What Other Coach Could Lose 87% of the scoring...

[rabidcatfan]

...from a 38-1 team and still field, probably, the best team in the country the very next season? This is incredible. Cal is literally creating top 2-3 teams every year, from SCRATCH! He returned 16 ppg from a team that averaged 74 a game and went 38-0, and yet, we're once again the toast of college basketball and winning big games and are getting projected to win it all...again!

This is certainly a golden age for UK basketball and we all need to cherish every beautiful moment of it.

 

[nookam]

Cal deserves a banner for his HOF and his name on the court. How about a statue, lol.

 

[rabidcatfan]

I agree. They need to hang his name in the rafters and name the court after him. He's made UK relevant again far beyond what any of us could of hoped for.

 

[TNCatfanforever]

I agree. They need to hang his name in the rafters and name the court after him. He's made UK relevant again far beyond what any of us could of hoped for.

I am greedy.....I would like a couple more banners

 

[zannmann]

He needs to win another banner soon or the talking heads are going to start calling him an under achiever.

 

[JasonS.]

The only other one we played on Tuesday night. Maybe Roy when he was recruiting better.

But it's a short list, to be sure.

 

[RU4UK]

...from a 38-1 team and still field, probably, the best team in the country the very next season? This is incredible. Cal is literally creating top 2-3 teams every year, from SCRATCH! He returned 16 ppg from a team that averaged 74 a game and went 38-0, and yet, we're once again the toast of college basketball and winning big games and are getting projected to win it all...again!

This is certainly a golden age for UK basketball and we all need to cherish every beautiful moment of it.

This truly is an unprecedented period in college basketball history.

 

[TNCatfanforever]

This truly is an unprecedented period in college basketball history.

I am 61 and have never experienced any thing like it....to know each year we at least have a s hot....

 

[Federal Cat]

No one not even close, now there is some trying to copy what he patented but it's all him, Coach Cal

 

[Mojocat]

Not only does he start over every year, but most years he's relying on freshmen to lead his team. Both of those things are really hard, and get overlooked because he has so much talent.....

 

[JasonS.]

Thinking about it some more, I'd throw John Wooden, Dean Smith and Jerry Tarkanian in there as coaches that potentially could have done it (had they coached in the one-and-done era) along with Coach K. Pitino in his prime (not 87%, but he lost a ton between 1996 and 1997) probably. Basically looking for that sweet spot of recruiting monsters who could also coach.

Also Pete Bell, had the NCAA not brought him down.

All to say, you're talking about a HOF-caliber accomplishment. And Cal's making it look relatively routine.

 

[bigc45157]

To add to your point, we have a team this year and a projected one next year that are at the pinnacle of college basketball.

That is what is truly remarkable. It was just this summer that I thought maybe we couldn't keep it up and recruits would start going elsewhere.

What a silly, silly notion.

 

[Bluegrass79]

Let's add this: replaced 87% of the scoring with a new group that averages 10+ points per starter the next year within 3 games. The starters right now each average 10+ points a game.

 

[.S&C.]

Thinking about it some more, I'd throw John Wooden, Dean Smith and Jerry Tarkanian in there as coaches that potentially could have done it (had they coached in the one-and-done era) along with Coach K. Pitino in his prime (not 87%, but he lost a ton between 1996 and 1997) probably. Basically looking for that sweet spot of recruiting monsters who could also coach.

Also Pete Bell, had the NCAA not brought him down.

All to say, you're talking about a HOF-caliber accomplishment. And Cal's making it look relatively routine.

Blue chips que....

The part in the movie about the tractors being provided was a story fed to them about Bob Knights tactics. The movie has some truth in it.

 

[*CatinIL*]

Tom Crean could..granted, he hasn't gone 38-1 but I bet he could do it! All Hail Tom Crean! Rebuilding IU's legacy one brick at a time.

 

[rabidcatfan]

Lol...the funny part is that it isn't just about talent. There are plenty of coaches who can recruit, but their teams still don't cut the mustard. People like to detract from Coach Cal and point to the talent pool that he has benefited from over his time at UK, but it takes more than talent to go to the Final Four. Just ask Sean Miller (never been to one despite having a top 5 recruiting class several times), or how about Bill Self who routinely has a top 10 class at Kansas, yet has only made it to the final weekend of the NCAA-T twice in twelve seasons of coaching the Jayhawks? Cal has made the final weekend four times in the last six seasons. Twice as much in half the time.

 

[BlueWorldOrder74]

Obviously Rick Pitino can do this. He unjust chooses to recruit 4 year players that are L1C4. Louisville does it the right way.

 

[UKnCincy]

He needs to win another banner soon or the talking heads are going to start calling him an under achiever.

Any talking head that would call him an underachiever isn't worth listening to. For most of Cal's first three seasons, a large portion of analysts and opposing coaches continually mentioned how Cal's approach could never win a title. It was simply too hard to do so relying that much on freshmen.

Now that Cal proved them wrong, some of those same analysts want to say that he's underachieving. Even though they previously argued that Cal's approach was significantly harder.

I, like all of us, would've loved a title last year. However, not winning one doesn't diminish the impressiveness of Cal's record at UK. Cal has been to more Final Four's at UK than 92% of all D1 schools have been to over their entire history.

Cal's 4 FF's in 5 years is something only 4 other schools have ever accomplished (Cincinnati, Duke, UCLA, UNLV). And Cal has done this all while having to totally reinvent the team year in and year out. That's beyond impressive.

 

[KWilt43atbuzz]

The only name that comes to mind is Wooden.