It's time to clear up a few misconceptions.
Usually, where there is smoke, there is fire, and there are two probations worth of smoke in Cal's past.Whether you like it or not, there is a perception that he is shady and that he is a great recruiter but average coach.
Before Cal took over at UK he coached 8 years at UMass and 9 years at Memphis. Both programs had multiple losing seasons before Cal took over, so the talent cupboard was bare.
In those 17 years, Calipari signed exactly 5 McDonald's All Americans.
1 at UMass. 4 at Memphis.
None of these players ever played together. Three only played 1 year. One played 2 years and One played 3 years.
Which begs two very important questions -
1. If Cal was shady, and bought players at UMass and Memphis, why didn't he get lots of McDonald's All Americans?
2. How can you elevate two separate losing programs to the National Championship game, with teams full of Non-McDonald's All Americans and NOT BE ABLE TO COACH?
You can't win 76% of your games,12 Regular Season Conference Championships,9 Conference Tournament Championships go to 11 NCAA Tournaments and to 2 Final Fours with no team that ever had more than 1 McDonald's All American, (who was usually a freshman), AND NOT BE ABLE TO COACH.
Years ago, I'm not sure if it was at UK or Memphis, a game was ending. There were a few seconds left on the clock and the opposing team was in-bounding the ball. During the time out, they stuck a camera into Coach Cal's huddle.
Cal explained exactly what play the opposing team was going to run.
Cal perfectly explained how to defend this play.
He then repeated these instructions to his team.
The whistle blew, the opposing team ran exactly the play Cal said they would, and Cal's team - full of freshmen - didn't have a clue...they just stood there and watched the other team score.
This is the cost of One and Done.
These great players have never played "real" basketball before. They played a different game where they did whatever they wanted.
They've never had to box-out to get a rebound.They've never needed a screen to get off a shot.
They don't understand the concept of help defense.etc.
All this has to be taught at light speed, to players who have never been properly coached before.
So there is a limit on how much you can stuff into these tiny freshman brains.
Coach Wooden had a saying, the best time to play a freshman, is when he's a sophomore.
If you listen to Coach Cal yell at his team, you are likely to hear one word repeated over and over and over and over.
The word is LISTEN!!! LISTEN!!! LISTEN!!! LISTEN!!! LISTEN!!! LISTEN!!!
Cal has told these kids what to do but whether they do it, is another story.
If they do listen, history proves there is an extreme payoff.
No coach, in the history of basketball, has been able to improve the performance of the kids who play for him better than Coach Cal.
No one put LeBron into the NBA, No one put Jordan into the NBA. They were ready before they arrived on campus.
The real test of a coach's player development skills isn't the number of All Americans he has in the NBA...it's the number of All Americans he signed that DIDN'T MAKE IT to the NBA plus the number of Non-All Americans who did make it to the NBA with his help.
It's not about how many diamonds did you polish.
It's about how many lumps of coal you turn into diamonds.
Nobody can touch Cal on this front.
At UMass, Cal signed1 McD All-American...Cal produced 2 NBA players.
At Memphis, Cal signed 4 McD All-Americans..Cal produced 11 NBA players.
At UK Cal has signed 32 McD All-Americans.
2 are still in High School.
7 are still in College.
Leaving 23 McD All Americans eligible for the NBA.
CALIPARI HAS COACHED 34 NBA PLAYERS IN 9 YEARS AT UK!
Out of 23 possible players...34 made it to the NBA.
By comparison, in 43 years, Mike Krzyzewski has signed 74 McD All Americans.
The most of all time. Only 39 of those players ever scored a point at the NBA level.
(10 are in school and 25 never scored a point)
At UK, of the NBA eligible McD's players Cal signed, only 1 (Briscoe) didn't make it to the NBA.
At Duke, of the NBA eligible McD's players Coach K signed, 25 didn't make it to the NBA.
# NBA Player PPG
1 Anthony Davis 22.8
2 DeMarcus Cousins 21.5
3 Karl-Anthony Towns 21.4
4 Devin Booker 19.4
5 John Wall 18.9
6 Brandon Knight 15.2
7 Eric Bledsoe 13.5
8 Julius Randle 12.4
9 Jamal Murray 12
10 Enes Kanter 11.5
11 Terrence Jones 10.5
12 De'Aaron Fox 10.3
13 Nerlens Noel 9.5
14 Michael Kidd-Gilchrist 9.3
15 Willie Cauley-Stein 8.7
16 Skal Labissiere 8.1
17 Patrick Patterson 7.5
18 Tyler Ulis 7.3
19 Trey Lyles 7.1
20 Bam Adebayo 6.9
21 Andrew Harrison 6.4
22 Archie Goodwin 6.3
23 Malik Monk 5.5
24 Darius Miller 4.6
25 Doron Lamb 3.5
26 Josh Harrellson 3.5
27 Alex Poythress 3.2
28 Daniel Orton 2.8
29 James Young 2.3
30 Marquis Teague 2.3
31 Dakari Johnson 2.2
32 DeAndre Liggins 2.0
33 Kyle Wiltjer 0.9
34 Aaron Harrison 0.7
McDonald's All Americans
1 DeMarcus Cousins 2009
2 Brandon Knight 2010
3 Terrence Jones 2010
4 Doron Lamb 2010
5 Anthony Davis 2011
6 Michael Kidd-Gilchrist 2011
7 Marquis Teague 2011
8 Kyle Wiltjer 2011
9 Alex Poythress 2012
10 Archie Goodwin 2012
11 Andrew Harrison 2013
12 Aaron Harrison 2013
13 Julius Randle 2013
14 James Young 2013
15 Dakari Johnson 2013
16 Marcus Lee 2013
17 Karl Anthony Towns 2014
18 Trey Lyles 2014
19 Tyler Ulis 2014
20 Devin Booker 2014
21 Isaiah Briscoe 2015
22 Malik Monk 2016
23 DeAaron Fox 2016
24 Bam Adebayo 2016
25 Sacha Killeya-Jones 2016
26 Quade Green 2017
27 Jarred Vanderbilt 2017
28 P.J. Washington 2017
29 Nick Richards 2017
30 Kevin Knox 2017
31 Keldon Johnson 2018
32 Immanuel Quickley 2018
Usually, where there is smoke, there is fire, and there are two probations worth of smoke in Cal's past.Whether you like it or not, there is a perception that he is shady and that he is a great recruiter but average coach.
Before Cal took over at UK he coached 8 years at UMass and 9 years at Memphis. Both programs had multiple losing seasons before Cal took over, so the talent cupboard was bare.
In those 17 years, Calipari signed exactly 5 McDonald's All Americans.
1 at UMass. 4 at Memphis.
None of these players ever played together. Three only played 1 year. One played 2 years and One played 3 years.
Which begs two very important questions -
1. If Cal was shady, and bought players at UMass and Memphis, why didn't he get lots of McDonald's All Americans?
2. How can you elevate two separate losing programs to the National Championship game, with teams full of Non-McDonald's All Americans and NOT BE ABLE TO COACH?
You can't win 76% of your games,12 Regular Season Conference Championships,9 Conference Tournament Championships go to 11 NCAA Tournaments and to 2 Final Fours with no team that ever had more than 1 McDonald's All American, (who was usually a freshman), AND NOT BE ABLE TO COACH.
Years ago, I'm not sure if it was at UK or Memphis, a game was ending. There were a few seconds left on the clock and the opposing team was in-bounding the ball. During the time out, they stuck a camera into Coach Cal's huddle.
Cal explained exactly what play the opposing team was going to run.
Cal perfectly explained how to defend this play.
He then repeated these instructions to his team.
The whistle blew, the opposing team ran exactly the play Cal said they would, and Cal's team - full of freshmen - didn't have a clue...they just stood there and watched the other team score.
This is the cost of One and Done.
These great players have never played "real" basketball before. They played a different game where they did whatever they wanted.
They've never had to box-out to get a rebound.They've never needed a screen to get off a shot.
They don't understand the concept of help defense.etc.
All this has to be taught at light speed, to players who have never been properly coached before.
So there is a limit on how much you can stuff into these tiny freshman brains.
Coach Wooden had a saying, the best time to play a freshman, is when he's a sophomore.
If you listen to Coach Cal yell at his team, you are likely to hear one word repeated over and over and over and over.
The word is LISTEN!!! LISTEN!!! LISTEN!!! LISTEN!!! LISTEN!!! LISTEN!!!
Cal has told these kids what to do but whether they do it, is another story.
If they do listen, history proves there is an extreme payoff.
No coach, in the history of basketball, has been able to improve the performance of the kids who play for him better than Coach Cal.
No one put LeBron into the NBA, No one put Jordan into the NBA. They were ready before they arrived on campus.
The real test of a coach's player development skills isn't the number of All Americans he has in the NBA...it's the number of All Americans he signed that DIDN'T MAKE IT to the NBA plus the number of Non-All Americans who did make it to the NBA with his help.
It's not about how many diamonds did you polish.
It's about how many lumps of coal you turn into diamonds.
Nobody can touch Cal on this front.
At UMass, Cal signed1 McD All-American...Cal produced 2 NBA players.
At Memphis, Cal signed 4 McD All-Americans..Cal produced 11 NBA players.
At UK Cal has signed 32 McD All-Americans.
2 are still in High School.
7 are still in College.
Leaving 23 McD All Americans eligible for the NBA.
CALIPARI HAS COACHED 34 NBA PLAYERS IN 9 YEARS AT UK!
Out of 23 possible players...34 made it to the NBA.
By comparison, in 43 years, Mike Krzyzewski has signed 74 McD All Americans.
The most of all time. Only 39 of those players ever scored a point at the NBA level.
(10 are in school and 25 never scored a point)
At UK, of the NBA eligible McD's players Cal signed, only 1 (Briscoe) didn't make it to the NBA.
At Duke, of the NBA eligible McD's players Coach K signed, 25 didn't make it to the NBA.
# NBA Player PPG
1 Anthony Davis 22.8
2 DeMarcus Cousins 21.5
3 Karl-Anthony Towns 21.4
4 Devin Booker 19.4
5 John Wall 18.9
6 Brandon Knight 15.2
7 Eric Bledsoe 13.5
8 Julius Randle 12.4
9 Jamal Murray 12
10 Enes Kanter 11.5
11 Terrence Jones 10.5
12 De'Aaron Fox 10.3
13 Nerlens Noel 9.5
14 Michael Kidd-Gilchrist 9.3
15 Willie Cauley-Stein 8.7
16 Skal Labissiere 8.1
17 Patrick Patterson 7.5
18 Tyler Ulis 7.3
19 Trey Lyles 7.1
20 Bam Adebayo 6.9
21 Andrew Harrison 6.4
22 Archie Goodwin 6.3
23 Malik Monk 5.5
24 Darius Miller 4.6
25 Doron Lamb 3.5
26 Josh Harrellson 3.5
27 Alex Poythress 3.2
28 Daniel Orton 2.8
29 James Young 2.3
30 Marquis Teague 2.3
31 Dakari Johnson 2.2
32 DeAndre Liggins 2.0
33 Kyle Wiltjer 0.9
34 Aaron Harrison 0.7
McDonald's All Americans
1 DeMarcus Cousins 2009
2 Brandon Knight 2010
3 Terrence Jones 2010
4 Doron Lamb 2010
5 Anthony Davis 2011
6 Michael Kidd-Gilchrist 2011
7 Marquis Teague 2011
8 Kyle Wiltjer 2011
9 Alex Poythress 2012
10 Archie Goodwin 2012
11 Andrew Harrison 2013
12 Aaron Harrison 2013
13 Julius Randle 2013
14 James Young 2013
15 Dakari Johnson 2013
16 Marcus Lee 2013
17 Karl Anthony Towns 2014
18 Trey Lyles 2014
19 Tyler Ulis 2014
20 Devin Booker 2014
21 Isaiah Briscoe 2015
22 Malik Monk 2016
23 DeAaron Fox 2016
24 Bam Adebayo 2016
25 Sacha Killeya-Jones 2016
26 Quade Green 2017
27 Jarred Vanderbilt 2017
28 P.J. Washington 2017
29 Nick Richards 2017
30 Kevin Knox 2017
31 Keldon Johnson 2018
32 Immanuel Quickley 2018
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