Recruiting: the concern should Cal, not platooning

[.S&C.]

Brain, settle down a bit. I didn't read through this entire thread. There's no need and I'm on my phone. I hate this site now on mobile. You did in fact make it sound as if cal didn't miss that bad this year. He did. More than half of calipari's abilities as a coach are in the consistant recruiting of top talent. He's not going to have some bad ass senior on the bench. He's got to land top kids at each position. Having the number 3 class is great, but it doesn't tell the full story. There are in fact times when cal will need THE top class or it means UK missed on many top targets and could come up short on the roster. As I said, I just took issue with that part of it.

I too DO NOT really care why we missed as badly as we did, but saying the NBA issues with cal have nothing to do with it is crap. That was my opinion I'm not saying you disagree. The timing, cals age, last years flirtations, and the fact that we were losing an entire roster would easily be reason enough to scare a class away.

 

[brianpoe]

Brain, settle down a bit. I didn't read through this entire thread. There's no need and I'm on my phone. I hate this site now on mobile. You did in fact make it sound as if cal didn't miss that bad this year. He did. More than half of calipari's abilities as a coach are in the consistant recruiting of top talent. He's not going to have some bad ass senior on the bench. He's got to land top kids at each position. Having the number 3 class is great, but it doesn't tell the full story. There are in fact times when cal will need THE top class or it means UK missed on many top targets and could come up short on the roster. As I said, I just took issue with that part of it.

I too DONT really care why we missed as badly as we did, but saying the NBA issues with cal have nothing to do with it is crap. That was my opinion I'm not saying you disagree. The timing, cals age, last years flirtations, and the fact that we were losing an entire roster would easily be reason enough to scare a class away.

Again, your reading comprehension on your phone is way worse than on your iMac.

I never said we had no misses this spring.

I never said the NBA talk wasn't a reason, sure it could have been.


The only item I pointed out was that the OP said

"But, if he is going to have one eye on the NBA, I think I'd rather he just go on."

I simply provided evidence that all the top coaches are talked about in the NBA.

That was an asinine comment to make for a coach who has had unparalleled recruiting success and done very well in the tourney the last 7 years minus one.

I also asked the OP who he would replace Cal with, since he was so ready to let Cal go.


Now you can go tell everyone how bad Cal did this recruiting year and why. We definitely had some misses, we still have holes in our roster.

But we are still in the top 3 recruiting and for people to say they would rather he leave makes no sense.

I think we could use a shooter at the 2 and true SF and a back up big. But I will pass judgement after this team plays and hope the coach hangs around.

 

[kybassfan]

I think some of us are concerned with something Cal has no control over. Put yourself in the opposing coach's shoes. You make a million or few a year. You REALLY like bringing home that check to momma, all the media attention, the perks and the looks from all the cute girls, in no particular order. To keep those benefits you have to have a certain caliber athlete. Then you have Calipari, rude SOB that he is, takes his shared of those athletes, your share and a couple of other school's share. One thing he doesn't do is share.

So the conversation goes a little like this: Prospective recruit, let me tell you about the Calipari guy. He'll recruit over you, he'll cut down on your minutes, he plays favorites, won't let you in the game unless you play defense. Not to mention that the fans all wear baseball caps, have one gold tooth and yell YEEE HAAA a lot. Plus, you know he's going to coach LaBron James next year. Now who could possibly turn that opportunity down.

Ok, I had a little fun with that but you get the picture. Don't you think Calipari KNOWS this? I suspect he focuses on the positive aspects of what he's selling. Dispells a few rumors. Maybe even flashes of a picture or two of the players he put in the NBA, last year.

Bottom line, it doesn't matter whether Cal is considering the NBA or not. Its recruiting. I've seen two successful coaches effectively avoid the NBA rumor. Rat face using some means I'll never understand and Billy Donovan who effectively went number 2 in his nest during the Miami fiasco and scared off the NBA for years.

 

[.S&C.]

Again, your reading comprehension on your phone is way worse than on your iMac.

I never said we had no misses this spring.

I never said the NBA talk wasn't a reason, sure it could have been.


The only item I pointed out was that the OP said

"But, if he is going to have one eye on the NBA, I think I'd rather he just go on."

I simply provided evidence that all the top coaches are talked about in the NBA.

That was an asinine comment to make for a coach who has had unparalleled recruiting success and done very well in the tourney the last 7 years minus one.

I also asked the OP who he would replace Cal with, since he was so ready to let Cal go.


Now you can go tell everyone how bad Cal did this recruiting year and why. We definitely had some misses, we still have holes in our roster.

But we are still in the top 3 recruiting and for people to say they would rather he leave makes no sense.

I think we could use a shooter at the 2 and true SF and a back up big. But I will pass judgement after this team plays and hope the coach hangs around.

No I think my comprehension is fine. What part of "your only problem" do you not understand? I didn't even debate the rest of your post, yet you keep talking about it as if I did. Check this out.

"Cal has the number 1 or 2 class every year he has been here. He missed on a few kids this spring but had the number one class until a month ago. We still have the #1 player, #1 point guard, the top Juco, and a former top 20 kid. Still ranked in the Top 3."

This was the comment I was responding to, and I even made that clear. that paragraph can be misleading as it pertains to UK and Calipari if you're using it in a way to justify our class. That's literally ALL I was saying. "Your only problem" meaning I had one comment to make about one of your paragraphs.

 

[brianpoe]

You keep saying:

"Your only problem here is trying to take a passive approach to Cals misses this year. You honestly sound like you're dismissing it as incorrect?"

"if you're using it in a way to justify our class"

"but saying the NBA issues with cal have nothing to do with it is crap"



ONE. I never dismissed the misses this year.

TWO. I never justified the class.

THREE. I never said the NBA had nothing to do with the misses.

ARE WE CLEAR??? STOP SAYING THIS STUFF TO ME.

Again, all i pointed out was the OP would rather Cal leave if he won't make all of the NBA talk stop. I questioned that one line.

Another poster said if it creates a problem recruiting he'd agree with OP. I simply said that even with the down year this year, we are still top 3 and these kids haven't played a game yet.

Not sure why you are being so hard headed right now, you and I agree, for the most part, on everything you are saying. You are creating a disagreement that isn't there.

 

[.S&C.]

You keep saying:

"Your only problem here is trying to take a passive approach to Cals misses this year. You honestly sound like you're dismissing it as incorrect?"

"if you're using it in a way to justify our class"

"but saying the NBA issues with cal have nothing to do with it is crap"



ONE. I never dismissed the misses this year.

TWO. I never justified the class.

THREE. I never said the NBA had nothing to do with the misses.

ARE WE CLEAR??? STOP SAYING THIS STUFF TO ME.

Again, all i pointed out was the OP would rather Cal leave if he won't make all of the NBA talk stop. I questioned that one line.

Another poster said if it creates a problem recruiting he'd agree with OP. I simply said that even with the down year this year, we are still top 3 and these kids haven't played a game yet.

Not sure why you are being so hard headed right now, you and I agree, for the most part, on everything you are saying. You are creating a disagreement that isn't there.

Lol.

Yea it seemed like you made a passive argument against calipari missing badly this year. Not my fault you made it sound like that in that paragraph. You're now saying you think he missed badly as well. Ok, gotcha. What im saying isn't hard to understand, you're just not letting it go. This whole thing could have been summed up by you simply saying, "I wasn't attempting to sound as if I believe cal didn't really miss pretty bad this year". I would have said cool and moved on. I'm not the reason we are still talking about this. Lol.

 

[DickintheHam]

Breathe

Relax

All is well

 

[Bkocats]

does anyone, by chance, keep track of how many similar threads are created in a year's time?

seriously - I hope Cal stays a long time. But I'm not going to worry whether he is thinking of leaving or not; what good does it do? He will either stay, or he will go. It is what it is. Relax y'all - we'll be fine

 

[SosaUK]

He was gone and Dan Gilbert botched it in the end. Feel free to believe what you feel, he was absolutely gone, Harrison's coming back was not the reason he came back, the owner had a lot to do with it

Link? Since you keep it real?

 

[CrustyCat]

If Cal does leave for the Cavs, I have one valuable piece of advice for him.... If the Cavs are up 6 points with 5 min to go in game 7 of the championship, DO NOT play stall ball and flirt with the shot clock. That is all.

Actually, the entire quote, in context, was: "Personally, I'm very happy that Cal is the coach and I wish he would stay until retirement. But, if he is going to have one eye on the NBA, I think I'd rather he just go on. I'd prefer my coach to be happy to be here and coaching."

That quote came after my premise, which was *if* Jones' story is true and Cal was definitely gone last year (with only the twins' return stopping him), then it just feels like much more than a general, "Our coach is really good and will always draw interest..." Jones' story made it sound like Cal is looking very hard and deliberately at going to the NBA.

In that scenario, I stand by my statement. Please note the first part of that statement.

To answer your question, I prefer Cal to the guys on your list. As a result, I'd rather not look for a coach right now. If I have to choose, I'd have to think on it and drink some bourbon...not in that order.

 

[CrustyCat]

No you didn't Crusty. Your exact quote was

"if he is going to have one eye on the NBA, I think I'd rather he just go on."

Listening to the NBA and not preferring the NBA are quite different.

But you didn't answer my question. Say Cal reads your post and says screw it, some of these fans are morons and will never be satisfied, I will leave CrustyCat.

Just who is CrustyCats choice?


None of these guys:

Donovan - went pro
Izzo - was looked at by Cleveland
K - has talked with the Lakers
Hoiberg - is Chicago's first choice
Roy - talked to Lakers
Miller - listed as a top candidate to join the nba ranks back in March by ESPN - Cal not even mentioned.
Stevens - went pro
Pitino - already went pro once
Self said in a press conference that he would be open to talking to the NBA

Wonder where these guys would rank in a current top 15 of best coaches...?


Crusty, I get the premise, but your one line of "I'd rather him go" simply brings the whole post down the drain for me. And the two guys who agreed with you are notorious for their dislike of Cal.

Good luck with the crappy coach who the NBA doesn't even want to look at.

I responded to this, but for some reason it quoted another post. Too lazy to re-do it. The short version, though, is: I want to keep Cal and would prefer to not look for another coach right now. Frankly, I doubt I'm qualified to conduct the coaching search.

While your question/topic is a valid one, we have strayed somewhat from one of the original points: Jones says Cal was gone last and only the surprise of the Harrisons returning kept him here. This seems to have gained a lot of traction around the country/recruiting circuit. My thought was that this was more of a factor in missing on some of these guys than platooning. If guys like Jones keep putting out stories like this, isn't it reasonable to think it will hurt recruiting again? At least for a couple of years?

I just can't help but think about Tubby and his tenure here. He started out with energy and seemed to recruit and coach pretty hard. At some point he got tired of it and it started to show on the court and really showed up on the recruiting trail. I'd just hate to think the same thing is happening again...