Coach Calipari

[Michael Corleone]

Simple fact Cal is not the best bench coach in the business. Doesn't mean he hasn't been a blessing for UK. Tubby was an excellent bench coach but not the right guy for UK. Gotta take it at face value.

 

Well there is only one coach who is the best. As long as Coach K is active everyone else is battling for second.

[SSC]

I'd do it every time, and Cal lost a national title for not doing it. Making a three from that distance is too easy for those college sharpshooters.

 

Xavier lost to Ohio State years ago in the tournament for failing to the same thing. The year Oden went to the finals and lost.

 

Miller has his guys foul now. Or at least he did recently.

[bugatti]

You do not get to the stage Cal is at without knowing a little bit about basketball. As I said last week, Cal is the ultimate mind ninja and able to get out of most players what other coaches would not be able to do. I believe since he has sent so many high profile guys to the league of late, kids come in with a different mentality.

 

And for the record, didn't Cal instruct his players to foul, they just did not in the title game?

[PurplePride92]

Well there is only one coach who is the best. As long as Coach K is active everyone else is battling for second.

 

 

This is twice. :thumb:

 

Something good is going to happen to me today. I can feel it.

[16thBBall Fan]

Simple fact Cal is not the best bench coach in the business. Doesn't mean he hasn't been a blessing for UK. Tubby was an excellent bench coach but not the right guy for UK. Gotta take it at face value.

I agree totally he is the best recruiter in the country bar none. But his bench coaching is not the best. Go back not jsut at KY but at Memphis and UMass and look at his record in games decided by 5 or fewer points. Now grant it I would rather have a guy like Cal who can recruit. Tubby is great X and O guy but if you don't have the players to carry it out don't do you much good.

[Randy Parker]

There have been games when I thought Cal was brilliant (Louisville, West Virginia). Other times, I thought he really struggled (UNC, Arkansas). I've always felt he was an average bench coach. As others have said, you don't get to where Cal is (and has been) without a good dose of x's & o's ability. But his two great strengths, without question, are recruiting and motivating. In addition, Cal doesn't ever seem to have an upper-echelon type player that doesn't reach his potential. People think it's easy to coach those guys, but there have been enough of them to struggle early on in their careers. With Cal, it seems that the elite players reach their potential under his watch.

 

I think we also have to credit Cal for the vast improvement of Miller, Liggins, & Harrellson. Here are three talented guys who were beaten down by the previous regime, but Cal has been able to guide them to improving as players. And in the case with Harrellson, guiding him to becoming a player I never imagined him being.

[READYMADE]

Geez, I would give him more than an "average bench coach" name one coach who hasn't made mistakes while coaching a game or looked back and wished they had done things differently. Recruiting is part of coaching, so I would say he's more than "average"...

 

There have been games when I thought Cal was brilliant (Louisville, West Virginia). Other times, I thought he really struggled (UNC, Arkansas). I've always felt he was an average bench coach. As others have said, you don't get to where Cal is (and has been) without a good dose of x's & o's ability. But his two great strengths, without question, are recruiting and motivating. In addition, Cal doesn't ever seem to have an upper-echelon type player that doesn't reach his potential. People think it's easy to coach those guys, but there have been enough of them to struggle early on in their careers. With Cal, it seems that the elite players reach their potential under his watch.

 

I think we also have to credit Cal for the vast improvement of Miller, Liggins, & Harrellson. Here are three talented guys who were beaten down by the previous regime, but Cal has been able to guide them to improving as players. And in the case with Harrellson, guiding him to becoming a player I never imagined him being.

[Randy Parker]

so I would say he's more than "average"...

 

Well, good for you.

[READYMADE]

All you have to do is look at the guys coaching record...

 

Well, good for you.

[RomanEmpire]

Comcast take a nice cheap shot at Cal. Stay classy Comcast. They even spelled Thad Matta's name wrong.

 

http://www.comcast.net/slideshow/sports-2011sweetsixteen/9/

[The Professor]

It's funny how after almost every UK loss, Calipari is blamed for getting outcoached. (If you don't believe me go back and look at threads where UK has lost) Another funny thing is that he never gets any credit when they win. In this regard, how well he recruits overshadows the quality of his coaching.

 

Calipari won the coaching battle on Saturday against Huggins but I didn't hear that mentioned once. How many times did we hear how Huggy won the battle against him last year after the loss to WVU? A bunch.

 

I think he has done a tremendous job with this group after losing five players to the first round and having his top recruit ruled ineligible. Win or lose on Friday, he has done a very good job with this group of guys.

 

:thumb:

[RomanEmpire]

Comcast take a nice cheap shot at Cal. Stay classy Comcast. They even spelled Thad Matta's name wrong.

 

http://www.comcast.net/slideshow/sports-2011sweetsixteen/9/

 

Looks like Comcast has taken down their comment of calling Cal "one of the slimiest coaches vs. one of the classiest" in the caption. I'm sure they received a flood of emails and calls.

[Randy Parker]

All you have to do is look at the guys coaching record...

 

...to see that Cal is a master at recruiting & attracting upper-tier talent. And he can take that talent and make sure it doesn't get wasted or squandered. If C.J. Leslie is a Kentucky Wildcat, he's not averaging 11 points & 7 rebounds (though that's not awful), as he did this year with NC State. Cal is a master-motivator and is one of the top 10 coaches in the country.

 

But in one aspect of coaching--the x's & o's--I believe Cal is average. He's not bad, but neither is he among the elite.

[READYMADE]

I agree with most of your points...

 

...to see that Cal is a master at recruiting & attracting upper-tier talent. And he can take that talent and make sure it doesn't get wasted or squandered. If C.J. Leslie is a Kentucky Wildcat, he's not averaging 11 points & 7 rebounds (though that's not awful), as he did this year with NC State. Cal is a master-motivator and is one of the top 10 coaches in the country.

 

But in one aspect of coaching--the x's & o's--I believe Cal is average. He's not bad, but neither is he among the elite.

[hoopboy]

I agree totally he is the best recruiter in the country bar none. But his bench coaching is not the best. Go back not jsut at KY but at Memphis and UMass and look at his record in games decided by 5 or fewer points. Now grant it I would rather have a guy like Cal who can recruit. Tubby is great X and O guy but if you don't have the players to carry it out don't do you much good.

 

If you'll notice, minus this year, in Cal's previous 4 years he didn't lose too many games period. Would his resume look better if his few losses were blow outs? Tubs, on the other hand, won lots of close games, because every game he coached was close. Oh, unless of course he was getting crushed by North Carolina, Kansas, or Indiana.