I was never in the fire Cal camp. 

If he retired or found another job, I was perfectly fine with that. Things had become stale. His style wasn’t working anymore.

I feel the same way about Stoops on the football side of things. 

The thing about firing a coach is you better make sure you have someone in place who is a sure fire upgrade. I’ve had some conversations with OSU football fans about Ryan Day, Coach Cal and their similarities. 

At the end of the day, Cal is like an ex girlfriend… You hope they do well but you damn sure don’t want them doing better than you are…
 

30 minutes ago, Randy Parker said:

I do believe it has turned me against our fan base, to the point that I don't care as much about the program overall.  I do wish Pope the best, because he's an absolute class act.  But our fans...a significant portion of them...yuck.

One more thought.

UK basketball measures its success in March.

Phil Jackson with Steve Kerr, Rick Pitino and Gregg Popovich as assistants wouldn’t survive the losses in March that Cal had.

You just can’t lose those games at UK…

Arkansas falls tonight on the road at LSU 78-74 who was also winless in SEC before tonight and are now 1-3 in league play and the Hogs fall to 0-4 in SEC play. Also before this loss tonight Joe Lunardi had the Hogs as one of the first 4 teams out.

33 minutes ago, TheDeuce said:

If you are the reason for the demise in your program, wouldn’t you change something to try and correct the problem? This is why I have absolutely no sympathy for Cal and his arrogance attitude he carries around, simply sleep in the bed you have made.

Not looking good for Arkansas at all. They struggle so much on offense. Defensively Cal has Arkansas playing really well as they are 31st in the country in defensive efficiency. Which is much better than the 211th ranking his UK team had last year in defensive efficiency. However, he made a poor choice going back to his old offensive ways and not sticking with the changes they made last year. Currently Arkansas ranks in the 80s in offensive efficiency. Last year at UK, UK was 6th in offensive efficiency. So he has his team playing much better defense this year, but offensively it’s been overall pretty bad. 

On 1/13/2025 at 9:07 AM, bugatti said:

Hopefully, Coach Cal can turn things around. I know many people love rooting for the demise of others, but the only crime he committed at UK was hanging around a few years too long. Had he left in scandal or taken the easy way out like Tony Bennett or Jim Larranaga then I might feel different.

Love this post! Cal was exactly what Kentucky needed at the time, and he did nothing to receive the hate that I have seen all over social media. He did so much for the state and university and I have nothing but love for Cal. You hit the nail on the head with the only downfall he had while at UK, he stayed to long. Sometimes, I am saddened that I cheer for the same team as some of these "fans"

1 hour ago, AvidSportsJunkie856 said:

Love this post! Cal was exactly what Kentucky needed at the time, and he did nothing to receive the hate that I have seen all over social media. He did so much for the state and university and I have nothing but love for Cal. You hit the nail on the head with the only downfall he had while at UK, he stayed to long. Sometimes, I am saddened that I cheer for the same team as some of these "fans"

Agreed. 

Don’t forget, he was shopping himself around. He wasn’t fired or run out of town. He put MB in the perfect situation to get out of that crazy contract. Maybe Cal sold new cars instead of used, he would’ve seen the hand Barnhart was playing.

8 hours ago, futurecoach said:

Not looking good for Arkansas at all. They struggle so much on offense. Defensively Cal has Arkansas playing really well as they are 31st in the country in defensive efficiency. Which is much better than the 211th ranking his UK team had last year in defensive efficiency. However, he made a poor choice going back to his old offensive ways and not sticking with the changes they made last year. Currently Arkansas ranks in the 80s in offensive efficiency. Last year at UK, UK was 6th in offensive efficiency. So he has his team playing much better defense this year, but offensively it’s been overall pretty bad. 

Conference play has just started, but they are easily the most disappointing team in the SEC.  They have too much talent to be 0-4.

I am curious to see what they look like in Lexington. 

12 hours ago, Randy Parker said:

Conference play has just started, but they are easily the most disappointing team in the SEC.  They have too much talent to be 0-4.

I am curious to see what they look like in Lexington. 

They will look like world beaters.  A lot of Cals teams hit rough stretches this time of year only to come out of it and play good ball.  Too much talent on that roster not to figure it out.  

Too many UK folks are crowing about Cal and his demise...I hope we don't get a face full of crow to eat on Feb 1st.

11 minutes ago, okie1 said:

They will look like world beaters.  A lot of Cals teams hit rough stretches this time of year only to come out of it and play good ball.  Too much talent on that roster not to figure it out.  

Too many UK folks are crowing about Cal and his demise...I hope we don't get a face full of crow to eat on Feb 1st.

Which could happen, Cal has had his share of teams start rough then look like contenders come March. He did this with at least a couple seasons at Memphis too.

24 minutes ago, hrcarrier said:

Which could happen, Cal has had his share of teams start rough then look like contenders come March. He did this with at least a couple seasons at Memphis too.

I agree, but something did flip with this post-COVID. Many had soiled on Calipari with the whacky COVID season when there was no pre-season, games being canceled, etc. College basketball was chaotic.

But to me, it all started going downhill after their late January blowout victory in Kansas in 2022. UK was seen as the favorite to win it all after that game. It was lackluster down the stretch, despite securing a #2 seed, then of course, the St. Peter's game (which ironically didn't end up looking as bad with their run). And the following two seasons, UK was not hitting their stride down the stretch.

2 hours ago, bugatti said:

But to me, it all started going downhill after their late January blowout victory in Kansas in 2022. UK was seen as the favorite to win it all after that game.

This is so true it actually started in the fall of the2020 season. Here is a list below from from Dec. 1, 2020 until Dec. 17, 2022.

To show how bad the chart below shows the Cats were 4-13 in that stretch. It tied the same mark set by the 2007-2009 Kentucky team. I think we all remember those years as well.

This was for sure not the gold standard. ?

         Kentucky vs. AP Top 25 teams since the 2019-20 season

Date	Opponent	Result	Site
12/17/2022	#16 UCLA	L 63-53	CBS Sports Classic, New York, NY
11/20/2022	#2 Gonzaga	L 88-72	Spokane, WA
3/12/2022	#9 Tennessee	L 69-62	SEC Tournament, Tampa, FL
2/26/2022	#18 Arkansas	L 75-73	Fayetteville, AR
2/19/2022	#25 Alabama	W 90-81	Lexington, KY
2/15/2022	#16 Tennessee	L 76-63	Knoxville, TN
1/29/2022	#5 Kansas	W 80-62	Lawrence, KS
1/22/2022	#2 Auburn	L 80-71	Auburn, AL
1/15/2022	#22 Tennessee	W 107-79	Lexington, KY
1/4/2022	#21 LSU	L 65-60	Baton Rouge, LA
11/9/2021	#9 Duke	L 79-71	Champions Classic, New York, NY
2/20/2021	#19 Tennessee	W 70-55	Knoxville, TN
2/6/2021	#11 Tennessee	L 82-71	Lexington, KY
2/3/2021	#18 Missouri	L 75-70	Columbia, MO
1/26/2021	#9 Alabama	L 70-59	Tuscaloosa, AL
12/19/2020	#22 North Carolina	L 75-63	CBS Sports Classic, Cleveland, OH
12/1/2020	#7 Kansas	L 65-62	Champions Classic, Indianapolis, IN