You all do realize he's a OAD no matter what college he goes to, right?
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Shaka coming on strong.
- Thread starter TheAnonymous13
- Start date
What needs did we have that Cal didn't either address or try to address through recruiting?
Must there be a "sure fire" lottery pick to keep from making the tourney? I think not. Especially with UK's historic ability under Cal to play up the big man over the course of the season. I cannot agree with your "make the tourney" comment and still stand by my comment...UK in any event will be a ranked team. That is not a borderline team no matter how you play it... Jmuo...
Skal and Bam sliding down mock drafts after a year here and SKJ barely seeing the floor might place some doubts in recruits' minds.
He plays with Green in another all star games soon.Maybe he can knock some sense into him.
You mean he will pull a T. Ulis on him?
Why it would with Cal's history of supplying the nba with money making bigs...I'd go with that record anytime versus every other coaches record...
we've got post after post laughing at UNC kids returning and calling them names and whatnot.
The only people who need to chill are the ones that think that crap.
UK is no longer seen as the only place they can make the NBA one day yet we seem to recruit like we are. We've lost recruits to title contenders and home programs. Those kids are not concerned with the quickest route to the NBA. And there's a lot more of them than the Briscoe's.
I've gotta watch saying this..some will take offense and such..but Coach Cal's biggest goal is putting kids in the NBA but that and winning basically go hand in hand. The more you win, the higher chances you have of getting these guys drafted..especially in the 1st round, up in the lottery, top 5 draft pic, and #1 draft pick which is what Coach Cal is really aiming for.
One of the dumbest posts I've seen on here. He easily has the #1 recruiting class again this year but he's lost his edge.
It's denied on this board. I'm around UK fans all the time. Most people know what's going on.
Yep, with Coach doing what it takes in that area the winning in college is the bi-product...
Fair enough point, and I'm sure Bamba has heard those exact same things. He seems smart enough to hopefully realize that is a small sample size of the bigs we developed, and look at the bigger picture. But with 18 year olds who knows.
The 2013 team was loaded with McDonald All Americans too. They lost to Robert Morris in the first round of the NIT.
McDonald All Americans ain't always a guarantee.
And since it MIGHT suck, we should raise our anxiety level until we know for sure...or just relax and let it be what it will be. Either way...
We've never recruited like we're the only way to get to the NBA. We recruit like we're the safest, best, fastest way to get there. And we are. By a mile.
Very, very few kids in that top 10 range you seem to be gloating that we haven't landed are worried about anything more than getting to the NBA in the best and fastest way possible.
Besides, even if your point was valid, it's out of place and stupid in a thread about Bamba's chances of ending up at Texas, so it comes across as agenda driven.
Okay..maybe he did TRY to address the problems..but Coach Cal wasn't missing out or having any kind of bad judgment for his first 6 or 7 years here..now we've seen the whole Skal thing, a bunch of kids who don't know what the word "defense" means, I guess a rim protector is a thing of the past, I don't see anybody with the heart and hustle of a MKG or Julius Randle or with the clutch shooting of Lamb or James Young. Not saying Coach Cal has recruited bad kids or bad shooters or kids with no heart or hustle..no..but something has just been different. Not nearly as good. It's hard to explain.
Goodwin, Wiltjer and Poythress IIRC. Noel was out with injury.
Point guard was the single biggest issue with that team, IIRC (Harrow). Well, that and some 'out of control' play by a player (or two).
What changed is Duke and Kansas and Arizona and UCLA and Michigan State and every other school throwing their hat in the one and done ring. They can offer less competition and more playing time than we can, because they don't recruit at our level. It's why Kennard went to Duke. It's what teams tried to sell to Tyler Ulis.
Did you really just say "Kids want to win titles..." in a thread about possibly losing Bamba to Texas?
So, you are saying that winning the title in 2015, which obviously would have meant going 40-0, would have given Cal a whole 5 years of no nonsense like we are seeing in this thread?
True. I agree. But these kids also run the risk of not going pro after a year and getting suckered into being a 3/4 year player at those programs. I'm not saying it's a bad thing to be a Junior or Senior in general..but it is if your goal is to be a OAD.
Devin Booker, Jamal Murray, and Malik Monk weren't clutch shooters; James Young???? Skal was rated in the top 2 of every recruiting service and you fault Cal for recruiting him?
Cal is doing something no one else has ever done in college basketball. There is no blueprint for what he's doing. There is going to be some trial and error involved here, but there has been very little error. We were 32-6 last year getting hosed in an elite eight loss to the eventual national champions with Derek Willis as our starting PF. Some of you just love to be critical. Cal has missed on guys ever since he's been here. Some of the guys in this class that are rated 10-25 were injured at some point over the last year to year and a half. You think that might have hurt their rankings a little? There is so much to point out to shoot down the naysayers "the sky is falling" attitude and I've tried and others have tried but they evidently will not be convinced because they automatically react negatively to any situation that pops up. So have fun being miserable in one of the greatest eras of Kentucky basketball.
No offense Gonzo and hope you don't take it that way, but all, 100% of your post, are pure agenda driven and all ring the same bell. There's no problem and nothing's wrong. Come on man.
My point was two fold even though you're trying to make it about one thing. You're pounding the titles comment as a way to discredit. That's an agenda.
My points are Kentucky recruits like we're still in 2012. The problem is there's too many programs kids can go to now and have a good shot at a title and aren't seen as failures if they stay. They can ALSO stay home and still go pro with no issues if they want.
Most kids aren't looking for the quickest route. But we seem to recruit like that's all that matters. And even if you buy coach speak out both sides of the mouth, Kentucky has been pegged as such by many coaches and the tactics have worked. It doesn't matter what you say we are. It's what they believe we are.
I just think UK needs to move into a more traditional land and mix this crap up. Hedging our bets on nothing but talent is not working.
So I ask you, at what point would you actually do the unspeakable and say, yea, we need to adjust to the modern situation? We simply don't get every recruit we want right now. The landscape is too open.
Cal's first 6 or 7 years here.
2009 - Xavier Henry (miss)
2010 - Stacey Poole (bad judgment), Tobias Harris (miss), Will Barton (miss)
2011 - Ryan Harrow (bad judgment)
2012 - Shabazz Muhammed (miss), Anthony Bennett (miss), Perry Ellis (miss)
2013 - Wiggins (miss)
2014 - Mudiay (miss), Stanley Johnson (miss), Kelly Oubre (miss)
2015 - Jaylen Brown (miss), Cheick Diallo (miss), Malik Newman (miss), Steven Zimmerman (miss), Caleb Swanigan (miss), Luke Kennard (miss), Thomas Bryant (miss), Charles Matthews (bad judgment),
No..Booker wasn't clutch..neither was Murray..neither was Monk..not in March or April like Lamb (Daggers vs. KU, bringing us back vs. UConn, etc.) was or James Young (I still remember the dagger he hit vs. Wichita St.)..save for the last 30 seconds of the UNC game this year for Monk. I'm not miserable, bud..it's just you and guys like you can't stand any kind of Coach Cal criticism or even the slightest amount of it.
My post wasn't meant to be so alarming. UK still in good shape here, and I think remains the favorite.
But Shaka is making the biggest push over the past 2-4 weeks. And so I expect the different forecasts will reflect that. Someone said one 'expert' has flipped. That's a bit reactionary I think.
Anyway, Bamba is big into the relationship he has with coaches. Shaka has an edge due to coaching U18, but there is no better communicator w/ recruits than Cal.
I know some laugh at the prospect of Texas, but Shaka is well very liked on the trail and connects w/ the kids. I may be in the minority, but I think he will end up doing well at Texas. Remember, he beat out Kansas for Allen last year, and Duke was after Coleman.
Anyway, Cal will have to battle in this one. I still think he wins.
But Shaka is making the biggest push over the past 2-4 weeks. And so I expect the different forecasts will reflect that. Someone said one 'expert' has flipped. That's a bit reactionary I think.
Anyway, Bamba is big into the relationship he has with coaches. Shaka has an edge due to coaching U18, but there is no better communicator w/ recruits than Cal.
I know some laugh at the prospect of Texas, but Shaka is well very liked on the trail and connects w/ the kids. I may be in the minority, but I think he will end up doing well at Texas. Remember, he beat out Kansas for Allen last year, and Duke was after Coleman.
Anyway, Cal will have to battle in this one. I still think he wins.
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And they had some talent also. Wasn't like they had a bunch of walk-ons. And to think when Bamba was on his official at Texas they were DRUMMED on their home floor
And UK hasn't been winning? Lol, what other school has won a national championship, been to 4 final 4's, 2 elite 8's in the last 8 seasons.
What the hell defines winning for you?
Okay..he missed some and had a few bad calls his first five years. But in 2014 and 2015 he had just as many "misses" and "bad calls" as he did his first five years.
I've feared losing him ever since Allen went pro. Now some will say Allen staying was what he wanted in order to go there and I tend to agree with that BUT what I think may be happening now is that he has a good bond with Shaka and Shaka litterally needs him next year to save his job, and Bamba knows that. He may end up at Texas just to save Shaka's job. Terrible decision if that's why he goes, but I'm sure Shaka has played some sort of sympathy card.
And that is the only reason Texas is being considered. That and maybe they will name a building after him or something.
Cal has an opportunity to build that relationship this summer by taking Bamba with him on the U19 team tournament. People put too much stock in each of these flips on 247 Crystal Ball. I wouldn't put stock in any of those picks unless and until a date has been set to announce his commitment.
Or he was casting a wider net. Or it was a series of young kids making terrible decisions (2015).
Cal has had 3 seasons were he basically got who he wanted. 2009, 2011, and 2014. In other years he has had to compete with other programs and has lost a few. It happens.
Okay. That's true. I still agree with morgousky on here who also said that recruiting has been slipping the last 2 or 3 years..because it has. Maybe I was wrong on the reasons but it still has for one reason or another.
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