Fan of him and Abdur Rahim at South Florida as young coaches to watch.
Mark Story: Oats coming to Kentucky for a rehearsal?
- Thread starter Smashcat
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Nor do I because I think Mitch will be fired too.
COWiprairie does not know how to run the “picket fence” play, nor does he know how to run almost any play, but he knows how to run his mouth!
Well, if Mitch gets fired, I’d say Oats would get a look. But I don’t see Mitch getting fired. Wouldn’t mind it though.
Here's Alabama's History in the NCAA Tournament: 25-24, 9 Sweet 16 Appearances.
Oats has 2 of those Sweet 16 Appearances and 4 of those 25 all time wins. EVER.
He's in his 5th year at the big time level and has won 2 regular season SEC championships (with a chance at a 3rd) and 2 SEC Tournaments (with a chance for 3rd).
He's at the most recognized and FB dominant school in the country and if you want to argue about Michigan or Ohio State, fine-then in the entire Southeast and top 3 FB centered in the country. Cal is whining about FB program getting preferential treatment, Oats is winning championships while being in Nick Saban's shadow up until last Month.
With Kentucky's brand/resources behind him, I'd love to see what he could do. I know he'd fill Rupp up again. His scheduling philosophy would galvanize the fanbase and he's like a 2024 version of Rick Pitino albeit his "Providence" is Alabama. One thing to remember-many were blasting Pitino's approach to 3pt line in his era when he was at Providence. He was so far ahead of his time, he revolutionized the sport of CBB. Oats didn't get that benefit but he's doing something different in approach and having tremendous success with it. Nobody can argue he's not been successful. If you listen to Cal and everyone else in SEC talk, they make it seem like each game is playing the '92 US Olympic Dream Team, so he must be doing something right. He loses players/coaches and just keeps going. He's open minded about recruiting and adapts/adjusts.
Most importantly to me, he'd be able to come into the program and salvage many recruits because he was heavily involved with Fland, Richmond, Perry, and could bring a few too that are talented/good fits for how he likes to play. All for this-hope it happens. I'm done with Chaotic Cal and the emotionally draining seasons of him pretending to care but having long lost his fastball.
If Oats comes here it will be over Barnies dead body.
Barnhart is a major problem and has greatly contributed to why Kentucky basketball is in the mess they are. He needs to be fired. At "best"-not involved in the coaching search. Let the big $ people handle this and stay the **** in his corner wherever he's hiding. Guy is like El Chapo right now. Can't find him anywhere to comment about the state of things.
Would love to see him have to watch the team play under Oats in a full building with championships coming down. He could stay off the podium and go hug a stuffed animal or whatever he does when the teams actually win? Or does he sneak off and cheer for Kansas?
Remember BCG and TX A&M beat Pitino and UL in Rupp in the 2nd round of the NCAAT in 2007. That 'rehearsal' didn't end well.
I'd love to have Calipari forced to attend every game under Oat's watch, but have Cal's mouth duct-taped so he can't negatively influence what the program is trying to recover from and get back to.
Oats has a personality he'd tell Calipari to STFU. LOL
That's pre Madonnas around here.
We might be the 5th best team in the SEC.
Oats has been my pic since the beginning and I've never wavered.
Mitch didn't make the call to hire Cal last time around. He's not going to be making the decision unilaterally this time either.
Kentucky doesn't get a pass this time. Kentucky has crumbled in the tourney the past 3 years. We haven't gotten to the Sweet 16 in the past 2 years either. Crumbling has been Kentucky's middle name the past 3 years.
What does that have to do with college basketball?
Relying on college players, who are consistently inconsistent (hence they are college players) when shooting 3s, is completely different then relying on professionals who have done this their whole career.
Plus, NBA playoffs are a series, not one and done. So even if a team has an off night, they are far from eliminated...can't say that about the NCAA tourney.
Oats has yet to prove anything in March with his style of play...other than Bama going 3-27 against SDSU from 3...
I wouldn’t hate Oats here but he has to change the philosophy of live and die by the 3 because come tournament time, you’re going to die. You just won’t have 6 games where you shoot the ball well. While I think he would win a lot more regular seasons games here than Cal has the past 5 years, I don’t think the tournament success would be much different than Cal.
Ralph you make some excellent points….but if we can get Scott Drew (and I think we can) I’d rather have the guy who won the championship with the best team. Rather than the guy who couldn’t even make the Final Four with the best team. There is room to respectfully disagree here and I suspect you might. But Drew has enough post-season success for me and Oates doesn’t yet. And I rate Baylor at the same level of resources and program as I do Bama.
That's Oats in your profile pic? Looks like Oscar the Grouch with a cowboy hat
Seriously, I know what you mean
Yes I know. See my other posts. I meant if it were Mitch, I don’t think he would interview him at all.
The main problem is that there is no Mike Pratt to intervene. Who will take that role now? Former players that built this program need to be involved.
I don't think it's so much that he crumbles. It's that his offensive philosophy is just incompatible with winning six straight games in a single elimination tournament. Shooting that many 3s leaves you extremely vulnerable for an early upset, and that's how they lost last year in the Sweet 16.
It's a good strategy for regular season success. If you have good shooters and take that many 3s over the course of a season you'll win a lot of games. Have a cold night once every 5 or 6 games and it's not an issue, you'll still pile up wins.
But once things change and all it takes is one loss to end your season that strategy becomes a lot riskier. You have to shoot well for six straight games. Go cold for just a half in the Sweet 16 and you're going home.
I know nothing about him other than what I saw in game last night.
Example 1. We come out in the second half and hit back to back 3's to go up 15. Immediate time out even though only 58 seconds had elapsed in the second half. Made adjustments on offense and goes on a 13-2 run in 2 minutes.
Your HOF coach stared in space until the entire 15 point lead went up in smoke without calling a timeout or making any kind of adjustments to stop the LSU run.
HOF coach takes his leading scorer out with 3 fouls and keeps him on bench while team struggles to score and falls behind.
Leading scorer ends game with 3 fouls.
Is he from Murray State? Then that's where Cal needs to be coaching until he can get some experience on how to close out games.
The big difference being college players aren't nearly as skilled or as good shooters as the NBA guys. There's a reason every team doesn't take 35 3s a game. The shooters at the college level just aren't as good and you'd need a team full of them.
Oats' approach is feast of famine. The chances that famine strikes for even 10 minutes during the tournament and sends you home early is very high. Over the course of a season it normalizes itself so you rack up a lot of wins. But it's risky when a single loss ends your season.
What does that have to do with anything I said??
By the way, we all crucified Cal for allowing UK to shoot 4/32 from deep in an Elite 8 loss to WVA and not putting a stop to the shooting and adjusting...
Well Oats did the exact same thing against SDSU. They shot 3/27, and Oats didn't do one darn thing to adjust...
But yeah, let's all give him a pass...doesn't seem hypocritical in the slightest.
Now you're just trying to cheer us up.
Thanks. We need it. MB needs to go and a new AD needs to hire the next coaching staff.
Everything about UK's major sports programs is stale right now, and it starts at the top..
We crucified Cal for not knowing how to attack a simple 1-3-1 zone defense with two NBA bigs and two NBA all star guards.
Anyone can have an off night shooting. That doesn't mean you can keep shooting the long 3's. Coaches have to adjust to the game.....
People who think Oats is some offensive genius should probably look a little deeper into the numbers. That outdated Cal offense everyone complained about last year scored more points possession than Bama did. And it scored more points per possession than Bama in 2022. And in 2020.
Who won the SEC in those years?
How did our W-L record compare to Bama's?
Oats and Bama has outperformed and outcoached Cal almost the entire time he has been at Bama as far as SEC standings are concerned.
I said nothing about overall performance. But people have complained for years he's some offense genius while Cal is stuck in the '90s. The numbers simply don't back up that opinion. I think in a one and done tournament his offensive approach is very problematic.
To me, everything is on the table, including firing Mitch B. Dewayne Peevy can step right back in and I have confidence he will hire the right guy. In my 45 years here on earth I’ve never been as down on UK Basketball as I am right now. This program doesn’t take a backseat to anybody and we don’t settle. No man, no matter how pompous is more important than the program. His job, and the job for every coach who has ever been here is to be a good steward of the program. That means the program comes first and that is not open to any debate or interpretation. It really makes me wonder why Mitch passed on him after Tubby left for Minnesota. BCG was “the” coach at the time. Little did we know he was just not ready for the job. This clown we have now has never been about the program. He readily admits it. There are lots of names out there and many qualified coaches who would love this job. I want the first question at their press conference to be “Why did you take this job?” That’s the most important question and the only question I need an answer to.
I have watched Bama play a few times this season and they have definitely added a decent inside game. They still rely heavily on the 3 but have 2 capable big guys who can score inside.
Saturday will be interesting game. Will Cal run and gun with Bama, or squeeze the ball like he has against Auburn and LSU??
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No…Cal decided to put together a great plan to work against ‘Bama. UK wins and blah blah blah…..😑
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