Knecht or Sheppard?
- Thread starter Random UK Fan
- Start date
Tough to call it a fluke when UK went 9-16 in '21, lost to St Peter's in '22, got bounced in the 2nd round in '23, and lost to Oakland in '24...
If only one of those happened, heck, maybe even two, I would agree that it was flukey.
But four years in a row with those results is anything but a fluke.
That's a good thing for them cause "modest success" will be what they will most likely get. The dude has been an absolute bust for 4 years and took his entire staff plus his son to Fayetteville. I am convinced the dude can't coach in the modern era of basketball. I don't see Arkansas' current team as having nearly enough shooting, and if Chin Coleman is calling the shots defensively like he did in Lexington they are screwed. Just assembling "talent" doesn't work anymore; he has proven that. It's about roster assembly.
Rip,
You don't know how easy it would be to give UK fans a hard time here, but I like you, so I'll just say two things:
I think Cal is a good coach and always have, but he let some stupid into his thinking and it cost him/y'all the last several years. The toxicity in Lexington over that just made him stubborn and dig in.
I said before he left y'all that I thought he would get back to form next year. I believe that he will do much better at Arky.
I know y'all will lose your minds if he kicks ass at Arky and that will be funny, but I wouldn't be surprised if he does.
Took the whole staff minus the only two that were worth a shit, Welch and Antigua. Getting Payne back on staff should help though. After all, Kenny won those games.
When half the NBA played for UK, yeah, fan expectations are going to be sky high. You can't be losing to Oakland and Saint Peters when you have NBA dudes on your roster. He had 2 lottery picks on that 24 team, lost 10 games and that finish was brutal.
Losing to Wva with the Wall team was really bad, losing to Wisconsin the way he did in 2015 was really bad, losing to Kansas State in '18 with 7 NBA talents was embarrassing, especially when you see that Bruce Weber didn’t even have to play his best player in that game. Then he lost to Auburn in '19 after having a big lead (not an awful loss), but Cal finds a way to choke far too often.
But, something happened after the 2020 season. That guy hit a wall and has been a complete narcissistic asshole that would rather lose than not make good on promises to handlers that obviously lied to him(Boston, Sharpe, Wagner, Wheeler, Whitney and Edwards to name a few).
Arkansas isn’t getting the version of Cal that came to UK in 2009. That version of Cal was hungry. He said "if you’re not good enough, don't come here, I can't hide you". The current version of Cal says "that's somebody's son, I can't take his heart". I guess Davion Mintz, Dontae Allen, Reed Shepard and Rob Dillingham don't have parents… .or hearts.
Losing to Wva with the Wall team was really bad, losing to Wisconsin the way he did in 2015 was really bad, losing to Kansas State in '18 with 7 NBA talents was embarrassing, especially when you see that Bruce Weber didn’t even have to play his best player in that game. Then he lost to Auburn in '19 after having a big lead (not an awful loss), but Cal finds a way to choke far too often.
But, something happened after the 2020 season. That guy hit a wall and has been a complete narcissistic asshole that would rather lose than not make good on promises to handlers that obviously lied to him(Boston, Sharpe, Wagner, Wheeler, Whitney and Edwards to name a few).
Arkansas isn’t getting the version of Cal that came to UK in 2009. That version of Cal was hungry. He said "if you’re not good enough, don't come here, I can't hide you". The current version of Cal says "that's somebody's son, I can't take his heart". I guess Davion Mintz, Dontae Allen, Reed Shepard and Rob Dillingham don't have parents… .or hearts.
Della I like you too, so I'll just say this:
The game has passed him by. It just has. He's stubborn (you admitted as much) so he's not gonna change. Took the same stuff plus Brad to Fayetteville. Insiders here say Chin Coleman did NOTHING to deserve a paycheck; didn't watch film, nothing. He's gonna play through the post and play in the 60s and 70s. He fell ass backwards last year into a team that could shoot better than any he has ever coached; the offense last year is a result of having John Welch on staff, not anything Cal did. Nobody thought Reed would be who he was. Mitchell fell into his lap late. Rob was more consistent and less disruptive than many thought he would be. He hasn't shown that he is willing to sign elite shooters at Arkansas yet. That's where the game has gone.
You have no basis to predict he will "get back to form" next year other than opinion, and you are certainly entitled to that. But I have watched every game the man has coached since he got to UK. He was never an elite X and O guy. Robic did all the scouting/game prep. It's no coincidence that his decline started when Robic left. He is the easiest coach in the NCAA to prepare for. Dribble weave into a high ball screen ; floppy action for his best shooter. Opponents don't have to prepare for zone. His zone offense is awful. Just re-watch the Oakland game.
So color me skeptical about Cal ever winning at a high level again. He will win enough to make Hog fans happy, but not at a place like Kentucky.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think either wanted to go? Hell, Welch went to Fresno instead of following him. And I believe Antigua expressed interest in staying at UK? That says a LOT about the working environment.....Took the whole staff minus the only two that were worth a shit, Welch and Antigua. Getting Payne back on staff should help though. After all, Kenny won those games.
In order for Cal to change, he would need to change his priorities first and sorry, but he's just not going to do that.
He makes promise to handlers, especially with players from Klutch. On top of that, he knows these kids are only staying for 1 season, especially with the transfer portal. He’s the one-and-done guy and he loves it.
John Calipari coaches for the draft, he does not coach for winning games in college and he has been proving that every year since 2021.
He realized he had to make promises to land the best players (K and Scheyer were livking his ass). Why else would he force BJ Boston, Edwards, Wheeler (weird, but he did) Wagner and Whitney into starting roles ahead of obviously better players? If your goal is to win games, this is not what you do.
He’s not going to change just because he went to Arkansas. Heck, he told Arkansas fans in his first presser that he was going to roll with one-and-dones. I'm not sure why people think he's going to change.
It’s weird, he goes off recruiting ratings instead of what these players are. He refuses to believe that they just aren't very good. So his plan is to just let them play through mistakes until they break through. If it means the team loses games, so be it, the goal is to get kids drafted. But what he doesn't realize is, he played them too much and showed the world just how bad they were and possibly ruined any shot they had.
The worst part is, it doesn’t usually matter what these kids do in college, they're going pro anyway, but the kids that do need Cal's help and aren't ready made pros, get pushed to the back of the bus, they have to figure it out on their own. Well, Reed, Rob, Quickly, Herro, Richards and Willy Cauley Stein did just that.
Cal takes credit for the kids in the NBA and their contracts, but the reality is, they earned those contracts, they were going pro regardlesss of anything Cal did, so basically, Cal sacrificed wins for nothing but his own ego.
I'm glad that used car salesman is gone.
He makes promise to handlers, especially with players from Klutch. On top of that, he knows these kids are only staying for 1 season, especially with the transfer portal. He’s the one-and-done guy and he loves it.
John Calipari coaches for the draft, he does not coach for winning games in college and he has been proving that every year since 2021.
He realized he had to make promises to land the best players (K and Scheyer were livking his ass). Why else would he force BJ Boston, Edwards, Wheeler (weird, but he did) Wagner and Whitney into starting roles ahead of obviously better players? If your goal is to win games, this is not what you do.
He’s not going to change just because he went to Arkansas. Heck, he told Arkansas fans in his first presser that he was going to roll with one-and-dones. I'm not sure why people think he's going to change.
It’s weird, he goes off recruiting ratings instead of what these players are. He refuses to believe that they just aren't very good. So his plan is to just let them play through mistakes until they break through. If it means the team loses games, so be it, the goal is to get kids drafted. But what he doesn't realize is, he played them too much and showed the world just how bad they were and possibly ruined any shot they had.
The worst part is, it doesn’t usually matter what these kids do in college, they're going pro anyway, but the kids that do need Cal's help and aren't ready made pros, get pushed to the back of the bus, they have to figure it out on their own. Well, Reed, Rob, Quickly, Herro, Richards and Willy Cauley Stein did just that.
Cal takes credit for the kids in the NBA and their contracts, but the reality is, they earned those contracts, they were going pro regardlesss of anything Cal did, so basically, Cal sacrificed wins for nothing but his own ego.
I'm glad that used car salesman is gone.
I miss the days UT didn't do shit in the NCAAT.
Oh wait, nvm
Oh wait, nvm
reading this entire post would take longer than watching all of Kentucky’s NCAA tourney highlights of the last 5 years.
I must be pretty fascinating to you for you to comment about me out of the blue and all.
Why do women have to be such drama queens? There's an ignore feature for a reason.
Sheppard is better but Knecht seems like a solid pick at 17. This is just going by summer league
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