Tubby Smith vs John Calipari Last 6 Seasons at UK

[Tomcats1990]

Ticked off CAL might be just what the BBN needs next season.

[futurecoach]

4 hours ago, Tomcats1990 said:

Ticked off CAL might be just what the BBN needs next season.

Now this I agree on. Cal is always at his best when he has a chip on his shoulder, looking to prove his doubters wrong. 

[John Anthony]

13 minutes ago, futurecoach said:

Now this I agree on. Cal is always at his best when he has a chip on his shoulder, looking to prove his doubters wrong. 

I personally wouldn’t have said that if I were him.  That sets the bar really high coming off the worst season in program history.  An 8-10 loss season next year and a 2nd round or Sweet 16 loss, might be the final nail.  Or he could win the Natty, and make a lot of us look foolish. Not a lot of in between with his comments.

[MJAlltheWay24]

3 hours ago, John Anthony said:

I personally wouldn’t have said that if I were him.  That sets the bar really high coming off the worst season in program history.  An 8-10 loss season next year and a 2nd round or Sweet 16 loss, might be the final nail.  Or he could win the Natty, and make a lot of us look foolish. Not a lot of in between with his comments.

Considering the bolded, does it really matter though? Those that want to only see and discuss the negatives will and those that want to drink the kool-aid will as well.

Many have said Cal seems off in his pressers this year, at times maybe he was. Although I think a lot is calculated to protect his massively underperforming players. I like what I heard yesterday and I hope guys like Allen and hopefully Brooks have that flame in them all offseason too. Be dogs.

[futurecoach]

9 hours ago, John Anthony said:

I personally wouldn’t have said that if I were him.  That sets the bar really high coming off the worst season in program history.  An 8-10 loss season next year and a 2nd round or Sweet 16 loss, might be the final nail.  Or he could win the Natty, and make a lot of us look foolish. Not a lot of in between with his comments.

I like that he said that. He literally seems to be driven to prove doubters wrong. He was like that at Umass when he made them into something. Which they have been horrible since he left. He was like that at Memphis when he got them going, and haven’t done anything since he left. Then he was like that here when he came here. Maybe after being here ten years, a coach needs a season like this.  To try to relight the fire and get the whole I’m going to shut everyone up mindset going again. 

[John Anthony]

39 minutes ago, futurecoach said:

I like that he said that. He literally seems to be driven to prove doubters wrong. He was like that at Umass when he made them into something. Which they have been horrible since he left. He was like that at Memphis when he got them going, and haven’t done anything since he left. Then he was like that here when he came here. Maybe after being here ten years, a coach needs a season like this.  To try to relight the fire and get the whole I’m going to shut everyone up mindset going again. 

It’s possible, just seems risky.  It looks like his next uber elite recruit Dajuan Wagner Jr. isn’t until the 2023 class.  He’s exactly what Cal needs right now.

[futurecoach]

26 minutes ago, John Anthony said:

It’s possible, just seems risky.  It looks like his next uber elite recruit Dajuan Wagner Jr. isn’t until the 2023 class.  He’s exactly what Cal needs right now.

Judging by Cals comments. He mentioned that college basketball has changed. It is not as much about getting great athletes anymore, it is about their skill sets. So it will be interesting to see how his recruiting changes, and also if this leads to him changing his overall offensive philosophy. 
 

Plus with players being able to transfer without having to sitting out. It is going to be interesting to see exactly the type of rosters he ours together and how it works. 

[John Anthony]

8 hours ago, MJAlltheWay24 said:

Considering the bolded, does it really matter though? Those that want to only see and discuss the negatives will and those that want to drink the kool-aid will as well.

Many have said Cal seems off in his pressers this year, at times maybe he was. Although I think a lot is calculated to protect his massively underperforming players. I like what I heard yesterday and I hope guys like Allen and hopefully Brooks have that flame in them all offseason too. Be dogs.

I just hope the expectations aren’t too high with a somewhat similar roster?  Yes, we will not have a losing record next year, but what will people define as success?  Is it still final 4?  That seems like a lot of pressure on a group of bad shooters.  Maybe the new recruits can patch that?

[Bluegrasscard]

Here is the current differentiator in the tenures following the Championship season for each coach. 

Cal got to the F4 (and Championship game) twice after the Championship season.  Tubby's squads ended their runs in the Elite eight or worse for 9 straight years. 

I find it a bit interesting that both coaches won with players on the roster that were not "theirs" as they were on the squad prior to the coaches being named.  But Cal has shown he can get to final game with his players and his approach.  The feeling around Lexington was that with Tubby the Elite Eight was the plateau and even a F4 was not likely. 

Cal gets a "benefit" from last years cancellation since most believe Kentucky would have made some sort of run.  We will never know.

I think its two different eras and two different styles.  When Tubby tried to go with a lot of AAs he ended up with "Team Turmoil" if I remember that right. 

 

 

 

 

 

[Irish Cat]

On 3/16/2021 at 12:24 PM, Bluegrasscard said:

I find it a bit interesting that both coaches won with players on the roster that were not "theirs" as they were on the squad prior to the coaches being named.  

That statement is way more true regarding Tubby than it is for Cal.  The top 8 players on the 1998 team were all recruited by and played for Pitino, with the exception of Evans who did not play due to having to sit out because of a transfer.  The only player on the 2012 team that had any impact on the season, was Miller who was recruited and played one season for the former coach.