And exactly how has that helped UK, especially the last six years or so? It is analogous to having a great looking car but the AC is not working while driving in a Florida summer. I think pitino's first year we were like 14-14 but you knew we were in for more to come. It feels like those days again, thankfully
WCS says Cal drew recruits not UK.
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I mean Pitino did have 11 NBA players on one roster, so he came close.
The question I worry about is can you win without ever being able to get top level recruits. Pope is a good coach, but it does take great talent to beat other top talent whether the kid is 18 year olds or 24.
Like Willy but he is crazy, I guess he never saw some of the greats from UK's past play any. I know Billy took the roster down but even Tubby who hated to recruit the big time players because of all the hype etc, brought in NBA talent here and there.
Cauley-Stein Explains Why It's Calipari, Not Kentucky That Drew Recruits
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – A one-on-one interview with former Kentucky star Willie Cauley-Stein shows exactly why Wildcats fans were wrong when...www.si.com
I never said it did, but quite frankly, it helped a ton as we were in the crapper when he got here. Let’s not act like we all weren’t singing his praises the first 7-9 years and whether we agree with the one and done model or not, having a ton of kids in the nba never hurt. All I said is that there is nobody that can recruit better, which isn’t a shot at anyone and it honestly isn’t calling Cal a great coach. Some years that method killed it, some sucked really badly.
Again, nobody has ever brought so many high profile recruits in here on a consistent basis. Others have had a sporadic highly ranked recruit or two. Cal brought 3-6 in yearly for a decade and a half. Recruiting is the only thing that I praised him for and if Pope can win on a high level, I don’t care if he has the #1 class or nothing but walk-ons. I love what he has done in his short time here. Hopefully we are as high on him in the next 5-6 years as we were on Cal and he has hung a few banners in that timeframe like his predecessor.
A few things. After the first 7-9 years I was plenty unhappy. With the amount of talent Cal brought in and only 1 national title? We had a lot of losses that were simply shocking, and as the years went by things simply got worse as coaches adjusted around the 3 pt line etc, but Cal never did. Even as Cal nudged a little as far as getting a few more experienced players he was enamored with athletes instead of skill and played his inexperienced players at the expense of losses, and he could not even try more defenses, making us easy to prepare for. And he still stuck to man to man on opponent out of bound plays, which put us in a 6 or 8 point hole every game almost. He also had way too few quality players so any injuries simply crippled us. You mention nobody can recruit like Cal, hell, I want the type of recruits Connecticut is getting. That is turning out pretty good.
Of course players came to UK so they could leave after 1 year to go to NBA. UK just gave them the stage and Cal was the cook that destroyed the traditions of our program.Cauley-Stein Explains Why It's Calipari, Not Kentucky That Drew Recruits
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – A one-on-one interview with former Kentucky star Willie Cauley-Stein shows exactly why Wildcats fans were wrong when...
Not to argue but you aren’t counting guys who sniffed the NBA vs multiple all stars are you?
Rupps A List of recruits traverses 3 decades if not almost 4. Hall had no trouble getting talent, no trouble at all. Sutton got talent. Pitino got talent. Tubby got tons less talent, Billy Clyde was so drunk he actually offered a scholarship to a golden retriever only to wake up the next morning to realize he was watching Air Bud.
Cal was going to bring talent, we knew that. Since it had been about 8 years since getting some of the top talent people went nuts.
Pope will bring in his guys, the talent he wants to fit his system, his style, his way of thinking. It todays age there are not as many guys out there that want to play for the name on the front of the jersey, hence NIL. Now it is all free agency. You better be able to put up some $$. You will always have the guys, very few now, (most instate) that will play for the name on the front. The biggest crux of the issues will be who adapts, not just coach but administration for NIL players. Now more than ever you need solid team guys and get a couple of high * talent and finish off in the portal. I would hope Kentucky pays a person to just scout the lower ranks of college basketball looking for the late bloomer, finding that guy that everyone missed.
Cal was going to bring talent, we knew that. Since it had been about 8 years since getting some of the top talent people went nuts.
Pope will bring in his guys, the talent he wants to fit his system, his style, his way of thinking. It todays age there are not as many guys out there that want to play for the name on the front of the jersey, hence NIL. Now it is all free agency. You better be able to put up some $$. You will always have the guys, very few now, (most instate) that will play for the name on the front. The biggest crux of the issues will be who adapts, not just coach but administration for NIL players. Now more than ever you need solid team guys and get a couple of high * talent and finish off in the portal. I would hope Kentucky pays a person to just scout the lower ranks of college basketball looking for the late bloomer, finding that guy that everyone missed.
Cal will continue to recruit at a high level at Arkansas. He will also continue to flame out in the tournament. Arkansas is going to take a major step forward in talent all the while taking a big step back in coaching. At the end of the day Cal is going to continue to lose 10 games a year at Arkansas and he will be explaining to the media about every other year how he let a directional school come in to Bud Walton and spank them. Arkansas isn't UK but they will grow tired of him soon enough too. He may beat UK every year but he never sniffs the final four again. For that reason I will take my chances on an unproven coach who wants to be here and WIN over a guy who wants to constantly speak about himself and cash checks.
Cal did get the recruits. I thought everyone was in agreement with thatCauley-Stein Explains Why It's Calipari, Not Kentucky That Drew Recruits
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – A one-on-one interview with former Kentucky star Willie Cauley-Stein shows exactly why Wildcats fans were wrong when...
That's why we wanted him to leave is it not?
Hence I said “fan”. I’m not making up stuff at all. People follow men all the time. Hell that’s how cults are formed. Seems to be a popular thing these days, cults.
Watching Arkansas fans slowly turn on this guy is going to be so much fun.
Pitino recruited 3 All-Stars and two other top-two ranked guys (Rhodes, Mercer) in 6 years of post-probation work. He also added them to rosters that were already LOADED with quality upper classmen. In addition, that doesn't even count top 5 Turner, Tony Delk, Derek Anderson (a probable 1st team All-American if he had been healthy), Jeff Sheppard, Walter McCarty, Mark Pope, Nazr Mohammed, Scott Padgett, Heshimu Evans, Allen Edwards, and a bunch of other guys who actually made MULTIPLE Final Fours while they were here.
Maybe Pitino wouldn't have had the OAD success of Cal if OAD had been a thing in the 1990s, but do you think Cal could have ever convinced guys like Rhodes, Turner, Mercer, and Walker to "wait their turn?" There's no way.
Both guys excelled at UK at recruiting the way they did best while they were here, but downplaying Pitino's recruiting is hilariously flawed. He landed four top 25-50 guys in his last season here when it was clear each of them was going to come off the bench. McGrady was coming if Adidas hadn't make a $10 million dollar offer he couldn't refuse. Yarbrough, at the time the #1 forward in the nation, was coming. Mouton, a top 25 kid who went on to help Maryland win a title a few years later, had just committed. He convinced two top 5 guys to come to UK in 1995 when it was clear both of them would be playing reserve roles. He did the same in 1992 when he convinced Delk and Rhodes to come to UK as role players in their first year.
Cal could have never done that.
Be more objective.
Why the hypocrisy here? It seems many on RR claim that our university, with it's tradition and brand, brings in these recruits, but put the blame on Pope being new here as to why we have missed out on so many recruits. Can't have it both ways.
Actually Cal did do that before UK. It wasn’t necessarily him but the culture/environment. One and done isn’t that old. Although maybe I’m just old so it doesn’t seem too old.
On the players, none of Pitino’s players could hold water to the guys Cal brought in except for Mashburn.
Of the 96 team you referred two Walker was the best talent and he was really good. But not on the same level as AD, Cousins, KAT inside. Just saying. Extrapolate their careers out past UK and you see the talent. Hell there’s 7 UK guys in the Olympics.
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I haven’t read all these posts so maybe this has been mentioned but ….of course they did . That’s the way Cal recruits . He sells himself, not the university. Remember the “University of Calipari “ quote from the dude being recruited by Cal for Arkansas?
I’m probably older than you but UK has has always gotten 5* McDonald’s AA type kids in my lifetime. I still have several “Street &Smiths” college basketball yearbooks from the 70’s , 80’s, and 90’s to prove it .
You don't get what he was saying. Willie wasn't saying UK was great because of Cal. I'm sure he now knows about our great history. He was saying the level of players that were coming to UK from 2010 to 2023 were mostly because of Cal. Which I'm sure is true. That level of recruiting had never before been seen other than an occasional one-off (like the Fab 5) until Cal got to UK in 2010.
But yes Rupp, and Hall, and Sutton, and Pitino and Tubby all brought in very good talent, the best class in the country some years.
Bull hockey, UK has had some of the best players in the country for decades. I will give Cal one thing he could recruit, couldn't coach worth a crap.
I would say it’s more about what he was accomplishing with those recruits. But you knew that.
tubby was "fired" essentially because he'd let recruiting slip, among other things. Clyde was recruiting no talent middle schoolers. Kentucky basketball has had peeks and valleys and in the years prior to Cal we were at the very bottom of a valley. I'm not gonna shamelessly shill for Cal, but he should get his flowers for what he did for Kentucky's brand and recruiting was the caveat of that turnaround.
Can you not read. I said we’ve had some of the best classes under every coach (except BCG). But Cal took that one aspect (recruiting) to a whole other level. Proof is in how many not just are in a he NBA but also how many are in the top 50 players in the league. So either he recruited better than anyone has before, or he coached them into much better players than when they arrived. And I think we can all agree that 2nd option is not the case!
My point is, every coach that has been at Kentucky has been able to recruit at a high level if they actually wanted to. Tubby pretty much quit recruiting at the end but he brought in 5* players when he wanted them . BCG was an idiot, but he did bring in Patterson in his 2 years here . He made stupid offers but it wasn’t because he had too.
Cal was a great recruiter, but he also had to replace practically his whole team each year. He sold out on winning in order to get players. So of course he’s going to get more 5* because they knew they wouldn’t have to compete and could step right in.
Cal also lost a lot of guys that were his first choice after the 2015 season.
Most of the 25 and 26 recruits that Pope has contacted, and there is a ton of them, mention it is UK, no matter who the coach is, they are happy that the top all time program is recruiting them. They say things like 'it's UK', 'does not matter who the coach is it is still UK,' and 'it's the best all time program.' Pope's way of doing things with the UK brand behind him should be a big hit for years to come. Most of the guys he is going after are great shooters and scorers. The bigs are good to great shooters and passers. Getting 4 and 5 star talent with great fundamentals is all you can ask for.
This is a lot of just saying the right thing with some of these kids until we actually pull one in. Of course this has been a hot topic, so many of these kids are being asked about Cal vs. Kentucky's legacy, hence why they are making such comments.
It also seems that Mitch bet all of his chips on Kentucky's brand, which is why he hired Pope. Let's hope he is right and Pope can be the coach that was hired over a lot of other proven college coaches.
Maybe what Willie is saying is that "he" was drawn to playing for Cal before being drawn to play for UK. I remember a photo of a young Willie Cauley sitting on a sidewalk drawing pictures with chalk that left me with the impression he wasn't that mature, at that age, nor overly well-informed about basketball, in general, much less blue-blood tradition and history. Calipari was a "brand" that he's made a lot of money selling. Why didn't we see OAD at Memphis? Pitino didn't have the national name recognition until he established himself at Kentucky. Everyone likes to dismiss the importance of the UK platform, but reality always reminds us, if we're honest, that is a reality that can't be ignored. Willey Cauley Stein is far better off for having played at UK, whether it was for Calipari or anyone else. JMO.Cauley-Stein Explains Why It's Calipari, Not Kentucky That Drew Recruits
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – A one-on-one interview with former Kentucky star Willie Cauley-Stein shows exactly why Wildcats fans were wrong when...
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Or maybe he's saying exactly what he said: without Cal at Kentucky, there is no real draw.
... for him maybe, like I said earlier. Cal seems to think UK is the Gold Standard while Pitino argued that UK is the Camelot of college basketball. Both those coaches are gone today and both lament having left. Seems odd that both regret leaving if every college BB program is the same as the next.
Yeah, Pitino regrets having left so much he didn't even throw his hat in for the job when it was open. And you're just delusional if you think Cal regrets leaving. Have you seen his team? He has something he was unable to build at Kentucky in recent years: experienced talent.
We did see one and done at Memphis. That was the first 2/3 years of one and done.
Tyreek Evans, Rose, Wagner. It was going to be Henry, wal and cousins the next year
No one would have complained if he was winning enough with young teams . No one was complaining about being young 2010-2015.
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