When Cal gets leads...

[crestcat]

he didnt have all the time in the world...he had 3 minutes. and what do you want cal to do exactly? murray cut here, hawkins go here. they did...and it didnt work. the other team plays too. also look at how ul holds and arm bars cutters...stuff that is fouls and not called.

You may not believe this, but some coaches draw up plays to run to get a man free for an inbounds pass. I've seen it happen, some can do it in 30 secs.

Some coaches when they have a week off and know they are going to play a pressing team will even practice it during the week.

 

[Aike]

Another issue is foul trouble.

UL was in the double bonus pretty early. If you keep the hammer down, you tend to increase possessions. Not always the best plan when the opponent is marching to the line.

 

[crestcat]

He owns your coach.

He is my coach ,I just think it is a mistake he makes. You have no idea how much I despise Uof L and Pitino.

 

[BostonCat2001]

You may not believe this, but some coaches draw up plays to run to get a man free for an inbounds pass. I've seen it happen, some can do it in 30 secs.

Some coaches when they have a week off and know they are going to play a pressing team will even practice it during the week.

you may not believe this...but the other coach dials up a play to prevent it....

 

[Oboro3]

Murray was the reason. We made our run in the first half with him on the bench.

One player name Murray played out of control and should have been benched until he was willing to play team ball.

 

[BostonCat2001]

the bigger issue in this game is murray's inability to get any type of call while driving to the basket. all season long same story...kid gets his, arm barred, body blocked...hardly gets a call. i just dont get it. ul is in the double bonus with 10 minutes left in the half. uk didnt sniff the bonus until late. i guess ul just all of a sudden started playing great defense without fouling....lol

 

[UK till Death]

Not sure, you would have to go to California's rival's site. Our Cal doesn't actually play 'in' the game, rather he 'coach's it', so he doesn't actually 'let' the other team come back.

*coaches

 

[crestcat]

you may not believe this...but the other coach dials up a play to prevent it....

We did nothing that resembled a play, believe that?

 

[UKBrassowTipIN]

What happens?

Is it his fault jamal murray and derick willis thought it was a good idea to run 1000 miles an hour and try to have a dribblethon? Oddly enough he let this boards love affair, willis stay in and that was part of the lead dwinfle. Damn if you do, damn of you dont.

If anything on Cal, he tried to tighten the defense, which resulted in fouls and that's what kept them in the game. I don't blame him...uofl was ready to fold.

People need to get a clue. I'm assuming hardly anyone can recognize, much less explain the adjustments that took 0lace in the second half..yet I'm sure they think they know what was going on.

 

[chattanoogawildcat]

We did nothing that resembled a play, believe that?

We ran plays 1, 2, 4 & 6. You didn't notice?

 

[crestcat]

Another issue is foul trouble.

UL was in the double bonus pretty early. If you keep the hammer down, you tend to increase possessions. Not always the best plan when the opponent is marching to the line.

The other team plans on scoring, if you don't keep scoring they can catch you. April 4, 2015 that happened, they caught us and they passed us

 

[EastKYWildcat]

We usually win

 

[BostonCat2001]

We did nothing that resembled a play, believe that?

you should go back and watch it again.

 

[chattanoogawildcat]

you should go back and watch it again.

It might be too painful for him.

 

[nssdigitalchumps]

*coaches

Darn it! Thank you. Sorry. I suck.

 

[kat57]

you should go back and watch it again.

It is on the SEC network

 

[BostonCat2001]

It is on the SEC network

great....watch ul players arm bar and hold murray cutting to the ball

 

[Nubb16]

Couldn't figure out why we stopped pressing after taking a huge lead while in the press. Also, we completely went away from Poythrees. We won, that's all that matters.

 

[KyFaninNC]

We were up by 14 against Kansas at halftime in title game and won by 8....think it actually got a lot closer than that down the stretch IIRC

We were up 22 at one point on KU, Cal even admitted after the game that he pull it back too early. This is his MO, and we have to live with it.

 

[KyFaninNC]

The only part of Cals coaching I don't agree with is his taking the air out of the ball at the end of games. Having said that, his close game winning % is insanely good and better than any other current coach. Most coaches do the stall ball thing. Duke fans constantly bitch about K doing it.

This is true, but our horrid free throw shooting don't lend itself to play stall ball.

 

[LetsHang#9]

Basketball is a game of runs. We were never going to blow Louisville out. I swear to God you can't make some fans happy.

 

[Aike]

The other team plans on scoring, if you don't keep scoring they can catch you. April 4, 2015 that happened, they caught us and they passed us

I will respond to you rationally once before you join the short list of posters I have on ignore.

Cal wants as badly as any coach out there to win. He's better at winning than almost any of them.

The way his teams play is well thought out and highly effective. I don't always agree with every single move he makes, but I can't argue with the results.

Cal knows how to win games and he plays to win games. Sometimes the other team wins anyway. Their players and coaches are trying to win too.

It isn't some fatal flaw that causes the other team to sometimes beat us. It's just the way the game goes.

4 final fours in 5 years. 1 Title and a handful of possessions away from 2 or 3 more. I like it.

I won't beat Cal up over the handful of possessions that didn't go our way. I'll appreciate that he put us in the position where those possessions mattered.

Trying to be as polite here as I can, but you don't understand some mystery of the game that Cal doesn't get. He gets it all. He sees other angles that he doesn't always play. He coaches his way, and it works.

 

[MakinMusic]

Some of our fans, a few in this thread, desperately need some perspective. Nit pick the hell out of everything. We have the best coach in basketball. We won today. We have 4 final fours and a championship since he got here.

I believe he's so good it creates unreal expectations with some fans. You have no idea what a crap hole we would be in without him. That includes if we had Izzo or any other flavor of the day. We wouldn't have the stats we have. Just plain silly.....

 

[katwest]

If we had hit our free throws and not made stupid mistakes down the stretch, Murray out of control, Hawkins letting the clock run out and Willis trying to bring the ball up the court, it wouldn't have been close at the end.

 

[irishcat1965]

He is my coach ,I just think it is a mistake he makes. You have no idea how much I despise Uof L and Pitino.

Your lack of basketball knowledge is truly shocking. Bordering on ignorance. Off the top of my head, I can think of several close games UK won in huge pressure NCAA situations:
Princeton 2011
Ohio State 2011 (number one seed)
UNC 2011 (number two seed)
Wichita State 2014 (number one seed)
Louisville 2014 (higher seed)
Michigan 2014 (higher seed)
Wisconsin 2014 (higher seed)
Notre Dame 2015
This list doesn't include any regular season games. Cal is a clutch coach and knows how to win big games.

 

[BostonCat2001]

Basketball is a game of runs. We were never going to blow Louisville out. I swear to God you can't make some fans happy.

dont you get it. after going on a 9-0 run. uk is just supposed to keeping shooting 100% floor and the opponent miss everything they put up....for the rest of the game.

 

[crestcat]

I will respond to you rationally once before you join the short list of posters I have on ignore.

Cal wants as badly as any coach out there to win. He's better at winning than almost any of them.

The way his teams play is well thought out and highly effective. I don't always agree with every single move he makes, but I can't argue with the results.

Cal knows how to win games and he plays to win games. Sometimes the other team wins anyway. Their players and coaches are trying to win too.

It isn't some fatal flaw that causes the other team to sometimes beat us. It's just the way the game goes.

4 final fours in 5 years. 1 Title and a handful of possessions away from 2 or 3 more. I like it.

I won't beat Cal up over the handful of possessions that didn't go our way. I'll appreciate that he put us in the position where those possessions mattered.

Trying to be as polite here as I can, but you don't understand some mystery of the game that Cal doesn't get. He gets it all. He sees other angles that he doesn't always play. He coaches his way, and it works.

I will never know if you put me on your ignore list, that being the case I can't think of one reason why I should care if you do or you don't.

I stated earlier that I knew Cal was a HOF coach and I did not want any other coach and I am aware of his accomplishments. I just hated losing that game to Wisconsin because of him letting the air out of the ball and I hate even more that he is still doing it today.

 

[BostonCat2001]

cal's accomplishments as a coach speak for themselves. especially at uk. if at this point if you are criticizing his ability it says more about you than anything else.

people hind under the "its just my opinion - free country"...but that is just crap. its either you think too highly of your basketball knowledge which mostly entails watching tv or you just have something against cal and thats never going to change.

 

[CharlieT71059]

Murray turned the ball over at least 3 times when we had the big lead

 

[Aike]

I will never know if you put me on your ignore list, that being the case I can't think of one reason why I should care if you do or you don't.

I stated earlier that I knew Cal was a HOF coach and I did not want any other coach and I am aware of his accomplishments. I just hated losing that game to Wisconsin because of him letting the air out of the ball and I hate even more that he is still doing it today.

And now I will never get to see you spew your illogical nonsense again.

 

[wildcatglenn]

UK had a 6 pt lead with 5 to go against wisc.if I'm correct. Cal by his own admission thought they had it won and started milking the clock, thus the back to back shot clock violations. That's just what Cal does

 

[Aike]

UK had a 6 pt lead with 5 to go against wisc.if I'm correct. Cal by his own admission thought they had it won and started milking the clock, thus the back to back shot clock violations. That's just what Cal does

I would like to see a link to Cal admitting that he thought he had the Wisconsin game won.

 

[Clive Gollings]

I swear to God you can't make some fans happy.

This is evident from winning a big game today and seeing how miserable some are.

 

[UKSlim]

The Grind after we get a sizable lead is the only thing that really frustrates me about Calipari. He is a grinder at heart.

 

[bigdaddy741]

Cal pulls the reigns a little too soon for me on occasion but his success is historical thus far so I can live with it.

 

[Mike-D]

Maybe one day Cal will tell his team to keep playing when we are up 7 with 4 minutes to go. And maybe we will jack up a few ill-advised 3's and lose the game. And then maybe we can find something else to bitch about.

 

[anon_013cn8yrfncx2]

"4 final fours in 5 years. 1 Title and a handful of possessions away from 2 or 3 more."

Don't have an axe to grind with Cal's decisions but that's WHAT this thread is about .. those handful of possessions

 

[Aike]

"4 final fours in 5 years. 1 Title and a handful of possessions away from 2 or 3 more."

Don't have an axe to grind with Cal's decisions but that's WHAT this thread is about .. those handful of possessions

Those trees are part of a large forest.

We get in that position because of the way Cal coaches, from the time kids show up on campus until draft night.

It isn't as simple as changing one piece. The style of play - the style that has led to one of the most successful runs in NCAA history - the style that puts us in position to go to 4 final fours in 5 years - that very style is what can also be frustrating.

I know there's a bunch of you coaching from your couch who not only would have gotten to 4 final fours but would have also put your boot on Wisconsin's neck.

You would have reigned in Brandon Knight from shooting so much against UCONN. You would have let him shoot against OSU though.

You would have fed the post against WVU. And you would have made John Wall guard Mazulo!

And Louisville gave us the blueprint to beat UCONN the second time. What was Cal thinking?

Counter factual history is a fun discussion. But lots of posters on this board are living in la la land.

Cal makes mistakes, just like every other coach. But there isn't some grand basketball scheme that YOU figured out that Cal hasn't thought about, analyzed, and either implemented or discarded because it didn't fit his model.

If you think you have, then this post is for you.

 

[Jkwo]

Those trees are part of a large forest.

We get in that position because of the way Cal coaches, from the time kids show up on campus until draft night.

It isn't as simple as changing one piece. The style of play - the style that has led to one of the most successful runs in NCAA history - the style that puts us in position to go to 4 final fours in 5 years - that very style is what can also be frustrating.

I know there's a bunch of you coaching from your couch who not only would have gotten to 4 final fours but would have also put your boot on Wisconsin's neck.

You would have reigned in Brandon Knight from shooting so much against UCONN. You would have let him shoot against OSU though.

You would have fed the post against WVU. And you would have made John Wall guard Mazulo!

And Louisville gave us the blueprint to beat UCONN the second time. What was Cal thinking?

Counter factual history is a fun discussion. But lots of posters on this board are living in la la land.

Cal makes mistakes, just like every other coach. But there isn't some grand basketball scheme that YOU figured out that Cal hasn't thought about, analyzed, and either implemented or discarded because it didn't fit his model.

If you think you have, then this post is for you.

Confirmation bias - some people only notice the junctures where Cal makes a decision when it goes wrong and not the 95% of junctures where he makes a decision that goes right - these games are very long, very busy, very involved, and somehow, we end up winning damn near all of them.

And of those that go wrong, those aren't even all his fault, either - sometimes they are, sure, but player execution, the other coach/team factor, and simple luck of bounces all factor in as well.

 

[JeffGoodmansVestigialTwin]

I like Cal, HOF coach and all of that, don't want anyone else but IMO he is the worst Bball coach in div 1 in the closing minutes of a game. At the 2:37 mark we had a five point lead and the ball, we immediately turned it over on a 5 sec. call. On our next possession we ran the clock down and threw up a prayer, on our next one we got a shot clock violation and after that I don't remember. That is how you turn a close game into a nail biter

Let me fix this. He is definitely NOT the worst coach in Div 1 in the final minutes of a game.