Portal thread?
- Thread starter GE Nole
- Start date
I’ll laugh harder if he ends up going there and Reed Sheppard bypasses the NBA to follow him.
I'm not religious, but first thing in the morning, I'm going down to the nearest Catholic Church to see if I can be saved, born again, part the red sea and get baptised on the quick so I can use all my new super powers to make sure this happens.
Please, Arkansas, for the love of all that is holy and wet with holy water, make this deal happen.
Dude, I thought we were friends. I would literally cry if that happened.
Shouldn't worry. Stacy would take him to wood shed before that happened.
Careful what you wish for. I read that Arkansas’s going to give him 5 mil in NIL funds to bring his recruiting class with him.
We are, but sometimes the best jokes aren’t just dark, they’re pitch black. And I couldn’t think of anything darker.
The “now we wait for the NCAA to go after Kentucky now that he’s gone” joke just seemed too obvious.
Even with a rebuild of roster I’m sure most of you are ready to move on.
I don’t mind sharing at all. I’m trying to find a clip of it, but can’t seem to at the moment.
What I asked him was about roster continuity and how to make a multi year plan. He talked about how it was just a different landscape from even a few years ago and they know they have to use the portal but they are very selective in their targets. Then he outlined 3 qualities they are looking for, with one of them being personality based. You could tell he’s trying to full wrap his arms around how to straddle the line between modern roster construction and multi year player development and collective team building.
He was respectful as always but the look in his eyes and how he paused when answering a few parts…you could just tell he found it exhausting.
I'll kick in another $5k to make that happen. Cal just lost 10 games and got ousted by Oakland with a class and team that was far better than what was coming in. Next season was going to be a disaster. All 6 of those freshmen were, at best, 2nd tier kids. You ain't winning with kids like that and you know Cal, he was going to play his freshmen.
It's not like this was rock bottom though. Rock bottom would be missing tourneys, terrible records, poor recruiting, uncompetitive teams.
At the very least, there will probably be a step backward next year. How many fans are going to be patient with that when they've already had the pitchforks out since 2021?
Well, sure, it's not rock bottom, but he has the worst season in UK history (9-16), worst NCAAT losses in UK history (15 and 14 seeds), worst win percentage against ranked teams, players pouting, players sitting out, players quitting, Cal lying to hide these players, Cal pissing everyone in the program off, a coaching tree that has zero success and a players first culture in a time where there are 24 and 25 year olds out there.
The guy was a C- bench coach, it was not going to work.
Do, while it wasn't rock bottom, it wasn't close to where it should be and he's not good enough to fix it.
Just saying....I don't think Calipari leaving is reason for celebration in itself. Getting a home run hire would be reason for celebration. To me, the only true home run available is Hurley. He might listen if they're willing to give him absurd money, but I'm betting he'll use it to leverage his way to a bigger deal from UConn.
Given Oats' buyout, I'm thinking Drew will be the best of the realistic options. And I'm not sure Drew's a home run. He isn't likely to have a 9-16 year, but he's not guaranteed to be far better than Calipari either.
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We didn't think Calipari was going to be a home run hire either, but he lit it up his first 10 years.
To me, when you put yourself, the players and especially the NBA draft in front of UK, you're dead to me. That’s what really drove my hate towards him.
Losing is okay, it happens to the best, but if you're losing because you are going out of your way to satisfy your NBA draft boner, please leave and don't let the door hit you.
He let the players run the show here the last 4 years. If they didn't get what they wanted, they pouted and he lied to cover it up and since 2020, he became a guy that doubled down on players-first and he wasn't holding players accountable. I mean, who the hell starts Edwards and Wagner over Sheppard and Dillingham every game? This crap was happening way too often and it's because he made promises. It was beyond time for him to leave.
If Nate Oats were to take the job and he lost 10-12 games the first few years, it is still better than Cal losing 10 games, then telling us we should be happy because 4 guys are getting drafted. Nate Oats is going to do everything possible to win every game he coaches in. He hired an analytics team to help him through the tournament. That’s how bad he wanted to win. Give me that guy.
Cal did prepare his teams to play Saint Peters, KSU, or Oakland. His new thing is to just tell them to play hard, it worked at Auburn and at UT, but that can’t be the way you go into games in the NCAAT.
This guy ( Matt Jones ) is a real dumb ass. I listened to him on a show today and he is clueless.
If this somehow happened I would legit quit watching college basketball.
Would be a glorious day. If only I had 5 million to blow.
The second one still looks pretty duke-like. Not going to lie, I’m glad he isn’t.
He showed some promise in the non-conference. He has a great midrange game. However, he was pretty bad in ACC play on both ends of the ball. He’s just not a great fit for our program. He’s kind of a tweener. Loved his attitude and work ethic though. Could see him kill it at a mid major that upsets UVA in the first round though.
I was hoping we'd take a flyer on him out of high school. But we can't have too many athletes. Upsets the fan base.
Awaka is so freaking strong. He defended Edey about as well as you could possibly defend him one-on-one. If his minutes double next season, I could see him averaging a double-double. Will be a huge pickup for whoever gets him.
.... Duke just lost a valuable piece of their own. Mark Mitchell is in the portal. Many saw this coming. Most originally thought he'd only be here for 2 years. So after this season, it realistically had to be Mitchell or Stewart going. Mitchell never developed his jumper, Stewart has the bigger ceiling, and so Mitchell is the one leaving, looking for a bigger role. Cooper Flagg would likely eat into his minutes, too.
Some other big names that have hit the portal in the past 24 hours:
Kylan Boswell, Arizona
Oumar Ballo, Arizona
Aaron Bradshaw, Kentucky
Aden Holloway, Auburn
Robbie Avilla, Indiana State
Kylan Boswell, Arizona
Oumar Ballo, Arizona
Aaron Bradshaw, Kentucky
Aden Holloway, Auburn
Robbie Avilla, Indiana State
Can't wait to see where Avilla ends up lol
Would Self really want two non-shooting forwards in his lineup? You can't pair Mitchell with Adams.
I have no inside information, but Illinois seems like a really logical destination. Coleman Hawkins is leaving, and he could fill the void of a versatile big. He's also from the state of Illinois. But with NIL, who knows?
Other obvious candidate: Saint Louis. Follow his coach.
So yeah, I'd say Illinois and St. Louis are the two most likely options.
Nah, I don't expect anything to happen there, but I always hope for more local players.
Both portal players they've signed so far are apparently big KU fans (Zeke obviously because he's from Lawrence, but Kugel lived in Overland Park at one point and dreamed of playing at KU).
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