Blow-Up Wildcat Wants A Pro-Calipari Article

 

This afternoon as you toss possible football coaching names off the wall in your garage and get settled in to listen to the pre-game show before the Transylvania game, read what Nicole Auerbach of the USA Today wrote about Calipari and his well oiled machine on Friday. Often times, writers attack Calipari’s way of doing things. This is not one of those times. Check it out or read below for the highlights.

 

Most notably, she says:

*Cal’s cycle is “Recruit. Win. Send to NBA.”

*“Kentucky is running out of room to celebrate its pros. Inside the men’s basketball offices, there are posters of the five Wildcats drafted in the first round in 2010. There are headshots and lists of former Kentucky players now in the NBA. There’s talk of updating everything, because Davis and Co. aren’t represented yet. This is what Calipari sells. It’s not just Kentucky. It’s life after Kentucky.”

*“Calipari has coached 11 of the 52 players who were drafted after spending one year in college. (Twelve, if you include Enes Kanter, who was ruled ineligible and never played at Kentucky.)”

-That is 21% for those of you without a calculator. Basically, Cal has coached 1 out of every 5 players who leaves after 1 year.

*”It’s not just the winning tradition and recent Final Four appearances that attract top recruits to Lexington and sustain the one-and-done cycle. Celebrities are spotted at Rupp Arena like it’s the Staples Center.”

*”The new makeup of the roster has taken some of the pressure off. There’s no emphasis on defending last season’s national championship because it’s a completely different team.”

 

There are Caliparism’s included in the article, such as him not liking the one and done rule and player’s first program, but this piece is a really good look at how well Calipari has every aspect of his program working at once.