This man is sick and twisted (SAT). He says his mission is bigger than winning titles which would suggest winning titles is a given ...
Cal is obviously not sick. He does not meet any definition of the word twisted that I know of. Cal is an ideologue.
Cal is making sophisticated excuses in this quote. That is not sick or twisted. He is hardly the only coach to do this. Bruce Pearl and Bill Self are gifted excuse makers. In Cal's case, you can see how the excuse making mindset evolved. Cal could not translate his recruiting success at Memphis into postseason success. He got tagged for Derrick Lowe's fraudulent admission test score. Whether Cal was personally involved or not, the NCAA cleared him personally for lack of evidence but forced Memphis to vacate wins in games where Lowe played. This tainted Cal, but he put lots of players in the NBA. Then Cal got the Kentucky job and kept recruiting at the highest level. He finally won a championship with AD and got voted into the HOF. That was personal vindication for Cal.
The SEC has improved, because more schools like Auburn and Arkansas are mimicking Kentucky. Cal has not made an effort to change his basketball philosophy with the times, but he still recruits at the highest level. It has become easier for Cal to put players in the NBA than for his team to be successful in the postseason.
Now come the excuses.
Football has new facilities. Basketball should have new facilities right away too, because we are a basketball school. (Translation, because Cal says so and needs a ready excuse.)
After St. Peter's beat us, this was Cal's excuse. "My whole thing this week, because I knew they had never played in this stuff, was to get them free and loose and we never got to that point. Even during timeouts, I was trying to do that." (Translation, I coached them, but they did not respond in the moment.)
Cal tweeted this on Nov. 1. "BBN, let me talk about this team a little bit and be direct with you. I like the pieces. We've got the player of the year, we've got another first team all conference player, we've got good younh guys, but let me explain to you - and you know I'm honest about stuff - we're not where we need to be right now." We then blow the Michigan State game by not defending inbounds plays, and get blown out at Gonzaga. Cal turned out to be right, but the media has not asked why Cal's team has so many breakdowns in standard situations.
Then, Cal tweets this. "Now in our state, they want my mission to be, win national titles. But my mission is bigger than that." (Translation, my goal is not as hard as that.)
Cal is cloaking himself as a social engineer. Using the reputation and resources of UK, he has made his team into a small army of social workers. This is not sick or twisted. In a very narrow sense, it may be noble. And if UK was a Catholic school (Cal is a proud Catholic) or a northeastern or west coast school, it might even be a fit.
But if Cal actually believes UK is a "basketball school", then he better cut the excuses and get back to the shared goal of winning national championships. He has the coaching staff and facilities for it. He is being paid well for it. He has the roster for it. He is at the right school for it. What is missing is for Cal to buy in and get himself focused on winning the prize.
