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Willie on KSR - “Cal got complacent, Soft”

Pretty sure anyone with a face tattoo don't gaf what others think.
What he said.

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So if cal isn’t teaching much basketball then eff Barnhart for not letting him go to UCLA 6 years ago
Did you really think Cal was teaching the players anything? Maybe how to step on the baseline or I’m sure he was the play caller for the inbounds plays and of course he taught them how to squeeze the ball with the weave and then get off a prayer. We saw it too much not to be taught by Cal.
 
Did you really think Cal was teaching the players anything?
He is (or at least used to). There's a reason Kentucky guys have been making such big impacts in the NBA. I don't remember exactly where I heard it, but there was something from an NBA GM that says the vast majority of college coaches don't teach guys how to play actual basketball, they're just teaching guys to run set plays and things like that. He said Cal was teaching guys how to play basketball, think on the go, things like that. And maybe that's not the best strategy for a college team, but he was teaching them.
 
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So if cal isn’t teaching much basketball then eff Barnhart for not letting him go to UCLA 6 years ago
Honest question. Let's assume Pope is the home run we all think he is and is here for a few decades. Was getting Pope worth those down years at the end of Cal's tenure as he hung on too long? Knowing who we have as coach now, I think I would make that trade.
 
Honest question. Let's assume Pope is the home run we all think he is and is here for a few decades. Was getting Pope worth those down years at the end of Cal's tenure as he hung on too long? Knowing who we have as coach now, I think I would make that trade.
Cal just taught toughness and tried to play guys to be one’n’done whether they deserved the minutes or not.
 
Honest question. Let's assume Pope is the home run we all think he is and is here for a few decades. Was getting Pope worth those down years at the end of Cal's tenure as he hung on too long? Knowing who we have as coach now, I think I would make that trade.
I would say no because we could have gotten a great coach that would be retiring soon then Pope could take over and also to all our brothers and sisters in BBN that passed away these past 5 years, wasting years is taking for granted the precious little time we have on this earth.

I hope who replaces Barnhart when he retires soon cares more about our basketball than he did
 
Honest question. Let's assume Pope is the home run we all think he is and is here for a few decades. Was getting Pope worth those down years at the end of Cal's tenure as he hung on too long? Knowing who we have as coach now, I think I would make that trade.
I hate to lose lol, when I was coaching and playing but for sure hate seeing UK lose like we did over the last 4-5 yrs. I am thankful for coach Pope and he’s our guy & in a perfect world I would want cal gone and gotten the Pope we have now lol.
 
I would say no because we could have gotten a great coach that would be retiring soon then Pope could take over and also to all our brothers and sisters in BBN that passed away these past 5 years, wasting years is taking for granted the precious little time we have on this earth.

I hope who replaces Barnhart when he retires soon cares more about our basketball than he did
Yeah, my dad passed away last year. Would have been nice to have someone to fill the gap between the two coaches.
 
So if cal isn’t teaching much basketball then eff Barnhart for not letting him go to UCLA 6 years ago

To be fair, fans would have rioted if he let Cal walk, and nobody would have been sitting here imagining a world where Cal dropped off the way he did.

Cal was coming off of 3 elite-eight appearances in 4 years, won the SEC tournament 4 years in a row (15, 16, 17 and 18), etc. - nobody would have been happy with a Cal departure at that time, and anyone who says otherwise would be twisting the narrative.

That said, hindsight being 20/20, it would have been so much better for Kentucky, and probably better for Cal also, if he did leave in 2019 for UCLA.

I wonder who we would have hired? Who were the hot names at the time? Obviously Bruce Pearl had just taken Auburn to the Final Four, Tony Bennet won the national title (boy that would have been a disaster).

Honestly, we probably would have hired Chris Beard.

He had just taken Texas Tech to the National Championship game, was being praised by anyone and everyone as a "win no matter what" guy, and this was before he had any off-the-court issues- I bet that's who we would have made a play for.
 
Also saud Cal didn't really teach him anything about basketball, it was more of the off court stuff, how to build a brand, etc

I think we all knew that, and to be clear, there is definitely a value in a head coach mastering that stuff. It's always been part of the Calipari formula. You have to have the staff to elevate skills though.
 
To be fair, fans would have rioted if he let Cal walk, and nobody would have been sitting here imagining a world where Cal dropped off the way he did.

Cal was coming off of 3 elite-eight appearances in 4 years, won the SEC tournament 4 years in a row (15, 16, 17 and 18), etc. - nobody would have been happy with a Cal departure at that time, and anyone who says otherwise would be twisting the narrative.

That said, hindsight being 20/20, it would have been so much better for Kentucky, and probably better for Cal also, if he did leave in 2019 for UCLA.

I wonder who we would have hired? Who were the hot names at the time? Obviously Bruce Pearl had just taken Auburn to the Final Four, Tony Bennet won the national title (boy that would have been a disaster).

Honestly, we probably would have hired Chris Beard.

He had just taken Texas Tech to the National Championship game, was being praised by anyone and everyone as a "win no matter what" guy, and this was before he had any off-the-court issues- I bet that's who we would have made a play for.
I don’t think as much of the fan base would have cared if he left for UCLA as you think. There was already smoke back then from fans they were growing tired of what was happening, myself
Included in that group. I was mad he didn’t go.
 
Also saud Cal didn't really teach him anything about basketball, it was more of the off court stuff, how to build a brand, etc
the "true" UK fans knew that ccc wasn't teaching the game. That is why very few players improved, except thru their natural abilities.
But when those guys went to the NBA and received some actual coaching, they improved drastically and quickly. I guess teaching the fundamentals of blocking out, setting screens, free throws wasn't as important as building a brand. Screw UK and the fans
 
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I don’t think as much of the fan base would have cared if he left for UCLA as you think. There was already smoke back then from fans they were growing tired of what was happening, myself
Included in that group. I was mad he didn’t go.

Yeah. There had been signs and 10 seasons is plenty at UK. This is an 8 to 10 year max job IMO. He leaves n 2019 and his time here is viewed very different by most IMO.
 
Based Willie. I don’t care what anybody says, his jersey should be in the rafters one day. Now we’ve got a number of guys who are ahead of him in line, but he had a stellar career here and is deserving eventually.

He didn’t have the most flashy stats but he played three years (at a time few players played 3 years), 1 SEC regular season and tournament championship, two final fours, first team SEC freshman team, consensus first team All-American, and national defensive player of the year. Don’t know the stats but gotta believe he’s towards the top of career blocks at UK. He has two of the best dunks I’ve ever seen at UK and probably my favorite block (against Arkansas, no less).

Had a very respectable NBA career that ended prematurely due to some personal issues. Hope to see him make his way back for a few years.

I loved to hear that he’s a true KY fan and not sugar coating the Cal stuff.
 
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The only 7-footer I've ever seen that could defend a point guard in open space...at the collegiate level, of course.
Yeah , I just wish he had been down low helping on Dekker when he was using our guys like a bitch. Wasn’t his fault though, Cal always loved the “switch everything “ scheme.
 
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I think Cal teaching guys how to just play instead of running sets works when you have 4 or 5 future NBA guys worked but once he stopped getting those guys it had no chance.
 
He is (or at least used to). There's a reason Kentucky guys have been making such big impacts in the NBA. I don't remember exactly where I heard it, but there was something from an NBA GM that says the vast majority of college coaches don't teach guys how to play actual basketball, they're just teaching guys to run set plays and things like that. He said Cal was teaching guys how to play basketball, think on the go, things like that. And maybe that's not the best strategy for a college team, but he was teaching them.
This. Cal is hyper focused on developing INDIVIDUAL skills. His philosophy is that when each individual reaches max development....the team benefits.
His philosophy is great for individual development and producing NBA talent, but terrible for team results/accomplishments at the collegiate level with One and Done rules. They'd need 3 to 4 years under his ideology to make a great team without an Anthony Davis.
 
I think Cal teaching guys how to just play instead of running sets works when you have 4 or 5 future NBA guys worked but once he stopped getting those guys it had no chance.
Yeah and also the way the game has changed due to the emphasis on shooting and good sets has equalized the playing field and limited the impact stud freshman have on the game. There are still great freshman who contribute immediately but from a team aspect it helps to have experienced guys who can get and knock down quality shots.

I wonder how that first Cal team would fair in today's college basketball world. I think they would be successful but not to the extent they were in Cal's first season.
 
I'm not buying the fact that Cal didn't ciach basketball. I don't see how that's possible. Maybe he didn't coach fundamentals, that's definitely not in Cal's wheelhouse, but his assistants are supposed to do that and since our players did get better throughout the season in most years, somebody had to be teaching something.
Plus, you can't take a new batch of high school kids every year, not teach them anything, tgen
 
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