Derek Anderson blasts Coach Cal

[UKMustangFan]

So would you rather have 3 million for just 3 years or a long NBA career - the most important contract in the NBA is that second one.

 

How much of that 3 million will that have left.

 

I know you can't disagree with a UK fan. Just throwing out why DA said what he said.

 

Well, in Orton's case, it was a great decision. He blew out his knee in his 1st or 2nd year in the league. He does that at Kentucky and bye-bye millions.

 

They're both playing professionally still. Both have made millions of dollars. Both will be just fine. And if basketball doesn't work out for them, they'll be able to go back and finish school to get a degree with the money they made professionally.

[bugatti]

Well, in Orton's case, it was a great decision. He blew out his knee in his 1st or 2nd year in the league. He does that at Kentucky and bye-bye millions.

 

They're both playing professionally still. Both have made millions of dollars. Both will be just fine. And if basketball doesn't work out for them, they'll be able to go back and finish school to get a degree with the money they made professionally.

If my career got started at 25-26 with a couple million in the bank I would be smiling from ear to ear. As would everyone else.

[CoachBuckett]

But how do we know Cal was pushing those kids out the door? Sometimes these kids are hell-bent on leaving early.

 

I never said Cal pushed them out. But I do think that is his part of selling UK to all the top recruits - "Look at how many draft picks" -

[UKMustangFan]

If my career got started at 25-26 with a couple million in the bank I would be smiling from ear to ear. As would everyone else.

 

Yep. It's easy for people who will never and have never had the opportunity to do what these guys have done to say this is what they should do, when in actuality 99% of us would get that paycheck just like they are.

[Randy Parker]

I never said Cal pushed them out. But I do think that is his part of selling UK to all the top recruits - "Look at how many draft picks" -

 

But Derek Anderson is saying that. He's saying that Cal pushes all these kids to leave. I'm sure he does sometimes, but not all the time.

 

I agree that he uses draft picks as a selling point to recruits, but what is wrong with that? I'd do that too.

[TheDeuce]

I would say he could have 3. The 1 & out format of the NCAA tournament has produced several champions that weren't really the best team, or one of the 2 or 3 best teams.

 

Of course there are years when people can say the best team didn't win. Cal has had the best team in the country, speaking in terms of talent, since 2012 (sans 2013). I'm not sure there are many who would debate that. They lost this year to a team FAR less talented, but lost because of poor game planning. Wisky exploited UK's bad decisions on defense and Cal didn't adjust.

 

They lost to a UConn team who Pitino and Co. beat by FORTY POINTS only two weeks prior. Why? UK didn't pressure the guards.

 

My point, though, is that there's no other coach with that track record over the last 5 years. Extend that to 10 years & Cal's accomplishments are still among the best in the game.

 

No other coach has that track record because no other coach has had that caliber of player. Give Izzo, Krzyzewski, Pitino, Boeheim etc that roster, what do you think the results are? The same, worse, or better?

 

Anderson says: "If you’re going to coach these kids, let’s make them play the game the right way."

 

My response is: If Cal's not doing it the right way, which coach is doing it the right way?

 

In terms of playing the game the right way, I'm not sure what DA is referencing. I don't see anything wrong with the style Calipari plays, other than sometimes I think it's obvious that it's a "roll the ball out there and see what happens" kind of offense. Sometimes that works, sometimes it doesn't. But you have to be able to adjust when it doesn't.

[HammerTime]

examples - Orton and Teague come to mind right off hand.

 

I am not a UK fan so I dont follow them that close. Think of all that have left how many are not on NBA rosters. Those are the ones I think DA is talking about earning a degree.

 

Orton is lucky he went when he did. His knee injury would have likely left him undrafted if he stayed in school and he would have never made it to the NBA.

 

Teague made - $2,103,120 in 2013 and 2014 combined. It would take the average Kentuckian 45 years to make that. He can go back and get his degree with his fat bank account.

[Randy Parker]

Of course there are years when people can say the best team didn't win. Cal has had the best team in the country, speaking in terms of talent, since 2012 (sans 2013). I'm not sure there are many who would debate that. They lost this year to a team FAR less talented, but lost because of poor game planning. Wisky exploited UK's bad decisions on defense and Cal didn't adjust.

 

No other coach has that track record because no other coach has had that caliber of player. Give Izzo, Krzyzewski, Pitino, Boeheim etc that roster, what do you think the results are? The same, worse, or better?

 

I agree that Calipari made mistakes in the Wisconsin game & stated as much in the thread we have on here from that game. At the same time, he was outstanding in the Notre Dame game at making adjustments.

 

But every coach makes mistakes. How many times has a highly-seeded Kansas team lost to the Bucknells and Northern Iowas of this world? And while Coach K won with talent this year, he's also lost with talent to Lehigh and Mercer, or whoever those teams were. Jim Calhoun's team with Rudy Gay had mega talent and lost to George Mason or somebody. Every elite coach makes mistakes, but they are still elite.

 

I'm not sure Izzo or Pitino or certainly Boeheim could do better. Part of what Cal does so well is he manages egos of teenagers. The other side of the coin is that Izzo, Pitino, & Boeheim couldn't have those rosters because they don't excel enough at recruiting. And as bug said, recruiting is a HUGE part of coaching in Division 1 college basketball.

[Randy Parker]

Cal has a system in place--attract upper-tier talent & work to blend all that talent. It has worked, as his record proves. Coach K has a similar system, as does Bill Self, Roy Williams, etc.

 

Tom Izzo, Rick Pitino, Billy Donovan, Bo Ryan, and others have a different kind of system--a more traditional approach. It has worked for them as well.

 

But every single one of those guys have made major coaching blunders, yet they are still elite.

 

Derek Anderson's comments went beyond a single-game critique & they were nonsense. Even worse, he's back-pedaling like there's no tomorrow, trying to convince us that he wasn't being critical of Cal.

[Hatz]

I listened to him when he was on the radio. He does make valid points about 1 & done. He is saying some of those guys have not made NBA rosters and would have done themselves good to stay in school and earn a degree. He also said the fact many kids dont get degrees if injury hits they have nothing to fall back on.

 

Lets face some of those guys that left should have stayed and would have benefitted the kid to stay.

 

There used to be a Cawood Ledford Scholarship Fund that paid for former players to return and complete their degrees if they left without doing so. Is that fund no longer in existence?

[formerkywrestler]

I never said Cal pushed them out. But I do think that is his part of selling UK to all the top recruits - "Look at how many draft picks" -

Let's stop pretending high-major NCAA basketball is something it's not. It is a place to go for a year in hopes of moving on to your actual profession. Cal currently has the best track record of anyone in the game at getting kids there. He is promoting a strength. Name a business that doesn't do that...

[TheDeuce]

I agree that Calipari made mistakes in the Wisconsin game & stated as much in the thread we have on here from that game. At the same time, he was outstanding in the Notre Dame game at making adjustments.

 

But every coach makes mistakes. How many times has a highly-seeded Kansas team lost to the Bucknells and Northern Iowas of this world? And while Coach K won with talent this year, he's also lost with talent to Lehigh and Mercer, or whoever those teams were. Jim Calhoun's team with Rudy Gay had mega talent and lost to George Mason or somebody. Every elite coach makes mistakes, but they are still elite.

 

I'm not sure Izzo or Pitino or certainly Boeheim could do better. Part of what Cal does so well is he manages egos of teenagers. The other side of the coin is that Izzo, Pitino, & Boeheim couldn't have those rosters because they don't excel enough at recruiting. And as bug said, recruiting is a HUGE part of coaching in Division 1 college basketball.

 

I think Cal is a good coach for sure. I just don't think he has done anything with the talent he has had that every other good coach couldn't have done as well. He is by far the best recruiter in the game, that is not to be disputed.

[Wireman]

@awireman · now

If @KYSportsRadio talks to Derek Anderson the same way he's talking about Derek Anderson, I suggest tuning into KSR right now. Great radio.

[Randy Parker]

I think Cal is a good coach for sure. I just don't think he has done anything with the talent he has had that every other good coach couldn't have done as well. He is by far the best recruiter in the game, that is not to be disputed.

 

I think he's the second best basketball coach right now, behind only K. A few other coaches, including Pitino & Izzo, have overall careers that are equal to or better than Cal's. But since he came to UK, it's Coach K & then him.

 

I'm sure there are other coaches who are better at X's & O's than Cal. But I know there's no other coach in all of basketball, other than K, who can boast his UK resume.

[Voice of Reason]

I think all of Anderson's comment are wrong on the one and done's. I don't think Cal pushes anyone out. If you are a certain first round pick, you should leave IMO.

 

I do question Cal in game coaching and I think it is ok to question Cal on that. I am sure Cal has reviewed and questioned his own moves. This year, I think Cal made a big mistake not getting more minutes for Booker and Ulis in the final 10 minutes versus Wisconsin. He changed up the way he had coached all year and I don't know why.

 

I don't agree with the comments on the U Conn game. Personally, I don't think UK's guards were capable of pressuring U Conn's. Cal knew that and that is why he didn't do it. Sometimes it is just a bad matchup or a bad day.