Kentucky Sports Radio
[Moderated by Matt Jones, Drew Franklin and Tyler Thompson]
[Moderated by Matt Jones, Drew Franklin and Tyler Thompson]
Warning: This post is a bit of a rant. Carry on.
When John Calipari’s team experienced the ultimate storybook ending last season, culminating with a national championship trophy hoisted in the air, the criticism had to at least momentarily quiet to a hush. The negative tone of voice that generally accompanied the coined term “one-and-dones” was muffled for the time being. Some kept quiet. Others even dished out rare praise in Calipari’s direction. Some even suggested that Calipari had finally mastered the formula for success in this day and age’s college basketball world. Words such as “system,” “calculations,” “schemes,” “methods,” etc. have been used to describe Calipari’s “way of doing things” at the University of Kentucky. It all sounds very complicated when put in such terms and dissected so closely. If you ask me though, the bottom line is much simpler in nature.
Five losses later, two of which came on the hallowed Rupp Arena floor, and suddenly the questions have started to seep back into the picture: “Does the one and done system really work?” “Can Calipari’s scheme really work year in and year out?” When a team who started the season ranked in the top 5 suddenly finds itself floating with the other “bubble teams,” the doubts begin to arise once again.
The elaborate “system” must be flawed, right? Calipari’s master plan of stockpiling one-and-dones, churning players out into the NBA draft in mass quantities, and putting teams on the floor heavy with talented freshmen and low on mature veterans must not be working. Right?
Wrong. To this I say, what system are we really talking about here?
John Calipari deserves a lot of credit for his forward thinking ideas and some of the elaborate things he comes up with. A Hoops for Haiti Telethon? Elaborate. The All-Access series? Elaborate. The new locker room? Elaborate.
When it comes to constructing his teams at Kentucky year in and year out though? I say it’s very simple. So very simple.
Calipari goes out and he tries to get the best high school basketball players in the country to come play at Kentucky. When you are trying to win basketball games, why would you NOT want the best players possible? Any coach in the country would prefer to have the best player on his respective team. And if they try to tell you otherwise, they’re lying. Not being able to get the best players and not wanting the best players are not one in the same. Going after and securing the best players available when they also prefer Kentucky is not a scheme. It’s common sense.
The scheme to flood the NBA draft every year with Kentucky players isn’t elaborate in nature either. If a player is ready OR if a player is in a position in which his stock is likely as high as it will ever be… it’s time to go. Calipari doesn’t hold the door closed for his players. Again, the thinking is simple. Why would a player NOT go if the opportunity is right and the opportunity is available? Does that mean a player doesn’t perhaps occasionally make a mistake in the timing of the jump? Of course not. Marquis Teague can be debated until we’re blue in the face. But he was coming off of a national championship and a great NCAA tournament run in which he was playing at a very high level. The decision could have gone either way. But again, Teague is not part of an elaborate system or scheme. Calipari attempts to get the best out of his players. While at Kentucky, he pushes them to become the best possible player they can be. Is churning out a multitude of players for the NBA draft each year part of a scheme or master plan? It seems to me like it’s simply a sign of a player’s success while at Kentucky.
So when the ship sails at the end of this 2012-2013 season, (regardless of whether or not this team gels and peaks at the right time– perhaps even making a deep run in the NCAA tournament…or if they continue to hit road blocks and stumble into being a bubble team or even…dare I say NIT team) let’s try to avoid making grand declarations about a working or flawed elaborate “scheme” or “system” Calipari is running at Kentucky.
Sometimes going after the best players in the country will result in having the best basketball team in the country. Sometimes a player doesn’t quite pan out the way he is projected. And that goes both ways, too. Some players turn out much better than expected. Sometimes a player’s development is behind where it’s expected to be, or takes longer to reach maturation. Sometimes a team of players who have taken 3-4 years to develop to their potential in college will be the best basketball team in the country. Sometimes a team of players who are mostly in their first or second year of college basketball will be better than those 3-4 year player teams (see: 2012 Kentucky national championship team).
Much like last year’s national championship team didn’t prove that Calipari’s teams would always experience the ultimate success, this year’s current “average” team (considering we are not in the top 25 at the moment) doesn’t prove that Calipari’s teams will never work either.
Perhaps more stock should be put into the particular personnel in any given year on the team and in college basketball in general…not the “system.”
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January 17th, 2013 at 5:47 pm
in other words… screw you “oldschool”
January 17th, 2013 at 5:50 pm
by the way great post, I couldn’t agree more.
January 17th, 2013 at 5:52 pm
I have to agree.. ive been a fool… an old dumbass fool… great points ally go UK everything
January 17th, 2013 at 5:53 pm
I couldn’t agree more. What we are seeing this year is SUPPOSED to happen when you send six players into the NBA. Telling players that this would be the best school to get the chance to advertise a high exposure NBA resume cannot be called a “system”. Pushing them as hard and fast as they can go to instill the “never quit” mentality hardly counts as a “system” either, but here we are.
PLAYERS FIRST, he has said it from the beginning.
January 17th, 2013 at 5:53 pm
1 NT every three years … the “system” works
January 17th, 2013 at 5:59 pm
The problem is this years team was vastly over rated from the start. No one said these things about NC after most of there team went pro after their last title. The one and done players that hurt are the ones like Orton who wasn’t expected to go pro and hurt in recruiting for that position the next year.
A coaches job is to get the best players he can. Then coach them into a team. Cal has been great at both. This years team seems not to trust each other as much as other teams have. When they do buy in this will be a team that no body wants to play in March.
With the team coming to next year on top of getting #8 I think Cal has things figured out quite well. The most impressive thing to me is the character of the kids Cal has brought in. Cal has has shot down the thinking that the superstar kids are trouble.
January 17th, 2013 at 6:05 pm
Perhaps the best piece you’ve written. Calipari does not have a system or scheme. For him, it is about talent and molding that talent into something successful and ocaasionally special. If once insists on using scheme and/or system, then it would be the Dirbble Drive (which he really doesn’t use all that much) and a tough Man defense (which he uses alot). If you absolutely have to use one or both of the two words, one could reply by using, “whatever works.”
Oldschool…not sure is you’re joking or not. If you are sincere then I have to ask, who says you can’t teach old dogs new tricks?
January 17th, 2013 at 6:05 pm
This was great, good job Ally
January 17th, 2013 at 6:05 pm
The problem is if every kid doesn’t buy in and bust their but like MKG. If you have one and dones who just go through the motions like most on this team because next year is the big payout then we are in trouble.
January 17th, 2013 at 6:16 pm
Great point what coach in America wouldn’t have wanted the Uni-Blocker and Gilchrist last year? Other coaches know they can’t compete head-to-head in the recruiting and say ludicrous things like; “I just can’t coach freshman and I need to have these guys for four years”.
January 17th, 2013 at 6:20 pm
#9 you don’t need to include one and dones in that statement. What happens to the 4 yr guy who is not going to the next level? He could be less motivated and j/ go through the motions b/c this isn’t his future. It doesn’t matter how old you are if you don’t try.
Also, isn’t there an old sports cliche that says something about you have to be born a leader. So whether ur a freshman or senior you can lead. Look at mkg
January 17th, 2013 at 6:30 pm
The man [Coach Cal] has a better than 75% win percentage for his career. Even more ridiculous win percentage at home. The 3 years before this one we saw an elite 8, a final four and finally a championship. And now this year, were we freshmen playing like actual freshmen. I’ll take that four year stretch any day of the week. And as far as sportswriters go, if they don’t create something to talk about they’ll be unemployed. Great post, Ally.
January 17th, 2013 at 6:31 pm
Correction: Were we ‘have’ freshmen playing like actual freshmen. Excuse me.
January 17th, 2013 at 6:33 pm
Trite. Did you say ANYTHING new or original in the entire post?
January 17th, 2013 at 6:42 pm
“When you are trying to win basketball games, why would you NOT want the best players possible?”
Answer: when having a roster full of the best players means that they won’t be around long enough to learn how to win. I love Cal, and he’s hands down the greatest recruiter of all time. But his first goal as a coach should be to win, and as we are seeing that typically requires more than just amassing the highest level of high school talent that you can. Wins, in general, require a mix of talent, experience, basketball knowledge, toughness and leadership. This would require a more surgical approach to recruiting, and I have to admit I don’t exactly know how a program could calibrate its recruiting efforts to achieve this, but it is clearly what it takes to win, year in and year out and if that is what the program is striving for then it will require some re-calibration of the recruiting effort. Maybe start by targeting one real character guy a year, at least, who is talented but not a clear one and done guy, or something along those lines.
January 17th, 2013 at 6:43 pm
There is no reason UK should not be in the Top 25 every year, winning it all once or twice a decade, and rarely out of the chase. If Cal’s system cannot produce that minimum level of achievement, it is flawed, period.
Your cliched question answers itself with a glance at this year’s team: you do not want to recruit players, no matter how highly they are ranked, who are not going to be able to achieve UK levels of performance in the time they are here, whether that is one year or five.
January 17th, 2013 at 6:45 pm
It is time for Cal to earn that money we are paying him. He’s starting to learn that you can’t just roll the ball out there on the floor and expect the talent to do it for you. He should be fired if he says one more time that a teenaged Witjer “needs to figure something out.” That’s his damned job.
January 17th, 2013 at 6:52 pm
Everybody needs to chill out. Just think about it when Cal leaves. Everyone will be wishing we had a team just as good.
January 17th, 2013 at 7:12 pm
#15 really! You do realize cal is just off the heels of winning the NC, don’t you! He has had UK in the the elite 8, and final four the other years, how can you question his methods. Cal has been here 4 years and had 4 different styles, that means unlike Tubby he his willing the coach to his talent. He is doing what is best for UK to be great every year.
You mention character guys. In case you haven’t seen it, but Cals players have done great things in the community. He has not only recruited great players but good kids. Some like to talk of ” big Cuz” like he is a thug that is far from the truth. He has shown immaturity on the court on court, but off the court he has been a great kid.
I’ve never got the ones who question his recruiting. What do you expect a coach to do, not recruit the best players because they won’t be around long. If a coach recruits bad player he won’t be around long. Cal is just a great recruiter and is getting multiple of these players every year. It’s not like other schools aren’t recruiting these kids, it just Cal is landing them.
17) Cal just won a NC so I think he has earned his pay then some. We have a great team coming in next year plus his record at UK is great. By your statement because of one down year makes you look like a spoiled person who knows nothing about sports. Cal has earned every dime he’s made!! As far as Wiltjer goes Cal is right. A coaches job is to prepare his team and put them in a position to have success. He’s done that. The players need to own their mistakes and listen to the coaches all Cal is doing is making his players accountable for their own play!
January 17th, 2013 at 7:15 pm
i guess if this teams turns it around all you doubters will be saying hes the greatest coach every.Come on first year he went to elite 8 sec year final 4 next year champs.So i guess hes got to win championship every year, i guess you guys dont rember tubby days and billy g. get off his but and shut up. I can remember when we couldnt even get a 4 star player. go big blue
January 17th, 2013 at 7:34 pm
People we are in the presence of someone brilliant, #14 is not impressed and felt the need to let us all hear his critique. Why don’t you stun us with your originality and write a piece for the comment section. When we are impressed and awed by your talent we’ll anonymously judge you. Maybe some blog will even hire you so you won’t have to be so jealous!
January 17th, 2013 at 8:09 pm
Got to call BS. Black Bart is a troll. Cal earns every cent with his community involvement and the public relations work- bringing positive attention to the university and improving the lives of the student athletes he shepherds. I daresay only a select handful of coaches could meet the demands of Kentucky basketball, on and off the court. Cal is one. Success? NC, FF and Elite 8 in three years not good enough? Begone Satan!
As for selecting only the choicest of athletes to insure success- good luck with that. Select any matrix of qualities you want, measure a high school athlete against them and pick. You will still never know who will be a team player and who will thrive in a college athletic environment. Look at Poythress- a guaranteed beast-to-be in college by all scouts. How would you, Bart, have weeded him out as a non-producer?
January 17th, 2013 at 8:14 pm
Anyone who questions his method is an idiot and knows nothing about basketball. The coaches who question it and say they couldn’t do it(Ricky P.) are jealous and would love to have our recruits. They are trying to get them, they just cannot talk them into it. He has won one already and on the cusp of two more in just three short years.
January 17th, 2013 at 8:25 pm
I’m with you #5, a national championship every three years, sign me up. With Cal here, we’ve been at the plate 3 of the past 4 years, as opposed to being at the plate every 3 to 4 years like other big name schools.
January 17th, 2013 at 8:39 pm
Bart Edwards says, “I know nothing about basketball and even less about UK and Coach Cal.”
As it stands, Cal is 133-19. With 2 Final Fours, an Elite 8, and a National Championship.
I’ll take that and I’ll continue to cheer this team on……their best is yet to come!!
January 18th, 2013 at 9:14 am
I agree with #25! Compare Cals record of taking over UK with the more conventional methods of Crean at IU. Crean spent three years with terrible W/L records before turning the program around. Cal had UK #1 within his first year and a championship in three years, being competitive every year. Is Cal right and Crean wrong? I say , simply, “No, which way do you want your program run?”.
One way to determine which way is best is to see how many problems, academic and otherwise, occur in either system. Which system generates the type of young men we want to be associated with? Despite all the statements and fantasies from guys in XXXL red sweaters and others, UK guys seem to me to get good grades and be responsible young men. The turnover in talent here I compare to a high wire act; sometimes you make it, sometimes you don’t. It is often uncertain and a very moment-to-moment situation, but a trapeze guy doesn’t last long if he lacks ability and Cal has a system which seems to work well. I’m enjoying the hell out of it!
January 18th, 2013 at 10:31 am
If/when we when it all again, whether it’s next year or anytime after, they’ll say his system works again. Cal is like the NFL, he gets players to win now, not players that he thinks will win in 3-4 years. I’ll take the system he runs now over the other any day
January 18th, 2013 at 1:24 pm
Since 1990, only Florida and Duke repeated as NCAA tourney champs. Each of those teams had 3 future NBA players on their roster for both titles. Both teams had good guards and leadership from returning players. They also had good chemistry. Talent can be developed, systems can be adapted or modified, but good chemistry has no shortcut. It does take time. Come tourney time, some of the mid-major, upperclassmen-heavy teams make some noise in the dance because of great chemistry. But, it takes a talented group to cut down the nets. The struggle building chemistry with this team makes last year’s molding of talent all the more impressive.