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Did Cal and Arky REALLY turn it around, or...

fpr4_1983

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Apr 9, 2024
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People will argue that Cal started a turnaround that began on Jan 22 against Georgia. But in retrospect, that UGA team was mediocre and in the midst of losing 9 of 11 games when Arkansas (barely) beat them.

The kentucky game was impressive. But let's be honest. UK was without Lamont Butler to slow Arkansas' guard attack and it was clear that up to that point Cal put his entire season on that game.

After that, Arkansas schedule opened up. Squeaking wins over completely overrated mizzou and miss state certainly helped. Throw in an abysmal 20 point loss to a bottom 5 P5 team in USC.

And in the tourney he beat:

a Kansas team that lost 8 of their last 15 coming into that game.

Pitino, a coach Cal owns because pitino puts together rosters that are exactly what Cal counters well: trying to beat you with speed and athleticism with a roster that has 1 or 2 shooting specialists that don't do much else well.


Not sure i see this as a turnaround as much as the schedule opening up for Cal. If he beats TTU I'll give him props, but nothing else impresses me besides the UK win.
 
People will argue that Cal started a turnaround that began on Jan 22 against Georgia. But in retrospect, that UGA team was mediocre and in the midst of losing 9 of 11 games when Arkansas (barely) beat them.

The kentucky game was impressive. But let's be honest. UK was without Lamont Butler to slow Arkansas' guard attack and it was clear that up to that point Cal put his entire season on that game.

After that, Arkansas schedule opened up. Squeaking wins over completely overrated mizzou and miss state certainly helped. Throw in an abysmal 20 point loss to a bottom 5 P5 team in USC.

And in the tourney he beat:

a Kansas team that lost 8 of their last 15 coming into that game.

Pitino, a coach Cal owns because pitino puts together rosters that are exactly what Cal counters well: trying to beat you with speed and athleticism with a roster that has 1 or 2 shooting specialists that don't do much else well.


Not sure i see this as a turnaround as much as the schedule opening up for Cal. If he beats TTU I'll give him props, but nothing else impresses me besides the UK win.
The best and luckiest thing that happened to Cal/Arky this year was the injury to Fland.

If you are asking the turning point, it is 100% that. The offense resolved solely around Fland making plays, and other guys were just standing around watching or taking bad shots. His injury allowed Wagner to play the point, and he is a completely different player then Fland. The offense is not built around him, and players like Davis and Knox have thrived.

Without that injury, I 100% guarantee Arky continues their slide and misses the tournament. Sometimes it is better to be lucky then good.
 
People will argue that Cal started a turnaround that began on Jan 22 against Georgia. But in retrospect, that UGA team was mediocre and in the midst of losing 9 of 11 games when Arkansas (barely) beat them.

The kentucky game was impressive. But let's be honest. UK was without Lamont Butler to slow Arkansas' guard attack and it was clear that up to that point Cal put his entire season on that game.

After that, Arkansas schedule opened up. Squeaking wins over completely overrated mizzou and miss state certainly helped. Throw in an abysmal 20 point loss to a bottom 5 P5 team in USC.

And in the tourney he beat:

a Kansas team that lost 8 of their last 15 coming into that game.

Pitino, a coach Cal owns because pitino puts together rosters that are exactly what Cal counters well: trying to beat you with speed and athleticism with a roster that has 1 or 2 shooting specialists that don't do much else well.


Not sure i see this as a turnaround as much as the schedule opening up for Cal. If he beats TTU I'll give him props, but nothing else impresses me besides the UK win.
I wouldn't give him credit for beating a depleted Tech roster. We are limping into the S16.
 
I think Cal ditched the NBA first stuff, because the hole he was digging, was getting deep.
After he started 0-5 in the SEC, he buckled down and got to work doing things he's capable of doing.
He's a great motivator and his system does work, but it takes a lot of effort on his end. He's putting that effort in now and this team looks really good.
They are playing team basketball right now and what a difference.
This won't be an easy game for Texas Tech, especially with their injuries and if Thiero comes back, my money is on Arkansas.
 
People will argue that Cal started a turnaround that began on Jan 22 against Georgia. But in retrospect, that UGA team was mediocre and in the midst of losing 9 of 11 games when Arkansas (barely) beat them.

The kentucky game was impressive. But let's be honest. UK was without Lamont Butler to slow Arkansas' guard attack and it was clear that up to that point Cal put his entire season on that game.

After that, Arkansas schedule opened up. Squeaking wins over completely overrated mizzou and miss state certainly helped. Throw in an abysmal 20 point loss to a bottom 5 P5 team in USC.

And in the tourney he beat:

a Kansas team that lost 8 of their last 15 coming into that game.

Pitino, a coach Cal owns because pitino puts together rosters that are exactly what Cal counters well: trying to beat you with speed and athleticism with a roster that has 1 or 2 shooting specialists that don't do much else well.


Not sure i see this as a turnaround as much as the schedule opening up for Cal. If he beats TTU I'll give him props, but nothing else impresses me besides the UK win.


UK fans will tell you it's fools gold, you may wanna listen to them.
 
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So how much of his success was bringing players over, money (I don’t know what NIL or under the table is like) and him as a coach? He has won everywhere. Pitino lost because a player took a dive.
 
The NCAA "tweak" is kind of a Calipari special. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. This year is TBD to see how far it will really take them. What Ky fans had grown tired of were the platitudes and excuses with his "process" when results didn't manifest.
 
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so at what point in this run do we give Calipari credit? Do we need to wait till they beat Duke in the final and then only if we can verify taht Flagg's ankle is 100%
You can give him credit whenever you feel like it, I'm just pointing out that he is facing a team in Tech that is going at about 60% of what it was a month ago. And they were already under manned then.
 
so at what point in this run do we give Calipari credit? Do we need to wait till they beat Duke in the final and then only if we can verify taht Flagg's ankle is 100%
Their KenPom rating has improved something like only 10 spots since the day after they started 0-5 in conference play ( they are currently by far the lowest remaining team in the tournament at #36).

At some point, people have to admit that it's probably more likely that it's the schedule falling off than actual on court improvement.

Their only impressive wins on the season are against kentucky and against pitino. Replace those games with any other two seed.And any other three seed and they're sitting at home.
 
Their KenPom rating has improved something like only 10 spots since the day after they started 0-5 in conference play ( they are currently by far the lowest remaining team in the tournament at #36).

At some point, people have to admit that it's probably more likely that it's the schedule falling off than actual on court improvement.

Their only impressive wins on the season are against kentucky and against pitino. Replace those games with any other two seed.And any other three seed and they're sitting at home.
dude you're a douchebag. They're literally one of only 16 teams in the country still standing. THat's the only thing that matters, you can throw your stats and other nonsense out the window at this point. Only thing that matters now is results.
 
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Has Pope REALLY turned it around in the NCAA tourney, or did the schedule just open up for him?

Discuss.

True, big downgrade in competition once they left the SEC. Shame they have to play a SEC school again.
 
You can give him credit whenever you feel like it, I'm just pointing out that he is facing a team in Tech that is going at about 60% of what it was a month ago. And they were already under manned then.
Didn’t Fland miss the last 15 games before Arkansas started the tourney, and theiro is still out isn’t he? Was a starter for Arkansas if I recall.
 
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