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Time to quit playing nice

144catfan

Sophomore
Jan 24, 2014
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This is 3 years in a row UK has been played by a recruit. First it was Wiggins and something to do with one of his parents, last year it was a couple kids Brown, and another recruit maybe Swanigan? whose mom did not want UK, now this ordeal with Bolden. These kids follow basketball very closely and they know the deal with UK and if they want to be here then sign here instead of using us to muster up interest in recruitment. It's obvious other schools are telling these kids to hold off on announcing till the last minute to cost us recruits.
That is what happened in this one. We could have had Allen months ago instead he felt slighted and dropped us while we were off chasing Bolden and now we may well see some of the same issues in the post again next year.
Cal should give these kids until the end of their senior season in high school to decide and if they can't give an answer by then after usually 2 or 3 years of being recruited then it's time to move on to someone who absolutely wants to be here.
 
Who is to say Cal wasn't sending a message to Bolden family with his posts on CoachCal.com? Everyone took the "#kaboom" as some recruiting hint-maybe it was really a proactive post to get BBN ready for bad news but also focused on him staying/re-energized and ready to go to war.

Sometimes Coaches need something to piss them off to get them to realize what got them there-and in Cal's case he may very well been stating that to you/BBN. You may be surprised to know that he knew how it was going down before hand and just let the kid have his day (which is classy unlike several programs).

Also, do you really want a kid who is going to troll a fanbase (The TCU shirt was classless by Bolden and if we're talk up parenting, then some really poor advice there as I'd never let my son do that to another school, especially one that is in area he attends--that is just cruel and tasteless). Honestly the joke is on Bolden family as Duke really sees him as a kid to keep away from UK as UK had a role for him-and they really don't need him--as we'll see when games are tight this year.
 
I'd say Cal is doing 'pretty well' the way he recruits.[winking] As he and others have said many times, UK is not for everybody.
He is doing very well, but the unfortunate truth is missing on Wiggins when we could have maybe had someone else and whiffing on 3 guys last year who drug out their recruitment, and know Bolden may have well cost us 3 titles and added 1 more for Duke and next spring it could well be 2.
 
What pisses me off is that Cal is going in and only selling UK while some of these other schools (Cough Capel) are playing dirty and it is costing us recruits. It's time that Cal gets his hands dirty and rolls around in the mud too. Last year every coach in the country was throwing around "platoon" to scare any kid looking at UK from coming here. Now it's being "set for life" and attacking UK as a basketball only factory that somehow leaves you unprepared for life
 
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Who is to say Cal wasn't sending a message to Bolden family with his posts on CoachCal.com? Everyone took the "#kaboom" as some recruiting hint-maybe it was really a proactive post to get BBN ready for bad news but also focused on him staying/re-energized and ready to go to war.

Sometimes Coaches need something to piss them off to get them to realize what got them there-and in Cal's case he may very well been stating that to you/BBN. You may be surprised to know that he knew how it was going down before hand and just let the kid have his day (which is classy unlike several programs).

Also, do you really want a kid who is going to troll a fanbase (The TCU shirt was classless by Bolden and if we're talk up parenting, then some really poor advice there as I'd never let my son do that to another school, especially one that is in area he attends--that is just cruel and tasteless). Honestly the joke is on Bolden family as Duke really sees him as a kid to keep away from UK as UK had a role for him-and they really don't need him--as we'll see when games are tight this year.

Great post. Spectacular insight @ralphdaltonfan!
 
Who is to say Cal wasn't sending a message to Bolden family with his posts on CoachCal.com? Everyone took the "#kaboom" as some recruiting hint-maybe it was really a proactive post to get BBN ready for bad news but also focused on him staying/re-energized and ready to go to war.

Sometimes Coaches need something to piss them off to get them to realize what got them there-and in Cal's case he may very well been stating that to you/BBN. You may be surprised to know that he knew how it was going down before hand and just let the kid have his day (which is classy unlike several programs).

Also, do you really want a kid who is going to troll a fanbase (The TCU shirt was classless by Bolden and if we're talk up parenting, then some really poor advice there as I'd never let my son do that to another school, especially one that is in area he attends--that is just cruel and tasteless). Honestly the joke is on Bolden family as Duke really sees him as a kid to keep away from UK as UK had a role for him-and they really don't need him--as we'll see when games are tight this year.


Ralph Dalton Fan. Will you adopt me? I'm 41.
 
Maybe cal knew all along you ever thought about that? He probably left boldens house feeling like mom will have the final say. In spite of not getting the icing we still have the top class so questioning cal on this is absolutely stupid. how many has cal brought in that other schools thought were played?
 
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Maybe cal knew all along you ever thought about that? He probably left boldens house feeling like mom will have the final say. In spite of not getting the icing we still have the top class so questioning cal on this is absolutely stupid. how many has cal brought in that other schools thought were played?
We are Kentucky, we are the gold standard as Cal says. We have put more guys in the NBA since Cal got here than anyone, we should not be putting ourselves in a position to get played by 17 year olds and their mommies.. Not to mention it could be costing us titles because we end up with nothing while our 2nd or 3rd target goes somewhere else while we hold out for a guy that is ranked a few slots higher.
 
Who is to say Cal wasn't sending a message to Bolden family with his posts on CoachCal.com? Everyone took the "#kaboom" as some recruiting hint-maybe it was really a proactive post to get BBN ready for bad news but also focused on him staying/re-energized and ready to go to war.

Sometimes Coaches need something to piss them off to get them to realize what got them there-and in Cal's case he may very well been stating that to you/BBN. You may be surprised to know that he knew how it was going down before hand and just let the kid have his day (which is classy unlike several programs).

Also, do you really want a kid who is going to troll a fanbase (The TCU shirt was classless by Bolden and if we're talk up parenting, then some really poor advice there as I'd never let my son do that to another school, especially one that is in area he attends--that is just cruel and tasteless). Honestly the joke is on Bolden family as Duke really sees him as a kid to keep away from UK as UK had a role for him-and they really don't need him--as we'll see when games are tight this year.

Bingo.
 
We are Kentucky, we are the gold standard as Cal says. We have put more guys in the NBA since Cal got here than anyone, we should not be putting ourselves in a position to get played by 17 year olds and their mommies.. Not to mention it could be costing us titles because we end up with nothing while our 2nd or 3rd target goes somewhere else while we hold out for a guy that is ranked a few slots higher.


What??? We have the TOP class! What the hell are you talking about??? Anyone who had their hopes pinned to bolden was setting themselves up for failure. He was not make or break player. We have he best group of freshman in the country. Like I also said I doubt cal got played as you say. He has likely known for a while. He doesn't wait for anyone and if he felt there was another option he would have gone for it. If Briscoe goes well then we will need a guard more than another big. We have a nice squad for next year. We will have legit shot at #9. Cals problem is not has not been recruiting.
 
Lol weird when we got 5 five stars players coming in
We are bringing in 5 stars and so is Duke, but during the recruiting process don't you think Duke is saying UK is nice but our coach has won 5 titles and has won more than Cal in his time at UK?
Bottom line is in 2014 we were probably a player away from a title after we chased Wiggins till the end and got nothing, last year we were a player in the post away from being a title threat but got nothing after wiffing on Brown, Swanigan, and one other guy at the end.
If you guys like being the bridesmaid and not the bride that's fine, but this kid has known for at least 6 weeks according to reports that Duke was his choice and in the meantime one helluva player dropped us. Allen could have meant a title for us.
 
Cal did fine

Kids and other coaches will screw you. What he did was crap but he's a Dukie. What do you expect?

They are one of the crappiest programs in basketball especially when compared to the choirboy persona
 
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What??? We have the TOP class! What the hell are you talking about??? Anyone who had their hopes pinned to bolden was setting themselves up for failure. He was not make or break player. We have he best group of freshman in the country. Like I also said I doubt cal got played as you say. He has likely known for a while. He doesn't wait for anyone and if he felt there was another option he would have gone for it. If Briscoe goes well then we will need a guard more than another big. We have a nice squad for next year. We will have legit shot at #9. Cals problem is not has not been recruiting.
We may or may not have the top class, but Duke with what they are returning are without a doubt the best team.
We lose everyone every year so we need to have the top class hands down or we are losing ground.
 
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Where does the story that we could have had Allen come from? Is there proof that he tried to commit and Cal told him no until we see what Bolden does? This narrative seems to come up a lot, especially now that we didn't get Bolden, and I haven't been able to find the proof.
 
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It would be nice if a coach could do a better job at figuring out if a recruit has actual interest in playing for our school or just playing the school and costing us another recruit while waiting. I would like to think a coach like coach K would not do something as knowing a kid wants to commit but have them wait so the other school recruiting the kid would miss out on their remaining recruits, but after this recruitment, i wouldn't doubt it anymore. What happened to having no clue where he wanted to go? Now it's back to knowing he wanted to play for Duke for awhile. I'm not too stressed. Like i have been saying, Bolden has never been the type of talent that you would think while reading our forums. He's good. He's starter good. I see the kid putting up 8 and 6 type of numbers. Now that he's at Duke, i see those numbers not even being that good. He will put up 5 and 4 now that the playing time won't be there unlike the playing time he would have seen here. I have faith in Humphries. He is a year older and has to be even stronger coming into this year. He will be a factor. When the BBN sees Humps play this year, most wanting Bolden will be over it and will be ready to support the kids we have instead of want kids that want to play for Duke. Any kid wanting to play for Duke has that ICK factor about them.
 
Where does the story that we could have had Allen come from? Is there proof that he tried to commit and Cal told no until we see what Bolden does? This narrative seems to come up a lot, especially now that we didn't get Bolden, and I haven't been able to find the proof.
It is well known that Cal went all in on Bolden and UK quit contacting him, he himself said he had not heard from UK recently around the end of the season so he took us off his list as he felt slighted. In the meantime the Bolden camp kept pushing off the decision and more or less leading UK on at the direction of Jeff Caple to be sure we ended up with neither. Duke knows we are their competition next year and they know post play will be our weakness again.
 
This sounds about the same as when Washington lost out on T.Jones saying he was a horrible kid because of how he handled his recruiting. Sounds the same as State fans saying Bam strung them along or Duke fans with Wenyen, Oregon fans with Murray etc. it's recruiting it happens Cal won't win every recruiting battle and he shouldn't change the way he recruits just because some fans get butt hurt over losing a recruit. I'm pretty sure Cal isn't bad mouthing the kid and I'm sure he's pretty happy with his recruiting class
 
This sounds about the same as when Washington lost out on T.Jones saying he was a horrible kid because of how he handled his recruiting. Sounds the same as State fans saying Bam strung them along or Duke fans with Wenyen, Oregon fans with Murray etc. it's recruiting it happens Cal won't win every recruiting battle and he shouldn't change the way he recruits just because some fans get butt hurt over losing a recruit. I'm pretty sure Cal isn't bad mouthing the kid and I'm sure he's pretty happy with his recruiting class
I'm not bashing the kid at all, but as a program maybe we should take a kid lime Allen who by all accounts would have signed up with us in a minute 6 months ago instead of getting played for 6 months by a kid ranked 3 spots higher that wants UK to wait for him.
Say that to yourself a 17 year old kid wanted UK to wait for him.
Screw that crap. If they are close to equal in talent then take the kid that is ready to pull the string.
 
Why do some feel the need to write their disquisition on parenting? He ain't comin, let's move on.

Not about who he chose--it's about "Set for Life"--if you think conducting yourself in a manner to "tease" a program that is not only one you aren't going to--but one that hasn't done anything other then show interest and it's in Dallas Metroplex, then we've got different interpretations of being "set for life". If "all you talk about is the NBA" bothered this woman, then shouldn't it bother her that her kid was basically being a grade A dickhead on a day when people were honoring him and showing up to offer support?

Can't hide what/who you truly are and this kid's family and he showed their true colors today. I am certain despite the fact you all hate Duke, that Duke staff didn't approve of that act. Karma works in mysterious ways. Not off to a good start for the drama queen and her baby boy.
 
Who did we lose that we missed because of Wiggins? We already had Young and Poythress, I don't think we had a realistic shot with anyone who was actually going to play. Last year we missed on nearly everybody we went after. Again, who did we miss on that would have actually played? Allen and Bolden weren't guaranteed starters. It would be nice to have one of them but it's not a devastating loss by any means.
 
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It is well known that Cal went all in on Bolden and UK quit contacting him, he himself said he had not heard from UK recently around the end of the season so he took us off his list as he felt slighted. In the meantime the Bolden camp kept pushing off the decision and more or less leading UK on at the direction of Jeff Caple to be sure we ended up with neither. Duke knows we are their competition next year and they know post play will be our weakness again.
That doesn't explain where Allen said he wanted to commit to us but Cal said no. It explains that we backed of off Allen but nothing points to Allen wanting to commit to UK and being denied.
 
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Please, we really need more posters telling Cal how to recruit. Nice!
Maybe some of you enjoy watching Duke win titles? I don't. They are 10-15 points better than us next year.
We needed another good post player since we don't know how good Bam will be in college, or Gabriel, or SKJ, or Humph or Tai who weren't good enough to see clock last year. Or hole Lee returns and has somehow became Anthony Davis?
Jefferson is a proven double double man in college, Kennard is going to have a huge year, meanwhile we are again relying on kids solely out of high school whereas Duke has guys that have played significant minutes in big college games.
 
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I'm not bashing the kid at all, but as a program maybe we should take a kid lime Allen who by all accounts would have signed up with us in a minute 6 months ago instead of getting played for 6 months by a kid ranked 3 spots higher that wants UK to wait for him.
Say that to yourself a 17 year old kid wanted UK to wait for him.
Screw that crap. If they are close to equal in talent then take the kid that is ready to pull the string.


Love Cal, and agree that we could have had Allen. But Cal is addicted to getting the highest rated players on the board, sometimes at the cost of losing out on them AND another good player that wanted to come here. That's my only frustration with Cal, other than not mixing in a zone here and there to see if it works in a game.
 
I'm not bashing the kid at all, but as a program maybe we should take a kid lime Allen who by all accounts would have signed up with us in a minute 6 months ago instead of getting played for 6 months by a kid ranked 3 spots higher that wants UK to wait for him.
Say that to yourself a 17 year old kid wanted UK to wait for him.
Screw that crap. If they are close to equal in talent then take the kid that is ready to pull the string.
Prove he was ready to pull the string and I'll agree that we should have let him. If not stop saying it.
 
I seriously think all of this recent Duke vs. UK stuff is the best thing that could have ever happened for those of us who want to see Cal stay at UK for another 10-15 years.

Cal is immensely competitive, and I think the fact that Duke has jumped into the OAD arena and is challenging him at his own game is a huge motivating factor for him. His recent state of program spiel was entirely about countering all of Duke's subtle anti-UK recruiting pitches. I think Cal is sick of being beat out for recruits by Duke and it's motivating him to stay at UK and fight on.

The next few years are going to be highly entertaining.
 
That doesn't explain where Allen said he wanted to commit to us but Cal said no. It explains that we backed of off Allen but nothing points to Allen wanting to commit to UK and being denied.
Many people around the Allen camp have stated he was ready to commit to UK but was told to wait by UK as they continued to chase Bolden. After seeing this he felt slighted that UK was chasing Bolden while telling him to wait and he chose to move on from us.
 
Prove he was ready to pull the string and I'll agree that we should have let him. If not stop saying it.
Read things in recruitment circles, I did not save the sites I read this on nor do I know if it was true but it makes since that a kid who plays center would cut a school like UK when we have no viable option at center.
 
Many people around the Allen camp have stated he was ready to commit to UK but was told to wait by UK as they continued to chase Bolden. After seeing this he felt slighted that UK was chasing Bolden while telling him to wait and he chose to move on from us.
Many people? Somebody link a story at least that has quotes from Allen or his people that this happened please. I'd like to know that it really happened and not these type of vague biased opinions by fans that feel jilted by one recruit and betrayed by our HOF coach who picked up 5 5 stars in this class despite his ignorance and lack of vision that kept from getting Allen.
 
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Read things in recruitment circles, I did not save the sites I read this on nor do I know if it was true but it makes since that a kid who plays center would cut a school like UK when we have no viable option at center.
OK. I see. You're jumping to conclusions to help you vent. That's all you had to say.
 
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