Right on cue: the recipe for a team turmoil is brewing at Arkansas.

[IbnSaran]

They will absolutely play hard that game . Half their team was supposed to be here this year.

I am sure we will not overlook Arky when they come to town but I can't help but remember when everyone was crowing about how awesome Alabama and their coach was and we went to their house and beat them and if I recall correctly I believe we were happy with Cal's coaching in that game. It will likely be the best game he coaches all year.

We beat Bama at Rupp. We beat Auburn and UT on the road. Cal also had two lottery picks, a 20 point a game scorer, and an offensive guru on the bench. Cal has none of that this year.

I am getting old and memory is not what it used to be. The great thing is now that Pope is here I look forward to every game.

 

[irishcat1965]

He will win some games he is not suppose to. Just have to make sure it isn’t the one in Lexington in February. His ego is damn big let there be no doubt- he will sell his soul to beat UK in Rupp.

 

[KyThunder55]

He will do the TWEAK by UK game!

 

[bluefaithful]

He always said he can't hide you now he can't hide himself. I'm starting to feel sorry for him. Davis is learning, he is not Cal's main priority even though he should be option number 1. Arkansas is not a good shooting team. Just stay on Big Z and Davis from three and let them force 2's. We are going to crush them.

Go Cats!!

 

[Fox2monk]

He always said he can't hide you now he can't hide himself. I'm starting to feel sorry for him. Davis is learning, he is not Cal's main priority even though he should be option number 1. Arkansas is not a good shooting team. Just stay on Big Z and Davis from three and let them force 2's. We are going to crush them.

Go Cats!!

The thing with big Z is when he meets a strong post player he wilts. One thing we have is strength and height. That bothers him. Just don’t let him go out to the perimeter. You know Cal will be barking to post him up.

 

[Son_Of_Saul]

The thing with big Z is when he meets a strong post player he wilts. One thing we have is strength and height. That bothers him. Just don’t let him go out to the perimeter. You know Cal will be barking to post him up.

When history looks back on Calipari, he will be seen as perhaps the biggest squanderer of talent in college basketball history. The only one who might have been worse is Dean Smith.

Calipari is a travesty of epic proportions.

 

[Fox2monk]

When history looks back on Calipari, he will be seen as perhaps the biggest squanderer of talent in college basketball history. The only one who might have been worse is Dean Smith.

Calipari is a travesty if epic proportions.

Nah Dean made like 10 final 4’s and had 2 titles. He at least got it done more than once and made some decent tourney runs. He’s Cal if he cared longer.

 

[Bluesbrother]

1. Former all-SEC transfer Jonas Aidoo is playing only 7 minutes per game. Yes, he's injured right now, but he's played in all three games.

2. Karter Knox, who expressed his sole reason for choosing Calipari being his desire for NBA expediency, is only playing 12 minutes per game while shooting 17% from the field and 14% from three point land.

3. DJ Wagner, whose efficiency numbers are trash-level, is shooting 33% from the field but still playing 36 minutes a game. He's averaging 2.7 assists per game while giving up the ball on turnovers 2.3 times per game.

4. Trevon Brazille is playing 17 minutes per game, and Billy Richmond is only playing 14 minutes per game.

5. Even Big Z is only playing 20 minutes per game.

6. Nelly Davis is a shell of the player he was last year. Right now he's averaging only ten points per game while shooting 16% from three point range.

7. Cal didn't schedule well. Arkansas plays virtually no one from this point until the SEC schedule begins. That won't help them on selection Sunday.
Their one saving grace is that their SEC schedule is semi-soft. They only play Alabama, Kentucky, Auburn, Florida and Tennessee a total of five times. Kentucky, on the other hand, has to play Arkansas, Florida, Tennessee, Auburn, and Alabama a total of seven times.

Which Razorback implodes first? My guess is that Knox starts to piss and moan to his family around the holidays and leaves the program after one season. Brazille also seems like the type of guy who might regret staying with Arkansas due to only playing 17 minutes a game.

I wish for nothing but implosion and failure for their program and for Calipari.

Don't his players know that Cal poops ice cream?

 

[IL Wildcat]

Team turmoil or not, the fact is they simply aren’t very good. Another poorly constructed Cal roster where the pieces don’t complement each other and instead create an ugly logjam of non-shooters.

I'm just gonna say this about DJ Wagner and Calipari. We saw Cal was loyal to a fault to Wagner last season, to the point of starting him over 2 NBA lottery picks the entire season. Wagner has some good qualities. He would make a solid back-up point guard for a good team or a starter on an average team. He's not elite. He never was last season and he won't likely emerge as one this season.

Now, as for the other players not getting more minutes, I don't know enough about their injuries or their abilities to be able to answer whether they should be getting more minutes or not. But we know this about Calipari- he plays favorites.

Now, we know Pope has already shown he doesn't play favorites. He plays guys who are on their game. Kriisa got minutes a couple games back because he was outplaying and outperforming Butler. We also saw Brea get more minutes a couple games back because he was outplaying and outscoring Oweh. In short, he's gonna play the guy who is performing and gives his team the best chance to win that day. Cal will play his favorites to a fault. We've seen that, too.

 

[Montana81]

The thing with big Z is when he meets a strong post player he wilts. One thing we have is strength and height. That bothers him. Just don’t let him go out to the perimeter. You know Cal will be barking to post him up.

He was borderline unplayable against Baylor. Their center just bullied him. Amari will do the same I think.

 

[Blueworld_3.0]

I'll take notice of what Arkansas does this year but, I am not going to obsess over them. I hope they lose every game just like I hope UTeee loses every game. Not defending Calipari but, I doubt he had much input on their schedule this year. Schedules get done years in advance. I think he might have set up the Baylor game in Dallas to promote recruiting in that area but, a lot of the schedule was finalized before he was hired.
I can see things going south fast in Fayetteville once conference play begins. The SEC is going to be brutal and Calipari essentially has the same team now as last year at UK. And we know how that went.

 

[howitis]

Cal is who he has always been. hes a really good recruiter. and if he catches lightning with a super freshman he will have a lot of success. problem is he isn't beating duke, kansas and unc anymore with recruits. and the transfer portal is a thing so its harder than ever. its totally possible he gets his own cooper flagg and john wall at Arkansas and competes for a championship. its just unlikely. he needs overwhelming talent to do it though. last year was his best effort in 5 years and we lost in the first round.

 

[Catzman]

Take a look at Arkansas' remaining OOC clown show schedule:

They get Pacific, Little Rock, Maryland Eastern Shore, UTSA, Central Arkansas, and North Carolina A&T at home.

They also have Illinois and Michigan coming to town, and then they visit Miami on the road.

Best part is, Arkansas with Cal is still not guaranteed to win all of those games.

 

[Terrapin_Station]

I'm just gonna say this about DJ Wagner and Calipari. We saw Cal was loyal to a fault to Wagner last season, to the point of starting him over 2 NBA lottery picks the entire season. Wagner has some good qualities. He would make a solid back-up point guard for a good team or a starter on an average team. He's not elite. He never was last season and he won't likely emerge as one this season.

Now, as for the other players not getting more minutes, I don't know enough about their injuries or their abilities to be able to answer whether they should be getting more minutes or not. But we know this about Calipari- he plays favorites.

Now, we know Pope has already shown he doesn't play favorites. He plays guys who are on their game. Kriisa got minutes a couple games back because he was outplaying and outperforming Butler. We also saw Brea get more minutes a couple games back because he was outplaying and outscoring Oweh. In short, he's gonna play the guy who is performing and gives his team the best chance to win that day. Cal will play his favorites to a fault. We've seen that, too.

I agree. But Jaxson played too many minutes for how poorly he played.

 

[Cleatortoises]

I agree. But Jaxson played too many minutes for how poorly he played.

The coach seems to think otherwise.
He very succinctly explained that he was creating a problem for them because they were hyper focused on denying him the ball. This created, according to Pope, an opportunity for other actions to be more effective.
Sounds better than we just have to fight.

 

[Creed Bratton]

Team turmoil or not, the fact is their coach simply isn’t very good. Another poorly constructed Cal roster where the pieces don’t complement each other and instead create an ugly logjam of non-shooters.

I fixed it for you

 

[Digger-Cat]

It's almost like most of the guys that Cal recruited that now play in the NBA would've gotten there playing for any number of other coaches, because they were just that good and not because Cal has some magic "NBA" wand that he wields. Even the Nick Richards of the world got there because they worked their tails off and they wanted it badly. I'm not a Cal hater, but I definitely think his role in getting guys to the NBA has been waaayyyyyyy overstated. He has recuited NBA players, period!

The stage that UK provided did more for those players' NBA futures than Cal did.

Heck, Cal hurt more players than helped. The guys that actually needed his help, got pushed to the side so guys like Boston, Edwards and DJ could work through their flaws.

Cal takes the credit for getting kids drafted, but I don't see anyone outside Richards and WCS that he actually helped.

Also, the NBA doesn't run anything close to the stuff Cal runs, so I have no idea why he thinks he's preparing kids for the league. They were going pro despite Cal.

 

[Fox2monk]

The coach seems to think otherwise.
He very succinctly explained that he was creating a problem for them because they were hyper focused on denying him the ball. This created, according to Pope, an opportunity for other actions to be more effective.
Sounds better than we just have to fight.

Exactly, Jaxson played the role of decoy all night. I, sure he didn’t play his best but he found a lot of ways to contribute to that game outside scoring as well.

 

[Digger-Cat]

My only interest is the University of Kentucky. I appreciate Calipari for what he accomplished at UK. He chose to leave and we now have an excellent x's and o's coach who is also getting some top notch recruits next year - guys that want to play at UK and within a system.

I understand the former coach talk - he was here for 15 years.

I am excited for the current team and staff who just beat a top 10 team on a neutral floor displaying a mental toughness and grit I haven't seen in many years. Kudos and I look forward to the season ahead!

I understand where you're at, but I think a lot of the BBN wants everyone outside Kentucky to know we were upset with Cal for legit reasons.

Guys, like Seth Greenburg, stick up for Cal and pour gas on the "UK fans are ungrateful and ran cal off for no reason".

We want him to do the same things at Arkansas that he did the last 4 years here. If he does, then those that crapped on the BBN, will understand why we were not happy with Cal.

I'm tired of UK fans getting a negative wrap for doing exactly the same things other fanbases would do. We're just louder.

 

[BigBlueManSouthCentralKY]

1. Former all-SEC transfer Jonas Aidoo is playing only 7 minutes per game. Yes, he's injured right now, but he's played in all three games.

2. Karter Knox, who expressed his sole reason for choosing Calipari being his desire for NBA expediency, is only playing 12 minutes per game while shooting 17% from the field and 14% from three point land.

3. DJ Wagner, whose efficiency numbers are trash-level, is shooting 33% from the field but still playing 36 minutes a game. He's averaging 2.7 assists per game while giving up the ball on turnovers 2.3 times per game.

4. Trevon Brazille is playing 17 minutes per game, and Billy Richmond is only playing 14 minutes per game.

5. Even Big Z is only playing 20 minutes per game.

6. Nelly Davis is a shell of the player he was last year. Right now he's averaging only ten points per game while shooting 16% from three point range.

7. Cal didn't schedule well. Arkansas plays virtually no one from this point until the SEC schedule begins. That won't help them on selection Sunday.
Their one saving grace is that their SEC schedule is semi-soft. They only play Alabama, Kentucky, Auburn, Florida and Tennessee a total of five times. Kentucky, on the other hand, has to play Arkansas, Florida, Tennessee, Auburn, and Alabama a total of seven times.

Which Razorback implodes first? My guess is that Knox starts to piss and moan to his family around the holidays and leaves the program after one season. Brazille also seems like the type of guy who might regret staying with Arkansas due to only playing 17 minutes a game.

I wish for nothing but implosion and failure for their program and for Calipari.

Cal's ways make it tough on players being themselves. The style is so far behind the times.

 

[Digger-Cat]

I agree. But Jaxson played too many minutes for how poorly he played.

Jackson had great defensive numbers against duke, he shut whoever he was guarding down.

Also, he didn't take a bunch of shots, but what he did do, was defend and draw a lot of attention fron Duke's defense.

Everyone thinks Jaxson is the head of the snake, let them keep thinking that.

 

[CatsFanIL]

Take a look at Arkansas' remaining OOC clown show schedule:

They get Pacific, Little Rock, Maryland Eastern Shore, UTSA, Central Arkansas, and North Carolina A&T at home.

They also have Illinois and Michigan coming to town, and then they visit Miami on the road.

The committee will not smile favorably on that trash-heap of a schedule on selection Sunday. Hopefully Illinois waxes them on Thanksgiving Day, denying Calipari a quality win and assuring a weaker resume on selection Sunday.

A potential 2-home loss result with Illinois and Michigan would be pretty tough on the home environment moving forward in Arkansas. Illinois is going to be tough for a Calipari team to beat - they'll spread the floor, they'll use ball-screens, and they'll be pretty solid defensively - I'm guessing forcing Arkansas into low-percentage shots (3s for non-shooters, contested mid-range, etc). I know far less about Michigan, but Dusty May is a good coach, and probably knows a thing or 2 about defending Nelly Davis.

I think those 2 home games are going to be key. If wins don't happen, seats don't get filled, animosity builds, team chemistry decreases - could be bad for Cal and company...