That’s how you know he’s not old Cal. One good win and he’s taking shots. Old Cal would have tried to run the table and then talk shit all post season or off season.
I don't know that that that is true. Cal's whole career he has coached with a chip on his shoulder. He talked shit when he could because it was a self defense mechanism to prove he belonged.
I am not a Cal apologist or a Cal basher. That said, my dad and I have texted during every single Cats game, that we haven't attended or watched together, since text messaging became user friendly for old guys like us, and there have been plenty of "Cal sucks at coaching" related texts. It's what we do. But neither of us have ever said we want him gone (although we acknowledge things have changed since 2015). We also acknowledge parity in college hoops has also changed greatly, for what it's worth.
I truly believe after Cal's last year at Memphis, and his first 5-6 at UK, we watched that disrespected as a coach chip he and his players had always played start to disappear. He was being praised by his peers, finally, he was winning at high %, won a title, and was getting his pick of recruits (maybe with the help of Nike and WWW). So, He started saying things like we are the gold standard and UK isn't for everyone.
I think those were intended to be messages from a recruiting standpoint, but also partly because this was Cal's chance to finally beat on his chest, because he had made it. The problem with that, was that it enlarged an already huge target on both Cal and UK's back. Cal wasn't coaching anymore from a position of 'I'm going to prove I/We belong'. He was now coaching from a 'we are the best and most of you aren't good enough to play here' position.
Sports have so many parallels to non sport life. It is so hard once you have made it to your goals and the pinnacle of your profession, to maintain the energy it takes to stay there. Cal got comfortable (some would argue lazy and that is fair) People were finally accepting him as a HOF coach, and life was almost too easy.
I think the best thing that happened to Cal this year was having all of this criticism that he can't coach, especially defensively, said about him. The whole first half of his career had been built on getting guys to play with the 'disrespected' mentality, while the 2nd half of his career until about 2016, had been built on getting super talented freshman to buy in to team defense, which is really hard to do.
But the 2015 season and subsequent loss in the final four, was the start of the Empire falling. They went from platoon talk, to absolutely killing some of the best teams that regular season, to undefeated talk, to blowing a 5-6 point lead with a couple minutes to go in the final four (also K wins another one). His peers and rivals saw this as an opportunity to pounce. (lets be honest, his entire career, other than the fans of the team he coaches, he hasn't been easy to route for anyway). I think his plan was to win it all and move on, leaving UK and college basketball at the highest point possible, and forever royalty amongst the UK faithful and even his coaching peers. But after losing, he knew he couldn't leave that way or the opposite would be true
Two games are not a trend, but anyone watching can see the energy level the last two games has been different. I think this team wants badly to cool the criticism of their coach. I think that is partly because, rightly so, Cal is feeling disrespected again. His players, several being dawgs, aren't going to just lay down. Guys like Wagner love Cal and don't want to hear these things being said and it makes them also feel disrespected, which manufactures that chip on their shoulders most of them have never had, because they were always the best of the best.
There is an old saying as it relates to all empires historically; Hard times make strong men, strong men make good times, good times make weak men, weak men make hard times.
I'm hopeful that UK has come full circle in this and we are at the Hard times make strong men stage, with the strong men make good times happening by NCAA tourny
This is the longest post I've ever made and I assume at least half of you will tell me not to make it a habit! Felt good waking up after watching us man handle a good team in their house last night. You all have a wonderful Sunday!
