Cal is a far better coach than Pitino has ever been. That is what’s common knowledge outside of the CHC.
Washed up Rick Pitino chokes away 19 point late 1st half lead at home.
- Thread starter TucsonCat
- Start date
These are Pitino’s guys at St John’s. So he does have his guys there.
This is what he is. They will be worse next season.
Then he will quit.
This is what he is. They will be worse next season.
Then he will quit.
Chill out Ellen. Dang
Pitino taking a page out of Pat Knight's playbook. I remember Knight having a rant against his Lamar team late in the season, they wound up winning the Southland auto bid after that. Pitino will steal an idea from anyone, but that's no surprise.
I was flipping through the channels and watched a few minutes of this game today. Pitino looked way more like a guy who should be spending his winters somewhere tropical than the guy who was here in the 90s. He's 71 now and looks older than that. Any talk of bringing him back here is laughable.
Rick regrets leaving Kentucky every day of his life I would say. Had it all and give it up to coach in the NBA which never suited his style of play or coaching. Arrogantly took the Louisville job and made an ass out of himself there. Tarnished his legacy and left with a shitty Cardinal tattoo on his back. One of the biggest coaching career mistakes in sports history, imo.
And he knows it but won’t admit it. He claims his biggest mistake was leaving Providence.
Rick is a good coach when his players are completely bought in. He doesn't need elite talent but he needs good players who work themselves into great defenders and good offensive players. But he needs some talent and some buy in.
But here's his problem in today's game: players can transfer pretty much anytime and play right away and they also are making money off NIL and when they show they can play they can get a bigger, better deal. So, a guy like Rick Pitino who demands perfection and must run a very tight ship is in trouble. His players likely want to leave after year one nearly every season. He doesn't hold all the same cards he had before. Players are entitled. Players are making demands now. Other teams and coaches are recruiting the transfer portal hard and making NIL offers to top players. Rick will likely struggle building the way he has in the past, and I'm not sure how well the old dog and new tricks will work here.
But here's his problem in today's game: players can transfer pretty much anytime and play right away and they also are making money off NIL and when they show they can play they can get a bigger, better deal. So, a guy like Rick Pitino who demands perfection and must run a very tight ship is in trouble. His players likely want to leave after year one nearly every season. He doesn't hold all the same cards he had before. Players are entitled. Players are making demands now. Other teams and coaches are recruiting the transfer portal hard and making NIL offers to top players. Rick will likely struggle building the way he has in the past, and I'm not sure how well the old dog and new tricks will work here.
I agree 100 percent. Rick will struggle building a team now for sure
And they say, if the wind is just right and the air just cool enough; you can hear the song of the ass bird with its mournful cry of “woe is me”.
He would need to win at a higher percentage in 7 more games to match their last season than he has currently won. As of now, he has been a downgrade. They have lost 8 of the last 10 games. He keeps throwing his players under the bus. Who would want to go there? Who would want to come back? He complained about starting over every season but blaming your players left and right all season will make you have to start over. He's cooked. He had an amazing career, but it's over.
As bad as Pitino's been without any McDonald All-Americans or future NBA players, Calipari has only won 4 more games this year with 7 or 8 future NBA players.
Good thread, guys. You really made Cal look awesome here. Mission accomplished @TucsonCat ! 😂
Good thread, guys. You really made Cal look awesome here. Mission accomplished @TucsonCat ! 😂
His tirade will definitely be used against him in recruiting.
Time is not on his side either. Can't see this St John's gig lasting more than five years so a quick turnaround is necessary.
Most all the top portal guys are transferring to have a bigger role offensively or the same role on a bigger stage.
I think his defensive style will meet resistance from today's players much like it did from NBA players 25 years ago.
He wouldn't have won 14 playing UK's schedule.
Would he have won only 18 with UK's talent?
Idk. He's never had a roster built like this one.
It's impossible to know how the kids on this team would respond to his coaching.
You can argue about how a roster is constructed but nobody does a Cal roster better than Cal.
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WildcatfaninOhio
All-American
Pitino's problem with the Celtics was his poor evaluation of player personnel. He had total control in Boston, and he built rosters that couldn't compete.
Didn’t he also say, “I’ve earned this,” at his St. John’s introductory presser?
The 20 year old bitterness in this thread makes you guys look like a bunch of 75 year old cuckolds reminiscing about unfaithful ex-wives while at Bingo night.
I don’t see Pitino doing much of anything at St. Johns. The big east is difficult and I have a hard time seeing him ever winning it. The ceiling is probably a lower seed in the NCAAT, but Pitino isn’t going to have St Johns competing for anything of worth.
Seriously, why would any high profile high school player, or transfer choose St. Johns? After his tirade yesterday Pitino is probably gonna have to spend the remainder of this season doing damage control. Afterall, he created a mass exodus from St. Johns because he wanted to get his players. I may be wrong on that but I seem to remember an article about Pitino encouraging players to leave. Many of those players are now playing key roles at their new schools.
Pretty much, or if St Johns has some big nil fund they can muster up and they get a recruiting specialist. I just can’t see any potential 17-18 recruit buying into Pitino.
I take nothing from the man’s past accomplishments, but it’s 2024.
Some of this goes beyond throwing your team under the bus a bit. And at the end of the day, he did construct this roster. He brought in 11 of the 13 players on the team.
In May he said this:
"Just an incredible job by our staff in recruiting 11 quality athletes with great potential. A culture is formed with selfless people that have a strong thirst for winning. So excited to work with these 13 talented men."
And now he's saying this:
“We are so unathletic that we can’t guard anybody without fouling. For me, I’ve always enjoyed the first year, and I’m not gonna lie to you: This is the most unenjoyable experience of my lifetime. This has been so disappointing.”
“We kind of lost this season with the way we recruited. We recruited the antithesis of the way I coach. It’s a good group, they try hard, but they’re just not very tough.”
“After I spent the summer with them, I knew it was gonna be a difficult year. I knew it. I’m hoping we could finish over .500 for the season.”
Let's be honest about what this board would do if Cal said a tenth of that. He makes a vague comment about an unnamed player getting beat off the dribble a few plays in a row and this board goes crazy.
Same crowd who doesn’t understand the 90s were 3 decades ago and lottery picks don’t stay in a college a minimum of 3 years.
Yeah. He might feel that way, but saying it out loud was a bad move. I saw some quote where he basically went down the roster and called everyone soft.
Some people might love the move, but it doesn’t fly in this day with potential players.
He helped Iona have one of its best seasons last year. With three of their guys transferring elsewhere to be one of the lead guys on their respective teams.
I think this is more just Pitino dealing with a roster that's not his. And it's also testament to the fact that sometimes you just don't have the right players. Dan Hurley had some pretty meh years before winning the title. Jay Wright was averaging close to 12 losses a season before his title run and then bought 8 losses a season after it. No matter how good you are as a coach.. sometimes you just have a sub par team.
I think this is more just Pitino dealing with a roster that's not his. And it's also testament to the fact that sometimes you just don't have the right players. Dan Hurley had some pretty meh years before winning the title. Jay Wright was averaging close to 12 losses a season before his title run and then bought 8 losses a season after it. No matter how good you are as a coach.. sometimes you just have a sub par team.
That is facts . Cal at Umass , Memphis AND UK as at the worst of times been Pitino's equal and at the best of times owned his ass . Never has Pitino owned Cal.
Dead serious come back next year Rick has played almost every ranked team close or led including uconn you're kidding yourself if you don't think Rick can't coach has a team that's limited offensively reason why they don't finish well no where did I say high profile Rick wins big without them cal has to have 7 or 8 nba in waiting to win big difference
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I take great satisfaction in this. He is worthless POS as a human being and choked away multiple titles at UK. He was failure at UL( either didn’t make the ncaa tournament or couldn’t get out of the first weekend half his time there) and now is a failure at St. John’s. I’m loving every minute of it.
