Rather than regressing, John Calipari is on a recruiting roll — with more to come

[Cowtown Cat]

I don’t think anyone expected it, but most fans I know thought that Cal would have more than a single title after nine seasons. Jay Wright and Villanova have 2 titles in three seasons. Jay has neither the resources, or nearly the support that Cal has. Not to mention the talent over the last nine years.

It’s time Cal quits making excuses, and starts winning titles. He’s the second highest paid coach in CBB, with that good fortune, comes responsibility.

Jay Wright also doesn't have rogue referees with an agenda officiating his games in the NCAA Tournament, either. My oh my, how different things would look if not for John Higgins. Do you really believe for one second the NCAA wants to see Cal and UK dominate with titles over and over, year after year?! Ask yourself that question and then post back.

 

[Mr_GG]

Jay Wright also doesn't have rogue referees with an agenda officiating his games in the NCAA Tournament, either. My oh my, how different things would look if not for John Higgins. Do you really believe for one second the NCAA wants to see Cal and UK dominate with titles over and over, year after year?! Ask yourself that question and then post back.

He said earlier that "The refs don't matter as that doesn't change the national perception. People won't remember John Higgins in 50 years, they'll just look at the record books." While that is for the most part true, it doesn't change the fact that UK got screwed out of playing in the national championship game in 2015, and playing in the Final Four in 2017 at minimum. That could have been 2 championships (I feel fairly confident UK would have won both years). You could say the same about 2011, but I won't include that year (although we did have a NCAA President who screwed us and made maybe our best player ineligible that season). A couple other things to consider: Willie Cauley-Stein injured in 2014 (killed us in the UConn game), Alex Poythress injured in 2015 (stats show we never were nearly as dominant), and Vanderbilt injured in 2018.

National perception teaches that John Wooden was the "Wizard of Westwood" when in reality, he had a crooked booster in Sam Gilbert hand delivering UCLA Kareem, Bill Walton, and many other great players. National perception teaches and will teach that UNC is a top 2/3 program of all time all while doing things the right way, ignoring decades of cheating. There are many other examples of this you can use, but it doesn't change the fact that those events happened.

 

[WildMoon]

1 title
1 runner up
2 final fours
2 elite eights
1 sweet sixteen
1 second round
1 NIT

Bunch of conference title.

I doubt that will be perceived as failure.

Of course you'll have dumbass hot take SAS and Max kellerman, skip, and other attention whores will say it's a failure.

But most basketball circle will view it has success.

Of course it also matters how he finishes.

 

[Cowtown Cat]

He said earlier that "The refs don't matter as that doesn't change the national perception. People won't remember John Higgins in 50 years, they'll just look at the record books." While that is for the most part true, it doesn't change the fact that UK got screwed out of playing in the national championship game in 2015, and playing in the Final Four in 2017 at minimum. That could have been 2 championships (I feel fairly confident UK would have won both years). You could say the same about 2011, but I won't include that year (although we did have a NCAA President who screwed us and made maybe our best player ineligible that season). A couple other things to consider: Willie Cauley-Stein injured in 2014 (killed us in the UConn game), Alex Poythress injured in 2015 (stats show we never were nearly as dominant), and Vanderbilt injured in 2018.

National perception teaches that John Wooden was the "Wizard of Westwood" when in reality, he had a crooked booster in Sam Gilbert hand delivering UCLA Kareem, Bill Walton, and many other great players. National perception teaches and will teach that UNC is a top 2/3 program of all time all while doing things the right way, ignoring decades of cheating. There are many other examples of this you can use, but it doesn't change the fact that those events happened.

Great post. We simply can't win it all without being head and shoulders better than the rest of the field. That's basically the reality of the situation.