I didn't say he hasn't done a good job, I was replying to a post that said this was his best job ever. I simply disagreed, you people are so dramatic.You're right, we should be undefeated. He hasn't done a good job coaching at all.![[sick]](http://l.yimg.com/j/assets/img/emoticons/sick/sick0006.r191677.gif "Sick [sick]")
One of Cal's best Coaching jobs.
- Thread starter maysvilleky
- Start date
You expect me to say this is his best coaching job ever when he has admittedly played key players out of position? Again, I was just disagreeing that this was his best coaching job ever.
The OP said "one of his best coaching jobs" not "his best job ever." Too early for any of that kind of talk. You also did more than just simply disagree, you called them "huge blunders" as if they irreparable and They costed us the season. Maybe I'm just talking semantics but this is a message board, I can't gather much more than what's written without face to face interaction.
I have seen a different Coach Cal with this Kentucky Wildcat team. In his 7th year Coach Cal would pretty much continue to play Skal underneath and not many minutes for a Derek Willis or other subs. This year we have seen now Derek Willis playing 30+ mpg. and coaching him where he is today as a Junior and now letting Skal now play more of a forward position and more like he played in High School and letting him shoot the mid-range 10-15ft jumpers and shooting the nice hook shot. Skal has a real nice touch when he shoots the ball. That is why now we are looking like a Top 10 team with our 3 Guards Ulis, Murray, and Briscoe. Briscoe has again been shooting a nice mid-range jumper and he made 5-6 fts. In High School Briscoe shot 46% fg and 38% from 3 and was a 71% FT Shooter. Murray and Ulis are now working great together in the backcourt and both shooting near 40% from 3 and Willis is hitting 48% from 3 in last 4 games. Then you have Willis, Poythress, Lee, and Skal playing alot better underneath and this team can make a deep run in the NCAA Tourney again this year.
Sure they do. Just read this thread again and every thread after a loss.
You don't credit the person that started the fire for putting it out. This team started the season playing much better ball because they were using the skills and the talents that got them to the point of where they were. The more Cal attempted to force them into doing things they were not good at the worse the team played. The team has started turning around only after Cal accepted the players for who they are instead of attempting to turn them into who he wants them to be. He is now trying to leverage Skal's skill set instead of trying to reprogram. Unfortunately, it is going to take time to repair the damage. The same can be said for Willis. Cal should have been willing to focus more on what Willis does well and less on what he doesn't do well while Willis' confidence grew. Instead, he bashed the kid every chance he had. He doesn't seem to be able to get to a mike fast enough at half time to give Willis his standard beat down.
I agree that he was too harsh on Willis in interviews a couple times, but the rest of this is results-oriented* silliness about on par with trying to use transitive property in sports.
They played well at the beginning and are playing well now, so therefore everything in between was a digression followed by a reversion to the original state, and Cal should just learn to leave things alone. You make it sound like Cal doesn't adjust year to year more than any other coach in the country. And not one person trashing Cal has provided a counter to the fact that Cal was successful getting post games out of equally skinny Davis, Nerlens, and Willie, and the fact that Willis has had multiple years in the program to know what Cal will and won't forgive on the court, in contrast to the freshmen who've been here a couple months.
*If you don't know what this means, go examine what happens when low-level amateur players end up at tables with pros in big-money hold 'em tournaments, and calculate the odds on the bets that send them home because they're looking at individual instances rather than big-picture patterns.
Cal isn't perfect no matter how much you attempt to make him so. He simply doesn't always get it right. As he stated last night, he screwed up Skal, therefore he was going to stop trying to make him a back-to-the-basket center. Those were his words and they were spot on. It was obvious that Cal was mishandling Skal. The only question was would Cal be willing to put his pride to the side so that Skal could become the player that he was projected to become. Skal was reported to have outplayed Ben Simmons numerous times during their high school years which is the reason that some rating services had him number one over Simmons.
Perfect, hm? My very first sentence agreed with you on a flaw of Cal's.
The rest of what you said is rebutted entirely and wholly by the rest of what I said. If you talk on and on about how virtuostic that Skal was with his mid range jumpers coming in, you're missing the point.
I know, I know. I missed your great point where Cal should just let all of his skinny, scared freshmen play the way they want to play from day 1 and try to improve them within that framework. Let's build around Skal never even attempting a rebound, Murray taking behind the back shots with one eye closed, Willis employing his old standby defensive style where he stands in place with his hands up, Poythress settling for hook shots 2 feet from the basket when he has the strength to dunk over absolutely anyone, etc...
If you let all the guys just play exactly the way that they default to and just try to improve their strengths, you'll be left with Ulis, the only player on our team who makes the correct basketball decision nearly all the time when left to his own devices, possibly knocking out every other player at half time.
Or no, wait - when Ulis shoved Skal, it was probably Skal who was thinking in correct basketball terms, not the guy who is averaging like 20 and 6 in conference play at 5'9 150
Yeah, yeah, no you're right - put it on Cal for trying to replicate the results he got with Camby, Davis, Noel, and WCS. He and Ulis are definitely the ones who have the least basketball savvy in that locker room.
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Yep. He might as well just roll the ball out there and let them have at it. I mean, why would any coach want to actually coach his players, develop their weaknesses into strengths, and expand their all around games?I know, I know. I missed your great point where Cal should just let all of his skinny, scared freshmen play the way they want to play from day 1 and try to improve them within that framework. Let's build around Skal never even attempting a rebound, Murray taking behind the back shots with one eye closed, Willis employing his old standby defensive style where he stands in place with his hands up, Poythress settling for hook shots 2 feet from the basket when he has the strength to dunk over absolutely anyone, etc...
You'll be left with Ulis, the only player on our team who makes the correct basketball decision nearly all the time when left to his own devices, possibly knocking out every other player at half time.
Or no, wait - when Ulis shoved Skal, it was probably Skal who was thinking in correct basketball terms, not the guy who is averaging like 20 and 6 in conference play at 5'9 150
Yeah, yeah, no you're right - put it on Cal for trying to replicate the results he got with Camby, Davis, Noel, and WCS. He and Ulis are definitely the ones who have the least basketball savvy in that locker room.
Wrong. He didn't play Willis because he was making middle school mistakes. I'm guessing you don't realize there's two ends to the floor...he got better because he got pulled out, taught, and had to correct his mistakes. If he would have made half this boards decisions to just play Willis just bc he would still be trying to too dunk impossible rebounds and letting his man score 30 on him. And two, he tried to play Skal in the post bc wait for it.......it pulls the defense down so murray can...wait for it....shoot.
Yeah, trying to make Skal a low post player was a huge blunder. People have been stating it for months and Cal admitted to it. I'm not sure what your issue is.
Yeah, that's why Golden State sucks, they don't have a big man to "pull the defense down" so Curry and Thompson can shoot. They should make Draymond Green be a post player and make Curry and Thompson drivers instead of shooters, that wouldn't be a huge blunder at all.
I love Cal but the man is human. Forcing Skal to the post was a blunder and obvious months ago.
It would have been in Skal's AND the teams best interest for him to learn to play in the post.
We have the chance at this point to compete for a title with this team, but if Skal had succeeded in the post, we would be THE team to beat right now.
I applaud Cal for giving Skal every opportunity to be a post player like Davis and Noel and I applaud him even more for giving up on that in time for us to still be in a position to compete for the title.
This is indeed a great coaching job by Cal!
We have the chance at this point to compete for a title with this team, but if Skal had succeeded in the post, we would be THE team to beat right now.
I applaud Cal for giving Skal every opportunity to be a post player like Davis and Noel and I applaud him even more for giving up on that in time for us to still be in a position to compete for the title.
This is indeed a great coaching job by Cal!
So the team was going to be good enough to compete for a title with Skal in the post. And the team is also going to be good enough to compete for the title with Skal playing away from the post. Got it. Looks like it didn't matter. Either way, we're good enough to compete for a championship.
His strategy was as much about making Skal tougher as it was about developing a low post offense. He's taking the blame now to take pressure off the kid.
If people can't see Cal's strategy with trying to develop Skal and his toughness for end of the year then I don't know if they have truly watch him break down his big's every year.Every statement Calipari has is with his players best interest or for a recruiting advantage. He has taken all the pressure off of Skal.
We started the season at preseason #1 based on what people THOUGHT Skal would be.
We now are probably a bit of a long shot to make the final 4, but we DO have a chance.
A few weeks back, I didn't think we could make it out of the 1st weekend of the tournament.
Here's a great idea...
Why don't you tell us about YOUR team and what THEIR chances are this year?
Will Mango make a difference if he makes it back?
Also, do you think that VJ King will still come to UofL after probation hits and Rick leaves?
I know, I know. I missed your great point where Cal should just let all of his skinny, scared freshmen play the way they want to play from day 1 and try to improve them within that framework. Let's build around Skal never even attempting a rebound, Murray taking behind the back shots with one eye closed, Willis employing his old standby defensive style where he stands in place with his hands up, Poythress settling for hook shots 2 feet from the basket when he has the strength to dunk over absolutely anyone, etc...
If you let all the guys just play exactly the way that they default to and just try to improve their strengths, you'll be left with Ulis, the only player on our team who makes the correct basketball decision nearly all the time when left to his own devices, possibly knocking out every other player at half time.
Or no, wait - when Ulis shoved Skal, it was probably Skal who was thinking in correct basketball terms, not the guy who is averaging like 20 and 6 in conference play at 5'9 150
Yeah, yeah, no you're right - put it on Cal for trying to replicate the results he got with Camby, Davis, Noel, and WCS. He and Ulis are definitely the ones who have the least basketball savvy in that locker room.
Great Post!!
Read his post again, specifically this line:
We have the chance at this point to compete for a title with this team, but if Skal had succeeded in the post, we would be THE team to beat right now.
Unless you think improving your chances of winning "doesn't matter" I don't know what you're talking about.
