The Joel Justus/Tony Barbee years might have cost us Trae Young, Anthony Edwards, Cade Cunningham, Cam Reddish, Jalen Green, etc.

[Son_Of_Saul]

It sickens me when I look back at the recruiting travesties that were caused by the ineptitude of Joel Justus and Tony Barbee.

I truly believe that if we had our current staff in place in that crucial period from 2017-2020, we would have landed most of these guys.

Young, Edwards, Reddish, Green, and Cunningham all had UK in their final two. Edwards and Cunningham both basically wanted to commit after their visits to Kentucky. The UK staff convinced Cal to move away from Trae Young if Quade Green committed first. Jalen Green was either going pro or to Kentucky, and a better staff could have persuaded him UK was the better move long term (same for Jaden Hardy). Calipari freaking coached Reddish at the FIBA games and still couldn't close that recruitment because of the sluggishness of his assistant coaches.

Kentucky could have had a monopoly in the NBA on good elite guards. Think about it:

We already have Fox, SGA, Murray, Booker, Herro, and Maxey. Those six guys represent about 40% of the best young guards in the NBA.

What if we also had Trae Young, Anthony Edwards, and Cade? We would have absolutely monopolized the young guard market, and dominated recruiting even more.


I'm a greedy SOB, ladies and gentlemen. I want all the nice things. I'm hoping the next 5 years under Calipari can provide an absolute monopolization of elite recruiting. VJ Edgecombe is the first step because we need to put Scheyer in his place.

 

[Wonky]

How awesome would it be for Cal to lead us back to a couple more FF’s and a title or two before dropping the mic? Man I want that so bad. I really want to love Cal like I did his first 8 years here. But he did make it hard with the Justus/Barbee experiment. That set our program back for sure.

 

[Son_Of_Saul]

How awesome would it be for Cal to lead us back to a couple more FF’s and a title or two before dropping the mic? Man I want that so bad. I really want to love Cal like I did his first 8 years here. But he did make it hard with the Justus/Barbee experiment. That set our program back for sure.

Yeah, they killed the program for a while.

Anthony Edwards and Trae Young alone would have given us the signature recruits during that span to bridge the gap. Both of them were there for the taking.

 

[RunninRichie]

Cal got complacent and lazy after 2017. He thought he could coast for a while there. Then the covid year followed by the saint peters loss, and then the 22-11 season followed by a second round loss really showed him what was up. I hope we at least get to a final four this year. It's been 8 years (wtf?) and we're due. Sick of watching UCLA, Duke, Kansas, and UNC all go to final fours.

 

[know1]

We had plenty of good players. What sickens me is all the talent we have had that's been wasted due to a coach who won't actually coach.

And regardless, those coaches were assistants. If they weren't doing a good job that's on the coach.

 

[villefan76]

LeBron was the reason we lost out on Reddish.

 

[drew_ukfan]

the issue isn’t Barbie and Justus, it’s Cal

The man has had plenty of talent and has squandered most of it. Would he have let any of them sit the bench and protect their draft stock?

I couldn’t care less about the nba, i want to win at UK and if we can’t hang #9 this year, a change needs to happen.

 

[chroix]

I think both sides of this argument are right. Cal got lazy. Barbee and Justice cost us some really valuable recruits. Both things can be and are true.

 

[Cats192]

We had Cade until OK State hired his brother. There just wasn't any competing with his brother. We managed to overcome it with DJ because Cal has been recruiting DJ since he was in his mother's womb.

There's layers to it. Justus and Barbee definitely didn't help.

Cal had also become complacent. I think after his amazing stretch, he felt like Kentucky sold itself and kids should be honored to be considered by UK. It doesn't work that way. Anthony Edwards wants to hear he's "the ****in man." Cal wasn't the same driven guy that was getting every recruit he wanted from 2010-216.

I also think Cal let his friendships and loyalty hurt things. He didn't want to cut dead weight. Things had to get so bad before he finally pulled the rip cord. That included Jai Lucas leaving because of Cal's stubbornness on how we recruited. By multiple reports: Jai wanted to get on kids early, and Cal wanted to pop in at the 11th hour thinking they'd be blown away by the UK offer.

I think Cal did finally see the light. He's back to being a menace on the recruiting trail. We overhauled the staff. I do think we're getting onto guys earlier rather than waiting until the 11th hour. We're starting to win the recruiting part of this again.

 

[Fitch44]

Quade green is one that, as I look back on all his recruits, one that really sucked and turned out to be a pretty bad teammate by all accounts.
However, as cal was loading up on recruits I think he had pj, JV locked up and was trying to secure Knox and Bamba.
I thought I remember reading that lots of high level recruits didn’t think highly of Young. So to get mamba and all the studs he could cal went with green.
Am I remembering that right?

 

[Doodah859]

Quade green is one that, as I look back on all his recruits, one that really sucked and turned out to be a pretty bad teammate by all accounts.
However, as cal was loading up on recruits I think he had pj, JV locked up and was trying to secure Knox and Bamba.
I thought I remember reading that lots of high level recruits didn’t think highly of Young. So to get mamba and all the studs he could cal went with green.
Am I remembering that right?

That's what I remember, I thought I remember hearing a lot of guys didn't want to play with Trae Young

 

[Runnin'Ramel]

the issue isn’t Barbie and Justus, it’s Cal

The man has had plenty of talent and has squandered most of it. Would he have let any of them sit the bench and protect their draft stock?

I couldn’t care less about the nba, i want to win at UK and if we can’t hang #9 this year, a change needs to happen.

This.

 

[Runnin'Ramel]

We had Cade until OK State hired his brother. There just wasn't any competing with his brother. We managed to overcome it with DJ because Cal has been recruiting DJ since he was in his mother's womb.

There's layers to it. Justus and Barbee definitely didn't help.

Cal had also become complacent. I think after his amazing stretch, he felt like Kentucky sold itself and kids should be honored to be considered by UK. It doesn't work that way. Anthony Edwards wants to hear he's "the ****in man." Cal wasn't the same driven guy that was getting every recruit he wanted from 2010-216.

I also think Cal let his friendships and loyalty hurt things. He didn't want to cut dead weight. Things had to get so bad before he finally pulled the rip cord. That included Jai Lucas leaving because of Cal's stubbornness on how we recruited. By multiple reports: Jai wanted to get on kids early, and Cal wanted to pop in at the 11th hour thinking they'd be blown away by the UK offer.

I think Cal did finally see the light. He's back to being a menace on the recruiting trail. We overhauled the staff. I do think we're getting onto guys earlier rather than waiting until the 11th hour. We're starting to win the recruiting part of this again.

Sounds right. If you recall, Cal even said things about getting an offer from UK - he assumed that would be a big moment for the kid and you had to be really special to get one from him. Those days are in the past.

 

[Cawood86]

the issue isn’t Barbie and Justus, it’s Cal

The man has had plenty of talent and has squandered most of it. Would he have let any of them sit the bench and protect their draft stock?

I couldn’t care less about the nba, i want to win at UK and if we can’t hang #9 this year, a change needs to happen.

12 years since a title. 9 years since a FF. Last 3 years have been awful. Time for him to win one. Time for him to perform.

 

[NociHTTP]

the issue isn’t Barbie and Justus, it’s Cal

The man has had plenty of talent and has squandered most of it. Would he have let any of them sit the bench and protect their draft stock?

I couldn’t care less about the nba, i want to win at UK and if we can’t hang #9 this year, a change needs to happen.

He absolutely did that with Sharpe.

 

[SkyPrince1]

That's what I remember, I thought I remember hearing a lot of guys didn't want to play with Trae Young

Cal also wanted Trae to transfer to a prep for his sr year which didn't sit well with family.
Trae's mother was the parent who thought the UK facilities were less than spectacular.

 

[Mike-D]

How awesome would it be for Cal to lead us back to a couple more FF’s and a title or two before dropping the mic? Man I want that so bad. I really want to love Cal like I did his first 8 years here. But he did make it hard with the Justus/Barbee experiment. That set our program back for sure.

I mean, I'd forgive him for the bad seasons and the way he talked to the fans during our 9 win season. He'd then go down as one of the greatest to do it. He's got the talent and the recruiters. I also believe he's got the x's and o's on the bench, if he'll use it. It's his legacy.

 

[drew_ukfan]

He absolutely did that with Sharpe.

It’ll happen again if we let it, it’s ridiculous

 

[LineSkiCat14]

Similar to those years where we seemingly lost every big game, it seems we also got the rug pulled out from us on every big recruit.

And don't forget, the word was that Knox only committed here because Duke had a ton of competing talent, and we only got EJ Montgomery because he basically got hazed by Zion and RJ so he came here.

Our recruiting during this time felt like lesser recruits picking us, when they figured they'd be going to a lesser P5 program.. but we opened up and they took the opprotunity. Quade Green, Devin Askew

 

[CatChow]

It sickens me when I look back at the recruiting travesties that were caused by the ineptitude of Joel Justus and Tony Barbee.

I truly believe that if we had our current staff in place in that crucial period from 2017-2020, we would have landed most of these guys.

Young, Edwards, Reddish, Green, and Cunningham all had UK in their final two. Edwards and Cunningham both basically wanted to commit after their visits to Kentucky. The UK staff convinced Cal to move away from Trae Young if Quade Green committed first. Jalen Green was either going pro or to Kentucky, and a better staff could have persuaded him UK was the better move long term (same for Jaden Hardy). Calipari freaking coached Reddish at the FIBA games and still couldn't close that recruitment because of the sluggishness of his assistant coaches.

Kentucky could have had a monopoly in the NBA on good elite guards. Think about it:

We already have Fox, SGA, Murray, Booker, Herro, and Maxey. Those six guys represent about 40% of the best young guards in the NBA.

What if we also had Trae Young, Anthony Edwards, and Cade? We would have absolutely monopolized the young guard market, and dominated recruiting even more.


I'm a greedy SOB, ladies and gentlemen. I want all the nice things. I'm hoping the next 5 years under Calipari can provide an absolute monopolization of elite recruiting. VJ Edgecombe is the first step because we need to put Scheyer in his place.

Yes. Because we've all seen what Cal can do when he gets all recruits.....1 title.

 

[NociHTTP]

Similar to those years where we seemingly lost every big game, it seems we also got the rug pulled out from us on every big recruit.

And don't forget, the word was that Knox only committed here because Duke had a ton of competing talent, and we only got EJ Montgomery because he basically got hazed by Zion and RJ so he came here.

Our recruiting during this time felt like lesser recruits picking us, when they figured they'd be going to a lesser P5 program.. but we opened up and they took the opprotunity. Quade Green, Devin Askew

And Cal during this time was saying that he couldn't hide players, but was doing the opposite. Players caught onto this, and it came to a head with Diallo and was capped off with Sharpe. But now with better talent here they'll have to compete if they want to be noticed by scouts. Because the ones competing will be the ones drafted.

 

[king of cali]

That's what I remember, I thought I remember hearing a lot of guys didn't want to play with Trae Young

They still don’t.

I’ll never be sorry about UK “missing out” on that turd.

 

[crxohio]

My take, Cal squanders talent. But at the Sametime, it's the youth. Just couple years later they do well as pro's. It's the formula. If half of these players stayed a duration at ky. I don't think this gap would of happened. BUT, I think we finally get back to making runs! This club acts hungry! We haven't seen that since fox,monk,bam.

 

[Fox2monk]

It sickens me when I look back at the recruiting travesties that were caused by the ineptitude of Joel Justus and Tony Barbee.

I truly believe that if we had our current staff in place in that crucial period from 2017-2020, we would have landed most of these guys.

Young, Edwards, Reddish, Green, and Cunningham all had UK in their final two. Edwards and Cunningham both basically wanted to commit after their visits to Kentucky. The UK staff convinced Cal to move away from Trae Young if Quade Green committed first. Jalen Green was either going pro or to Kentucky, and a better staff could have persuaded him UK was the better move long term (same for Jaden Hardy). Calipari freaking coached Reddish at the FIBA games and still couldn't close that recruitment because of the sluggishness of his assistant coaches.

Kentucky could have had a monopoly in the NBA on good elite guards. Think about it:

We already have Fox, SGA, Murray, Booker, Herro, and Maxey. Those six guys represent about 40% of the best young guards in the NBA.

What if we also had Trae Young, Anthony Edwards, and Cade? We would have absolutely monopolized the young guard market, and dominated recruiting even more.


I'm a greedy SOB, ladies and gentlemen. I want all the nice things. I'm hoping the next 5 years under Calipari can provide an absolute monopolization of elite recruiting. VJ Edgecombe is the first step because we need to put Scheyer in his place.

I definitely think we land a couple of them for sure. I don’t know if we could have landed Cunningham over family but the others for sure.

 

[ck-2]

Any nba lockouts in the near future so we can retain some talent and have a shot?

 

[CatPhight]

Barbee = Cal's pool boy

 

[Cowtown Cat]

I just gotta do this….Hey, @ralphdaltonfan what are your thoughts on this subject?! GITT!

 

[know1]

My take, Cal squanders talent. But at the Sametime, it's the youth. Just couple years later they do well as pro's. It's the formula. If half of these players stayed a duration at ky. I don't think this gap would of happened. BUT, I think we finally get back to making runs! This club acts hungry! We haven't seen that since fox,monk,bam.

Besides getting more mature, they might be getting some actual coaching after they leave here, too.

 

[Son_Of_Saul]

Edwards and Young were certainly obtainable.

Just needed to close those two recruitments.

I'm not buying that Edwards needed to be the man. He loved Cal's pitch, and said he almost committed on his trip to Lexington. We just didn't have guys who could close on elite talent during that stretch, including Calipari. The slothful staff didn't help matters at all, and the Trae Young recruitment was a total fumble. You put SGA and Young in the same backcourt, and you're reliving 2017 with Fox and Monk.

 

[TNCatfanforever]

We had plenty of good players. What sickens me is all the talent we have had that's been wasted due to a coach who won't actually coach.

And regardless, those coaches were assistants. If they weren't doing a good job that's on the coach.

Correct. Don’t blame the first mates if the ship hits an iceberg It rest squarely on the captain who makes 10 million a year.

 

[Ky-troutbum]

Edwards and Young were certainly obtainable.

Just needed to close those two recruitments.

I'm not buying that Edwards needed to be the man. He loved Cal's pitch, and said he almost committed on his trip to Lexington. We just didn't have guys who could close on elite talent during that stretch, including Calipari. The slothful staff didn't help matters at all, and the Trae Young recruitment was a total fumble. You put SGA and Young in the same backcourt, and you're reliving 2017 with Fox and Monk.

I do agree that Cal is hard headed and has got in his own way but let’s not forget about the referee bias that has hurt us in a lot of big games and the rampant cheating that was going on by other schools (dook, kansass and uncheat) to name a few.
Those 2 things have hurt us more than anything!

 

[crxohio]

I do agree that Cal is hard headed and has got in his own way but let’s not forget about the referee bias that has hurt us in a lot of big games and the rampant cheating that was going on by other schools (dook, kansass and uncheat) to name a few.
Those 2 things have hurt us more than anything!

All 3 winning championships since our last final 4 lost. It's a mix of everything.

 

[Rockfly78]

Cal had his tubby moment with justice/barbee