Arkansas fans, get ready...

[Kevin Bryan]

Just out of curiosity, how many times did cal bring 5 transfers in and the #1 transfer class in the country?

How many times did he have a top 25 transfer class?

To be fair, 3 of those 5 transfers came with him from Kentucky (and played significant minutes as part of a 10-loss team that got bounced by Oakland in the 1st round of the NCAAT), so I wouldn't necessarily count them as traditional transfers since they were already playing for Cal. Only things changing for Wagner, Thiero, and Z are their location and uniform. His true transfer class consists of Aidoo and Davis (plus the return of Brazile is a nice bonus for him).

 

[Anthony B]

Wrong. You still don’t get it. I’m not arguing that Arkansas is going to be great or anything related to that. I’m simply saying that YOU have no idea. YOU keep saying cal can’t coach and YOU keep making comments about players that YOU know nothing about.

You didn’t like Cal and you didn’t like how he coached. That’s fine, but making definitive statements about his future, these players, or Arkansas is the ONLY thing people are chastising you over. YOU have no idea. Focus here.

Everybody knows that Cal is very limited as a coach. It's hardly a secret! Give any above average coach the sheer amount of talent he's squandered, and they'd have multiple titles. Last year he brought his two best players off the bench for God knows why. That's straight up coaching malpractice to have two lottery picks coming off the bench. Ya'll do have a lot of talent though for sure.

 

[Kevin Bryan]

Everybody knows that Cal is very limited as a coach. It's hardly a secret! Give any above average coach the sheer amount of talent he's squandered, and they'd have multiple titles. Last year he brought his two best players off the bench for God knows why. That's straight up coaching malpractice to have two lottery picks coming off the bench. Ya'll do have a lot of talent though for sure.

They certainly got off to slow starts seemingly every game until Rob and Reed subbed in after the first TV timeout. Sheppard still played 29 minutes a game though, Reeves is the only guard that played more. Rob played a little over 23 but a big reason for him not playing more minutes was because he would routinely pick up stupid fouls and almost always had 2 in the first half, which would put him back on the bench until the 2nd half. Sometimes he didn't even play 5 mins in the 1st half because of it. He still averaged more minutes than Edwards though.

 

[fleckabelly]

To be fair, 3 of those 5 transfers came with him from Kentucky (and played significant minutes as part of a 10-loss team that got bounced by Oakland in the 1st round of the NCAAT), so I wouldn't necessarily count them as traditional transfers since they were already playing for Cal. Only things changing for Wagner, Thiero, and Z are their location and uniform. His true transfer class consists of Aidoo and Davis (plus the return of Brazile is a nice bonus for him).

Not disagreeing, but aidoo and Davis were 2 of the top in the transfer portal. The truth is Cal never used the portal at Kentucky and it seems like something that’s going to be a part of his system at Arkansas.

As I’ve also said, there are various other factors as well that will be different at Arkansas than Kentucky. Things we may not even understand. For starters, he seemed burnt out. The relationship between him and the fans had stagnated. His desire to prove himself again, etc.. I don’t think anyone rational would argue otherwise. He’s been successful before and it’s not like he can’t do it again.

My point isn’t to say that cal’s a great coach or even that he’s going to be successful, I’m just saying that he is a capable coach and it’s idiotic to claim that he won’t have success at Arkansas because of his last 4-5 years at Kentucky. Things change, situations change, people change, etc.. The fact that he’s using the portal alone should be a clear example that he’s trying something different.

That also excludes the reason anything has been said in the first place. Arkansas fans aren’t on here telling USC fans anything bad about Muss nor are BYU fans here complaining about Pope. I couldn’t care less about what Muss does at USC. The continual posts he makes about cal and the current players comes off as sour grapes because it is. Writing things like “this season could be a disaster” or “everyone outside of Davis are role players” about a bunch of guys that you know nothing about other than some arbitrary ranking system, just comes off as a douche. Its fairly obvious from his posts that he clearly wants cal to fail and I find people like that funny.

 

[fleckabelly]

Everybody knows that Cal is very limited as a coach. It's hardly a secret! Give any above average coach the sheer amount of talent he's squandered, and they'd have multiple titles. Last year he brought his two best players off the bench for God knows why. That's straight up coaching malpractice to have two lottery picks coming off the bench. Ya'll do have a lot of talent though for sure.

I’ve never argued he’s a great coach, I said he’s capable. To be clear, this isn’t the point. I’m not on here arguing with USC fans that their players are role players or that this season could be a disaster because it’s not my team and I have no interest in them. My mockery here isn’t some attempt to validate Cal, it’s about one guy that has repeatedly tried to discredit everything cal has ever accomplished or to discredit the players currently at Arkansas because he’s emotionally invested in Cal’s success or failure.

 

[JimboBBN]

And what about the Kentucky fans who are predicting a great and exciting year?

I know which roster I’d rather have. And coach for that matter.

Hilarious if you are implying you’d rather have Cal. You were one of his biggest critics when he coached at Kentucky. Nothing has changed except his colors. But all of a sudden he’s gonna be good, huh? Clockwork.

 

[ExitFlagger]

Hilarious if you are implying you’d rather have Cal. You were one of his biggest critics when he coached at Kentucky. Nothing has changed except his colors. But all of a sudden he’s gonna be good, huh? Clockwork.

I haven't contradicted myself. Notice I've never said that I'm penciling this Arkansas team into the final four. I've just said they have a lot of talent. And that it's ridiculous to claim this would be his least-talented Kentucky team and that top 10-25 HS recruits aren't rated highly enough to have success under him, and all the other nonsense being spewed.

You're right. I was one of his biggest critics. And for years I pointed out that he underwhelmed given the ridiculous amount of talent that went through that program. My stance hasn't changed. The only people who have flip-flopped are certain UK fans like Jeff. He used to argue for days that Calipari's teams were too young to expect deep runs in the tourney, that having a bunch of draft picks means nothing because the draft is all about potential, etc etc. Now he's spewing the same line that I had for years.

But why would it be hilarious for me to rather have Calipari than Pope? Not knocking Pope, but what's he done for you to elevate him above Calipari? Let's be honest, 99% of you were very underwhelmed by the hire at first and had to talk yourselves into it.

 

[fleckabelly]

 

[ExitFlagger]

Can I let Arkansas fans enjoy what? You act like I started this. Go back to page 1 and see how this all started.

Also, there is a very large difference between a top 5 rated kid (Davis, Wall, Zion, Barrett, Randle, Murray, Fox) and a top 25 4* kid, you must be out of your mind if you think they're the same, or even close.

There are very few freshmen in each class that can step right into the college game and hold their own. Most 15 and up rated kids are projects.

UK fans lived this crap for 15 years, maybe you should listen to what we have to say.

Now, Billy Richmond and Carter Knox could pull a Reed Sheppard and explode, but how many times have you ever seen that happen?

Even when you add Fland, this is a weak recruiting class when compared to what Cal typically brings in and I don't see how that's even up for debate. It’s a true statement, not a put down.

Shit, Cal went 9-16 with much higher rated kids than the ones he has this year.

Last thing, please show me where I said UK had a better roster, or coach? I did say I like having seniors instead of freshmen and I did say I am relieved to have Pope. I also said Pope can lose every game, I would still take Pope over Cal, because Pope coaches to win college games, Cal coaches for the draft.

You definitely said you'd rather have Kentucky's roster. I think you even said it wasn't close in your mind.

Your obsession with Ark's freshman class is weird. Their team isn't going to live or die by the success of the freshmen. I'd imagine they expect Fland to be a big contributor, as top 10 freshmen usually are, and it's pretty clear he will be. He might be one of the best players in the country already. But I don't think they need the others to provide anything but decent depth.

They have a 5th year senior guard who was the top-rated player in the portal. Wagner and Ivisic look like they've taken big strides, as talented sophomores usually do. They have a senior Brazile, senior Aidoo, junior Thiero. And for some reason, you think they need a huge year from Billy Richmond and Karter Knox to be competitive? Dude, just give it up. This is sad.

I'm not sure there's a more talented team in the country than Arkansas.

 

[I am stupid]

It's difficult to compare their rosters. I don't think either coach would do well with the others roster.

 

[Kevin Bryan]

The truth is Cal never used the portal at Kentucky and it seems like something that’s going to be a part of his system at Arkansas.

He utilized the portal plenty at UK, especially since "free agency" started. Last year Reeves and Mitchell led the team in minutes per game. The year before that he had Tshiebwe, Toppin, Reeves, Wheeler, and Fredrick all playing 22+ mpg. 2022 was Tshiebwe, Wheeler, Toppin, Grady, and Mintz. Other notable transfers over the past few years include Olivier Sarr, Reid Travis, and Nate Sestina.

 

[JimboBBN]

I haven't contradicted myself. Notice I've never said that I'm penciling this Arkansas team into the final four. I've just said they have a lot of talent. And that it's ridiculous to claim this would be his least-talented Kentucky team and that top 10-25 HS recruits aren't rated highly enough to have success under him, and all the other nonsense being spewed.

You're right. I was one of his biggest critics. And for years I pointed out that he underwhelmed given the ridiculous amount of talent that went through that program. My stance hasn't changed. The only people who have flip-flopped are certain UK fans like Jeff. He used to argue for days that Calipari's teams were too young to expect deep runs in the tourney, that having a bunch of draft picks means nothing because the draft is all about potential, etc etc. Now he's spewing the same line that I had for years.

But why would it be hilarious for me to rather have Calipari than Pope? Not knocking Pope, but what's he done for you to elevate him above Calipari? Let's be honest, 99% of you were very underwhelmed by the hire at first and had to talk yourselves into it.

It’s not about believing the Pope is going to come in and automatically duplicate what Cal did early in his tenure.

It’s much more about having someone that CARES about the job and doesn’t use it just for personal gain. That’s all the UK has become for Cal, his ego inflation. Pope could end up being very average. I don’t think he will be, but even if he is. Wanting to do the job well would be plenty enough to yield better results than what Cal did since 2019. Those are not hard numbers to beat. Even for average coaches at average programs.

We are behind Mark and yes, it was tough for a lot of us to swallow at first. We didn’t think Mitch took the initiative to hire the best guy. He never tried with Billy D or some other top options. But emotions settled, and I think 99 percent of the fanbase is united for the first time in almost ten years. We will look back and see we ultimately hired the best guy for Kentucky.

 

[mtsuhog85]

And what about the Kentucky fans who are predicting a great and exciting year?

I know which roster I’d rather have. And coach for that matter.

No doubt. Jaxon Robinson, a guy Arkansas processed 2 times is one of their top additions from the portal.