got Ron Mercer and Derrick Anderson on board and won the whole damn thing in 96
Cal's priority is NBA legacy. He still has the ego, but it isn't prioritized by what UK does on the court. That's secondary for him. His priority is what happens to his players on the NBA level.

Pitino's legacy and ego was always directly connected to what he did on the court, with whatever team was under his direct oversight. It's why he was so clearly embarrassed with what happened to him at Boston. By contrast, his Louisville off-the-court stuff never really derailed him because it wasn't associated with his actual coaching. That's why he made a bigger issue about his Celtics on-the-court failure than his Louisville off-the-court moral failures.

Meanwhile, Calipari could fail to make the Sweet Sixteen five years in a row here, and it would bother him, but he'd be okay with that as long as he adds another 5 or 6 NBA All-Stars to his legacy.

By the way, these aren't my words. They're Cal's words. He clearly stated in January that helping his kids progress is more important than maintaining Kentucky records.
 
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Cal's priority is NBA legacy. He still has the ego, but it isn't prioritized by what UK does on the court. That's secondary for him. His priority is what happens to his players on the NBA level.

Pitino's legacy and ego was always directly connected to what he did on the court, with whatever team was under his direct oversight. It's why he was so clearly embarrassed with what happened to him at Boston. By contrast, his Louisville off-the-court stuff never really derailed him because it wasn't associated with his actual coaching. That's why he made a bigger issue about his Celtics on-the-court failure than his Louisville off-the-court moral failures.

Meanwhile, Calipari could fail to make the Sweet Sixteen five years in a row here, and it would bother him, but he'd be okay with that as long as he adds another 5 or 6 NBA All-Stars to his legacy.

By the way, these aren't my words. They're Cal's words. He clearly stated in January that helping his kids progress is more important than maintaining Kentucky records.
I agree absolutely.i have been fortunate to be able to watch both Pitino and Calipari helm UK.For me and I get some will disagree,but Pitino is the better coach AT UK...Forget all the off court shit,when you compare the tenure of each one here,Pitino did more with less and Calipari has done less with more.That shouldn't even be debated.
 
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You're a smart poster, so it's strange to me that you're going to play the "Raw, inexperienced," card. Does it really matter if they lack experience on the college level but perform like All-SEC or All-American-level players? Experience becomes an irrelevant component when you have Derrick Rose, John Wall, or Anthony Davis on your roster.



All SEC and 1st team All-American John Wall?
All SEC and 2nd Team All-American DeMarcus Cousins?
All SEC 1st Team Patrick Patterson? ** junior
ALL SEC 1st team Brandon Knight?
All SEC 1st team Terrence Jones?
All SEC 1st team Anthony Davis?
All SEC 1st team Michael Gilchrist?
NPOY Anthony Davis?
1st team All-American Anthony Davis?
2nd team All-American Michael Gilchrist?
1st team All-SEC and defensive player of the year Nerlens Noel?
1st team All-SEC Julius Randle?
2nd team All-SEC James Young?
3rd team All-American Julius Randle?
1st Team All-SEC Karl Towns?
1st Team All-American Willie Cauley-Stein? ** junior
3rd team All-American Karl Towns?
2nd team All-SEC Devin Booker?
1st team All-SEC Jamal Murray?
1st team All-American Tyler Ulis? ** sophomore
3rd team All-American Jamal Murray?
1st team All-SEC Malik Monk?
2nd team All-American Malik Monk?
1st team All-SEC De'Aaron Fox?
2nd team All-SEC Bam Adebayo?
1st team All-SEC Kevin Knox?
2nd team All-SEC Shai Gilgeous-Alexander?
1st team All-SEC PJ Washington? ** sophomore
3rd team All-American PJ Washington?
2nd team All-SEC Tyler Herro?
2nd team All-SEC Keldon Johnson?
1st team All-SEC Immanuel Quickley? ** sophomore
2nd team All-SEC Tyrese Maxey?
2nd team All-SEC Ty Ty Washington?
1st team All-American Oscar Tshiebwe? ** junior and senior


These guys were all legit in college.

Obviously they grew and developed exponentially in the NBA, but let's not pretend that they weren't legitimate college players, because they certainly were.
Great points but what the one and done has showed us is that you generally have to mix freshman talent with seasoned players. The problem is the last few years our freshman haven't been elite and our upperclassmen were slightly above average. You gotta get it right when you only have 6 months with most of these dudes.
 
8-NBA+2.jpg


...had 11 former players finish the NBA regular season averaging at least 20 points per game in an NBA season.

Bam Adebayo - 20.6 ppg
Devin Booker - 27.8 ppg
Anthony Davis - 26.1 ppg
De'Aaron Fox - 25.2 ppg
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander - 31.4 ppg
Tyler Herro - 20.3 ppg
Keldon Johnson - 22 ppg
Tyrese Maxey - 20.3 ppg
Jamal Murray - 20 ppg
Julius Randle - 25.1 ppg
Karl Towns - 20.4 ppg

No other college program has come even close to that mark.

Yet, we only have one title under Calipari.

All that talent.

One title.
 
And the only reason he has the one is because of a once in a lifetime phenom AD and the experience of Darius Miller whom he didn’t recruit.
Wait, you think Miller was a key to that run? More so than Terrance Jones (who he DID recruit) and Doran Lamb coming back for sophomore years???? Come on now guys.
 
I've never understood how he promotes all the guys he's single handedly put in the NBA, but takes zero accountability for the lack of results with all that talent. Really highlights what John Calipari thinks is his priority is as head coach.
Great point. Careful ... you may provoke his daughters for pointing out the truth.
 
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8-NBA+2.jpg


...had 11 former players finish the NBA regular season averaging at least 20 points per game in an NBA season.

Bam Adebayo - 20.6 ppg
Devin Booker - 27.8 ppg
Anthony Davis - 26.1 ppg
De'Aaron Fox - 25.2 ppg
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander - 31.4 ppg
Tyler Herro - 20.3 ppg
Keldon Johnson - 22 ppg
Tyrese Maxey - 20.3 ppg
Jamal Murray - 20 ppg
Julius Randle - 25.1 ppg
Karl Towns - 20.4 ppg

No other college program has come even close to that mark.

Yet, we only have one title under Calipari.

All that talent.

One title.
Hey champ, it’s obvious you don’t understand a one and done tournament especially when playing freshman for one year. It’s okay you have plenty of similar company on this site, so you’re in the right place.
 
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But…he’s had results? Multiple All-Americans. Multiple Consensus NPOYs. Multiple deep tourney runs. It’s just harder than ever to win now because the talent is so much more spread out. I just don’t get some of y’all that bash Cal religiously.

Yea, there’s plenty of fair criticism to go around but when I see people bashing Cal for “choking” the nearly undefeated season away I just have to laugh. Like y’all are mad that he lost ONE GAME that year lol. One game! Do you know how insane it is to be undefeated all the way to the Final Four these days? Especially as a Power 5 school that played a MAJOR non-conf schedule that year?
Nobody is cherry picking ONE game. The guy has had talent like the game has never even seen before. And he's quick to plaster that all over Kraft. We want to see that talent in the form of banners in Rupp. Nobody expects Cal to win it every year. But lately, Cal just seems completely lost and disinterested. In fact, the only fire he shows is taking little shots at fans. He can't win meaniful games anymore and is regularly outcoached by mediocre coaches.
 
Or, conversely, the amount of coaching and player talent across the country is greater than ever before and Kentucky hasn’t had that elite group of players since Fox/Bam/Monk. The one time they truly did was the year with Jr Nick Richards, Sophomore IQ, Freshman Maxey.

That team also had Freshman year Hagans who was a stud (remember how he dominated UNC???) and EJ Montgomery who finally seemed to have figured it out late that year.

The tourney just happened to be canceled that year. Tough break. We’re going to be a likely 2 seed, maybe a 1 if you win the SEC tourney, and was a top 3 betting favorite to win the whole thing.
Just stop. You know darn well this isn't 'everyone getting better'. While their may be a small percentage that, it's crystal clear to any objective fan that Cal has simply lost something. All the simple in game failures and lack of prep is undeniable. And he knows it. That's why he's irritable towards fans and skips post game pressers.
 
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Just stop. You know darn well this isn't 'everyone getting better'. While their may be a small percentage that, it's crystal clear to any objective fan that Cal has simply lost something. All the simple in game failures and lack of prep is undeniable. And he knows it. That's why he's irritable towards fans and skips post game pressers.
It’s a combination of other programs getting better and Kentucky not having the high end talent. They’ve been relying on a dinosaur post player and mid-major transfer guys to be the backbone of the team the past 4 years. That simply doesn’t equate to success, especially in the tourney environment in which you simply have to have a guy who can put you on his back for a 3-4 game stretch against good teams. Kentucky hasn’t had that in recent years.
 
But…he’s had results? Multiple All-Americans. Multiple Consensus NPOYs. Multiple deep tourney runs. It’s just harder than ever to win now because the talent is so much more spread out. I just don’t get some of y’all that bash Cal religiously.

Yea, there’s plenty of fair criticism to go around but when I see people bashing Cal for “choking” the nearly undefeated season away I just have to laugh. Like y’all are mad that he lost ONE GAME that year lol. One game! Do you know how insane it is to be undefeated all the way to the Final Four these days? Especially as a Power 5 school that played a MAJOR non-conf schedule that year?
Cal could have assembled two top 5 teams from that one 2015 roster, but yet he still lost, when it counted the most. He admitted later that he didn't watch any tape on Wisconsin prior to the game. What HOF coach does that? Cal can't coach and is unprepared b/c he can't coach. Wholesale OAD is a disaster for UK but Cal uses it to fashion what he believes he wants his "legacy" to look like and that legacy has nothing to do with specific achievement for UK/Program. It's just a fact. BBN unrest continues to grow and something soon will have to give. Calipari's priorities are not WITH/FOR the UK Basketball Program nor Tradition. Those don't matter to him, just as he's stated. He's a Carpetbagging Clown Coach that is fleecing the University with his self-serving Wholesale OAD fraud. The changes in college basketball have not been so extreme and dramatic to have been responsible for the epic collapse under Calipari ... no, the collapse is because of Calipari who doggedly clings to his Wholesale OAD approach without adapting in any way. The UK platform offers any HONEST coach an advantage unmatched in college basketball, yet Cal's malfeasance and ignorance continues to drive the Program into the ditch. Continue to polish that turd if you must but that's on you. Your complaint of us who do point it out makes the rest of us question your loyalty to the PROGRAM. There are those of you who are just Cal fans FIRST. Cal wouldn't be here if it hadn't been for the PROGRAM ... yep, the PROGRAM that he is destroying.
 
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Good try.

Pitino, 1 title in 6 years of eligibility = 17% title success rate.
3 Final Fours in 6 years of eligibility = 50% success rate.
5 Elite Eight in 6 years of eligibility = 83% success rate.

Calipari:

1 title in 13 eligible seasons = 8% title success rate.
4 Final Fours in 13 eligible seasons = 31% success rate.
7 Elite Eights in 13 eligible seasons = 54% success rate.

Where, exactly, is Calipari demonstrably better than Pitino when it comes to actually winning at Kentucky?

And there's no reasonable humans alive, anywhere on the planet, who would but Tubby Smith behind BCG or Sutton.
Cal has been here double the time, why not do the first 6 years of Cal at UK so the timeframes matchup?

Obviously Cal hasn’t kept the same kind of success going, but who’s to say Pitino would have? He probably doesn’t.
 
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Cal has been here double the time, why not do the first 6 years of Cal at UK so the timeframes matchup?

Obviously Cal hasn’t kept the same kind of success going, but who’s to say Pitino would have? He probably doesn’t.

Most of us remember all the good times he's brought us, even the last six years...destroying Kansas and UNC last year, sweeping UT this year, the first six years, etc. The one's that never shut up unless they are entertained 100% of the time aren't worth the keyboard they rant on.
 
It’s a combination of other programs getting better and Kentucky not having the high end talent. They’ve been relying on a dinosaur post player and mid-major transfer guys to be the backbone of the team the past 4 years. That simply doesn’t equate to success, especially in the tourney environment in which you simply have to have a guy who can put you on his back for a 3-4 game stretch against good teams. Kentucky hasn’t had that in recent years.
I'm not saying any of that isn't true. I'm simply adding that that doesn't account for why Kentucky basketball has become, what the vast majority consider, many levels below where Kentucky basketball should be. Personally, I believe the main reasons are Cal's in game coaching, prep, roster construction/retention, and now simply the culture.
 
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