Cal's Letter to Recruits

[Voice of Reason]

As to the bolded Randy....that was the point I was making before...last year impressive after losing 5 first round draft picks to the NBA. The previous season with Wall, Cousins, etc then has to be NOT so impressive as they didn't even advance to the Final Four....

 

Final Four would have been nice with that group and I would agree that it was somewhat expected once you got to that point in the season. But once you get to the Elite 8, anything can happen. At that point, any team can beat another on a given night. WVU had a lot of talent on their team as well and UK played poorly. That's the way it goes.

 

Flip side, no way I expected this year's team to beat Ohio State. And I would say beating North Carolina was an upset as well. They lost in the Final Four to the champion. So this year's team in many ways exceeded expectations. Like you said, last year was impressive. And Cal deserves a lot of credit. He did one heck of a coaching job last year.

[History]

Final Four would have been nice with that group and I would agree that it was somewhat expected once you got to that point in the season. But once you get to the Elite 8, anything can happen. At that point, any team can beat another on a given night. WVU had a lot of talent on their team as well and UK played poorly. That's the way it goes.

 

Flip side, no way I expected this year's team to beat Ohio State. And I would say beating North Carolina was an upset as well. They lost in the Final Four to the champion. So this year's team in many ways exceeded expectations. Like you said, last year was impressive. And Cal deserves a lot of credit. He did one heck of a coaching job last year.

 

He certainly outcoached Thad Matta in the the UK/OSU tilt...

[History]

For the record Cal went 10-18 his first year at UMass in 1988-1989. His second year he went 17-14 and was bounced in the first round of the NIT. His third year he went 20-13 and made it to the NIT semifinals. Year 4 Cal broke through to the NCAA tournament making it to the Sweet 16. He then made it to the NCAA the next four years at UMass culminating in a Fianl Four birth in 1996. This was later vacated.

 

Coach Cal then went to the NBA for two plus seasons seasons going 72 and 112 before leaving. He went to the palyoffs once and his Nets were swept.

[jvdfc]

For the record Cal went 10-18 his first year at UMass in 1988-1989. His second year he went 17-14 and was bounced in the first round of the NIT. His third year he went 20-13 and made it to the NIT semifinals. Year 4 Cal broke through to the NCAA tournament making it to the Sweet 16. He then made it to the NCAA the next four years at UMass culminating in a Fianl Four birth in 1996. This was later vacated.

 

Coach Cal then went to the NBA for two plus seasons seasons going 72 and 112 before leaving. He went to the palyoffs once and his Nets were swept.

You may be Cal's biggest hater. It's kinda hilarious really. :lol:

[RomanEmpire]

[/b]

 

What did Cal do his first year at UMass if we are now comparing his record to Stevens??

 

As to the bolded...That is the equivalent of saying Bernie Madoff had a great record as an investment advisor. The whole story has not been written, but to ignore the negatives of Cal is to be blinded by his charm and recruits...

 

Your bias against Cal is blatant and is based merely on speculation with zero facts. When was Cal named in any NCAA investigation? What you are doing is a sad reach with zero credibility.

[FormerCawoodTrojan]

So when all those UK guys were drafted by the highest league in the world in the first round (NBA).....they aren't to be considered great???

 

C'mon if Louisville had 4 or 5 guys drafted in the first round and didn't make it to the final four, wouldn't you say that was a dissapointing season?? Sure you would. Basically John C. won 1 more game in the tourney that year than Tubby usually did, and the bluegrass nation wants to elect him as Governor, and honor him as awesome at his job. Geez I wonder what they think of Tom Izzo or Coach K.[/QUOT

 

See, your statement is purely based on what Cal said on draft night about it being the greatest day in the history of UK BBall. To even compare those 5 players that got drafted that night to UNLV of the early 90's, Duke of the early 90's, UK 96, Kansas 98 is totally laughable. Just becasue a player gets drafted high doesn't make him great at all. Darko, Bagninni, Kwame, 3/4 of this year's draft. I would dare say if a UK fan was talking about the draft the last 2 years and UK having 9 players drafted in 2 years with 7 being 1st round picks and an estimated 4 more next year in the 1st round you would point to the poor overall quality of the NBA, right? You gotta love stats since you can leave out what you want and twist it to any argument.

 

As far as Cal "underachieving"...you know what, I'll take the last two years very happily. Granted, when the game tipped with WVU, I thought UK SHOULD win but knew it would be a tough game. When UK played OSU and UNC this year, I didn't really expect them to win. As long as the 1 and done rule is in effect, I don't think UK will ever be favored to win it all. Too much has to go well throughout the tourny unless your team is head and shoulders above the competition. I'll predict Cal stays 6 more years at UK and has 3 more Final Four appearances and 1 Championship. 8 years - 4 Final Fours and 1 Championship and i'll wish him well and call it a great success.

[Randy Parker]

As to the bolded Randy....that was the point I was making before...last year impressive after losing 5 first round draft picks to the NBA. The previous season with Wall, Cousins, etc then has to be NOT so impressive as they didn't even advance to the Final Four....

 

Even after coming off an NIT season in which the team lost its leading scorer & it has a brand new head coach, you do not consider that impressive?

[CatsCatsCats]

As to the bolded Randy....that was the point I was making before...last year impressive after losing 5 first round draft picks to the NBA. The previous season with Wall, Cousins, etc then has to be NOT so impressive as they didn't even advance to the Final Four....

 

They won how many games? The NCAA tourney does not always tell the whole story of a team. One bad night and its over. There is a good argument that this is what happened against WVU. I don't know how any educated basketball fan could say Cal's first year was a disappointment. It sucked to lose in the Elite 8, but UK had as good of a season as anyone.

[RockPride]

I am not at all disputing that he needs to win a title to be considered great, but llet's not act like just becasue you win a title you are great. In your estimation, what current coaches are more than 'average'?

 

Mike Krzyzewski

Brad Stevens

Tom Izzo

Jim Calhoun

Jim Boeheim (sp?)

Roy Williams

[futurecoach]

Mike Krzyzewski

Brad Stevens

Tom Izzo

Jim Calhoun

Jim Boeheim (sp?)

Roy Williams

 

Before Jim Boehim and Roy Williams finally won titles, what kind of coach would you have considered them? Especially during Roy Williams's time at Kansas he always had one of the most talented teams in the nation, but failed to win titles. Was he just an average coach then? Which would be a joke if you say he was just average. Winning the National Championship in college basketball is one of the hardest titles to win in sports.

 

The last two years I think Coach Cal has shown he is probably more than just average as a coach. Yes he has had two very talented teams. However he also adjusted with both of those teams, his offense is suppose to be DDM. Yet he realized that wouldn't be best for these two teams, his offense centered around the post with Cousins. Then last year, it was a lot of pick n roll stuff to get shooters open, which is not apart of the DDM offense. Not to mention the job he did getting both teams who were full of freshman, to go out and play great defense. Its one thing to recruit talent, but its another to get these guys to buy into play defense too. Not to mention he took a team who arguably their best player never got to play this year, a guy who honestly they probably believed they would have had. They they turned guys around like Harrellson, and Liggins into draft picks, guys that before Coach Cal arrived you would have never thought would have made it. His ability to coach is highly underrated.

[okie1]

Mike Krzyzewski

Brad Stevens

Tom Izzo

Jim Calhoun

Jim Boeheim (sp?)

Roy Williams

 

Which one of these coaches could duplicate what Cal has done at UK in 2 years, with what he inherited when he took the job?

[History]

You may be Cal's biggest hater. It's kinda hilarious really. :lol:

 

Your bias against Cal is blatant and is based merely on speculation with zero facts. When was Cal named in any NCAA investigation? What you are doing is a sad reach with zero credibility.

 

 

I don't hate Cal...I just think BBN loves him because he is their coach. If he left today and Coach K. walked in the door then they would love Coach K. UK fans are blindly loyal...Rupp, Hall, Sutton, Pitino, Tubby, BGP and now Cal. They really have to screw up before the tide turns.

 

Don't let the facts of Cal's record get in the way. I merely pointed out his record. Not nearly as good as Stevens in his first few years, although others acted like it was. Terrible in the NBA. Not a single playoff win. Two final fours which were vacated. Now RE I know you defend him to the death, but is their another coach in the history of the NCAA that has taken two different teams to the final four and had both positions vacated??? Coincidence-perhaps, but it hasn't happened to anybody else.

[History]

They won how many games? The NCAA tourney does not always tell the whole story of a team. One bad night and its over. There is a good argument that this is what happened against WVU. I don't know how any educated basketball fan could say Cal's first year was a disappointment. It sucked to lose in the Elite 8, but UK had as good of a season as anyone.

 

Crazy talk....WVU, Butler and Duke all had better years, with less talent, because the only thing that matters is the tournament. (Unless you are excusing away a loss.) To your way of thinking then in 2011 OSU had a better year than Kentucky, and I would disagree. The Cats beat OSU when it mattered and advanced further. But in 2010 WVU beat UK-so the Mountaineers had the better finish.

[FormerCawoodTrojan]

Mike Krzyzewski

Brad Stevens

Tom Izzo

Jim Calhoun

Jim Boeheim (sp?)

Roy Williams

 

I think this is a good list, but why is Stevens ahead of Donovan? Donovan won 2 titles...Stevens has 0. How many times has Boeheim missed the tourny? How many final fours does he have? Williams has arguably lost more NCAA tourny games with superior talent as anyone in the history of college bball. Izzo, I think is one of the top 5 along with Calhoun (although I dislike him). I just think your list proves there is so much subjectivity and no matter how hard we try, it is nearly impossible to not let our personal bias come in to the discussion. No Coach K?

[RockPride]

^ See who I listed first...