Like I said, no other program has done it. 5 titles under different coaches. If that doesn't tell you that UK is not coach dependent, nothing will. When he decides to retire, it won't be some ordinary Joe that fills that spot.
? for fans of schools other than Kentucky
- Thread starter Yet Another UK Fan
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How did y'all do under Billy Gillispie? The ghost of Rupp didn't help y'all with him. You haven't been #1 in the Conference in a while much less the country. Furthermore, y'all have really slipped in post season and I'm not just talking about that fluke year. The days of UK being the lone team dedicated to excellence in CBB are over and the records show it. I'm not saying y'all aren't doing everything possible to compete, but the bar has risen and y'all have lost your grasp on your dominant position.
BG is irrelevant... 5 titles under 5 different coaches. That involves no future forecasting like you're doing.
You are failing to recognize the new realities of CBB. You're like a buggy maker in the 1800's for horse drawn carriages claiming that the automobile will have no bearing on your business.
Yes, that's what people said about Saban as well. I think he is here for the duration, but dream on JC.
Not the case. NIL is the new reality and Cal still got the #1 recruiting class. Now it's a matter of getting them all in synch (to buy in) and run an offense that plays to their strengths.
I see what you're saying, but it's a lot of somewhat wishful predicting.
Your problem is that B-Ball isn't as important in 'Bama. That's also why Oats would be inclined to go to a higher bidder from a more consistent B-Ball program.
There is no wishful predicting. I'm totally a reality person. There are several differences between the past and the present that effects the new reality.
1 Schools are will to spend on CBB like they didn't in the past (exception UK)
2 Schools are actively trying to be the best via the best coaches as opposed to just winning enough
3 There is way more money (revenue) to be had in CBB than the past
4 NIL
5 One and done
Use to be with the #1 recruiting class would be a blessing that paid off for 4 years. Now the best players will opt for the NBA robbing the school of experienced top notch players. Y'all have a seasoned coach with a #1 class yet your predicted to finish 4th in the Conference. That would not have been the case in the past.
That is silly in the fact that Oats is the driving force of what makes his team constant. There is little doubt that bama will increase his salary to keep him based on performance. bama has proven that coaching salaries will not get in the way or impede success.
No, that is not what everyone said. bama paid Saban twice the salary of the highest paid coach in CFB upon hiring him. bama proved that they were willing to spare no expense to put themselves in the best position to win.
Who cares about this? Really. Means absolutely nothing. When was the last one? Over 10 years ago. Keep living in the past since that is all you have as long as Cal is there.
I’m a Syracuse fan who was 5 in ‘96. So, other than to reply to this thread, I never think about Kentucky, good or bad. No reason to.What makes you all so bitter about Kentucky? Why is everybody so bitter/butthurt when it comes to UK all the time? We haven’t had the best season for a few in a row now but you enjoy the hell out of beating us or when we lose. Surprising since everybody says UK isn’t very good any more. If that’s the case why do your peters get puffy when things dont fall UK’s way?
Every reasonable person understands this. Of course, he doesn't mention that one of those coaches who won a title did so in his first year, with Pitino's players, and it was all downhill from there. If they replace Calipari with a bad hire, it could easily be Gillispie part 2. Or another Tubby who can coach but not recruit.
He knows it too, but just won't admit it. That is why he would not try to explain how what I said wasn't true, he couldn't. This is an exclusive issue to UK fans alone. They insist on thinking they are great even when they are not.
You have heard of Duke, right? I mean, UK fans are obsessed with Duke while UK has been irrelevant for over 10 years.
Nah....just wishful thinking on our part. Obviously the next coach will be a surefire HOFer. Just because.
Well, all I know is that I'm more than ready for this season to get started. I'm especially jazzed about Maui and playing some of the great teams. It should be a blast.
Wrong.... no explanation needed. You, Phil and E.F. are all just basing this 'theory' on your own personal hopes rather than acknowledging the fact that UK has never been coach-dependent as far as success and winning titles is concerned. I pointed out statistical fact. All you, EF and Phil have is wishful speculation.
Meh... that's a bit exaggerated. Not liking your program doesn't necessarily equate to obsession.
Well, Billy Gillispie was pretty bad. UK moved him out rather quickly (2 years) and Cal came in with a lot of energy and won immediately. So one bad hire won't sink the program.
The issue now is, the game is more physical than it was just 10 years ago. It's also turned into a game where veteran teams run more high octane offenses. Young teams struggle with both those things and what’s worse, Cal focuses on getting kids to the NBA, which mens he puts individual accomplishments over team accomplishments. You won't win anything of note with that method.
Eventually Cal will move on and UK will bring someone else in who prioritizes winning at this level, instead of NBA riches.
UK is still the best destination for the greatest coaches and it has advantages that other schools don't have and that starts with the massive fanbase.
UK won the SEC by 3 games in 2020, it hasn’t really been that long.
It’s been pretty ugly since then though.
A lot of the pre season predictions with regards for UK, are based on the voters looking at past votes. Every year they had UK in the top 5 only to quickly realize that they were wrong. I think these predictions are sending a message to Calipari to prove it.
I am no fan of young teams and I can't wait for Cal to move on, but Edwards is projected to be the #1 overall pick, you don't get that prediction unless you’re damn good.
The makeup of this team gives me hope. Getting Reeves back and bringing Tre Mitchell in from Wva was huge and college basketball is a guards game now, UK has a stable full of high level guards and wings.
It wouldn't surprise me if UK came in 4th, but it also wouldn't surprise me if they won the league either.
Okay, #MichiganState and #@TexasTech.
But yeah, that Evansville loss was sooo John Calipari post 2015. The guy is a shell of what he once was.
Elmarko Jackson has been projected lottery by many, and I even saw a top 5 projection. He hasn’t shown a damn thing yet. It’s possible that this class isn’t that good.
Oats won't get any looks from serious basketball programs.
1) His style is not sustainable. You can't just shoot 40 threes and win 6 games in a row
2) His mouth is a problem. You can't say "he was in the wrong place at the wrong time" when your guy brought a murder weapon to the scene of a crime where someone got murdered.
Alabama doesn’t need to give him a raise to keep him, nobody is going to try to poach him.
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I share with you the new reality vs the old reality. You failed/refuse to explain how that was incorrect. It is proven in the present, UK has fallen off from historical levels.
We hear that every year. "This is a down year… ".
This class has been getting hyped up for 2 years, now… all the sudden, it's "not very good". Same crap, different year.
Even if it isn’t very good, that doesn't mean there aren't great players in the class.
Also, the NBA draft is a different accomplishment altogether. If you go #1 in the draft, it means you have great potential, but it also means you are damn good right now.
I've never heard of Elmarko Jackson, but everyone in basketball knows who Edwards is.
We agree on Gillispie, so there is that. when UK does move on they will attempt to hire a great coach, but there is no guarantee of that happening and the cupboard will probably be bare because of what you just said about Cal's recruiting style.
I know you hear it, but it never seems to sink in. Y'all have been down from historical levels for multiple years now.
The class might be hyped up, but you're not even in the top 15 in the country and only 4th in the conference. That is not the fans ranking y'all it is the experts.
Screw the draft. Y'all aren't the Kentucky Celtics, you're the UK wild cats. Is your goal to be best farm team?
Tubby won with Pitino's players, but Pitino couldn't win with that team PLUS Anderson and Ron Mercer.
Just because Pitino recruited them, doesn’t mean Tubby didn’t do a great job that year.
Winning a title is hard, heck, Self went 14 years between titles and had some really bad losses in there. Tubby made the tournament every year and never had any Bradley/Bucknell/NIU/WS losses in there. He was only there for 10 years, I'd say he had a good run, not great, but certainly not bad.
But also, y'all keep saying UK is one bad coach away from disaster and you keep talking about Gillispie, but you're ignoring the fact that UK shit canned BCG after year 2. So are you guys thinking UK will hire another BCG, but hang on to him? I'm confused here, UK already showed what it will do if a coach is a flop.
BCG was that bad coach you’re referring to, but UK ran him out quickly and was back on top of the cbb world the very next year.
Trust me, I know. I have zero faith in Calipari and if I had to bet, I'd say this is going to be another down year, but the talent is there… .again.
I mean this isnt the first time UK has experienced a drought and it won't be the last. It's happened several times and they have historically always bounced back. You can't expect one team to dominate CBB every single year, especially now when there's so many good basketball players spread out throughout the country. Odds are history repeats itself and UK eventually has another great stretch. Then I'm sure we'll have another drought.
This 'new reality' you keep harping on is still something unproven. It's crystal ball logic based on speculation. When the UK job opens, the candidates will have strong resumes. That's just the nature/lure of the job. Barnhart took one giant swing and a miss with BG, a mistake that it's pretty safe to say won't be repeated. Cal has had a lot of success in 9 of 11 seasons. To think he can't do that again is pretty short sighted.
This: "this isnt the first time UK has experienced a drought and it won't be the last. It's happened several times and they have historically always bounced back."
...exactly.
...exactly.
Pre season rankings are opinions.
Kansas certainly isn’t the best team and does anyone truly believe Purdue is actually a top 5 team after making minor changes? The book is out on them.
Truth us, nobody is currently ranked where they should be. Did anyone have UConn at #1 last year? Anyone have FIU at #3? No way.
The 3 bigs not being available to start the season has a lot to do with that, Della.
