Is it time for Calipari to go?

[bugatti]

7 minutes ago, John Anthony said:

Donovan would say no again, then it’s Holtmann’s if he wants it.  If he says no you’re looking at Shaka territory.

Eeek!

Let's let Cal finish out his tenure before we start speculating on his replacement.

[PurplePride92]

I haven't read the previous pages of this thread nor will I.  No.  It is not time for Cal to go at UK.  I'll always be amazed at how fickle this fan base is.  

[TheDeuce]

On 12/26/2020 at 3:50 PM, theguru said:

Can anyone post Coach Cal's record at KY by year?

And in the one and done culture bad teams are the nature of the beast. 

[Randy Parker]

6 minutes ago, TheDeuce said:

Last season feels like forever ago.  Hard to remember going 15-3 in conference.

[Irish Cat]

1 hour ago, John Anthony said:

Donovan would say no again, then it’s Holtmann’s if he wants it.  If he says no you’re looking at Shaka territory.

I think I'd rather see UK try to lure Kenny Payne back before any of those options.  

[Bert]

I do not want Cal out but I do wonder if UK were to lose him (terrible accident, go back to NBA, whatever), who would Barnhart go after?

Does he start with Brad Stevens with a monster offer knowing Stevens most likely won't take it but atleast try and then follow up with the possibles?  Mark Few? Shaka? Wright?

[9068]

5 hours ago, Bert said:

I do not want Cal out but I do wonder if UK were to lose him (terrible accident, go back to NBA, whatever), who would Barnhart go after?

Does he start with Brad Stevens with a monster offer knowing Stevens most likely won't take it but atleast try and then follow up with the possibles?  Mark Few? Shaka? Wright?

I would think after the way Calipari has structured his program many of these guys might shy away. KY has two seasons now....recruiting and basketball. Most of these guys recruit and develop the majority of their players. Cal recruits, they visit a year, and head out.

[futurecoach]

10 hours ago, 9068 said:

I would think after the way Calipari has structured his program many of these guys might shy away. KY has two seasons now....recruiting and basketball. Most of these guys recruit and develop the majority of their players. Cal recruits, they visit a year, and head out.

Here is the thing, all those guys usually have recruited and developed, because they couldn’t get the top recruits. You don’t think, they will be trying to get the exact same guys Cal tries to get now, if they were at UK? I guarntee they would have went after these same guys UK is getting now, if they were able to get them to go there. 
 

Which people forget Cal was successful as a coach too, like those guys even before he started getting a lot of the one and done type guys. 

[Tomcats1990]

It is time!!!

[The Flea Market]

He needs to make adjustments in the way he is doing things.  He will not leave as his buyout is over 50 million! Sabens is 26 million! You figure!

[bugatti]

I think fans are hilarious. If we were looking at multiple seasons of distress in a row, then ok. But 40% of a season of sucking - coupled with the pandemic and odd schedule - doesn’t earn you a pink slip. If it did, college basketball would go away.

[bugatti]

Again, this is the type of team “UK guy” has pleaded for, devoid of NBA ready talent; so, you should be happy about this. Only thing missing is five other players on the roster from Kentucky that “care about the name across their chest,” and Travis Ford coaching.

[MJAlltheWay24]

1 hour ago, Tomcats1990 said:

It is time!!!

Not even close.

[nikeman49]

I’m just afraid the conversation about things gone bad will get worse as season continues, will be hard to overcome.

[MJAlltheWay24]

I'm going to come at this from a different angle because many feel Calipari needs to change his recruiting philosophy, change his style of play, get more shooters and etc.  I don't entirely disagree with some of that but I feel like people are not looking at a whole picture.

In the 2018-2019 season we had Tyler Herro, Immanuel Quickley, Jemarl Baker and even Quade Green.  At the beginning of that season, these are all players that we (and I'd imagine Calipari) thought would be here multiple years.  I'm sure any UK fan would take at least three of those players on this years roster, heck maybe even four.

The reason I bring up that roster two years ago is because that is when Calipari really starts recruiting this year's team.  Many would say, who cares if he already had those type of guys and they'll be around multiple years, he needs to recruit more.  Easy to say but if you were a junior in high school that year with everyone in your ear, would you want to come to Kentucky and have to complete with guys that will be Juniors, who will be playing above you?  Probably not. You want to get playing time right away.  That is today's college basketball.  So they look elsewhere.

Herro blows up and leaves, as he should have.  Quade (probably good for UK) and Baker transfer leaving only one of those four on he roster in 2019-2020, Quickley who tore it up and left before this season too.

So let's look at 2019-2020.  Quickley is still here, who before the season started no one thought would leave after last year.  Everyone, Calipari included, expects him to return for this year.  Tyrese Maxey, a volume shooter that was probably one and done.  He brings in two more shooters that should be here multiple years, Johnny Juzang and Dontae Allen.  Keep in mind, he's still recruiting guys for this year and unless you're a total stud, not many are going to look at that and think, I can be the star shooting guard on that 2020-2021 team.  No, they are going to be stuck behind several guys.

Quickley blows up and leaves as he probably should have, although we'd have loved for him to stay but he's proving himself in the NBA.  Maxey leaves, as well all knew he would.  Juzang, unhappy and transfers.  Leaving only Allen.

So if you look at it when he recruited the following shooters, there was a really good chance they'd have been here in 2020-2021: Herro, Quickley, Baker, Juzang and Green (who we could maybe leave out).  Wouldn't shock me if guys playing that position weren't really interested in UK because they saw players on the roster that would be here for their junior and maybe even senior years but it didn't play out that way.

I suspect only one or two will read all the way down to this point but to summarize all that.  I think Calipari has been trying to recruit shooters and potentially change his style of play.  Not one was complaining about the style of play when we had Murray, Monk, Herro and others on this team.  Problem is when you recruit these guys, it seems they either blow up and get drafted (because that is their dream) or the get frustrated because their expectations for their freshman year were unrealistic and they transfer because guys who are blowing up are eating their minutes.  Which leaves too many coaches on their couches thinking Calipari doesn't recruit shooters and needs to change his whole philosophy.  There are a lot of factors and it's a down year.  Admit we've been massively spoiled, let's get through this one and hope its better next year with some returning guys.