Sports Daily: Is It Right To Hate On Kentucky Basketball?

[PhantomPain]

Quote: Originally Posted by tbook24

Calipari doesnt reallhy coach. he recruits guys well but his teams arent coached that well. He should have more titles than his one. When his kids get to the nba they have some fundamental issuest hat needto be worked out. He gets outcoached in most of the big games. Kentucky itself is not to be hated unless you are a rival of them but Calipari is an eternal underachiever as a coach.

He should have more titles? Sure, I can agree with that. Many coaches should have more than they have. But there is a reason why only like 4 or 5 coaches have more than 2 in their career. It's because it's hard. Over the past 5 years he has taken UK to an Elite 8, a Final Four, a Championship, an NIT first round exit and a National Champion runner-up. Most of those seasons we had juniors and seniors that contributed, except this past season where the only 2 seniors contributed very little. But by and large a good portion of those teams were freshmen and sophomores. Right, he can't cach.

He took DeAndre Liggins from nearly leaving college to playing some in the NBA. He took Josh Harrelson and made him an NBA player. These are guys that had no business being in the NBA prior to Cal working with them.

I'm not saying he is the best X&O coach around. I think he is capable at that skill. But he is great at everything else that goes along with coaching including getting more out of his players quicker than most other coaches.

So if you are still under the mindset that a guy who made UMASS relevant with no star players and built Memphis into a national contender, again with mostly no name players with he exception of a few, then you simply don't know what a coach does or are terrible at evaluation. Good luck.

[XXstormmXX]

I don't get the hate for teams like UK, they're doing what you're supposed to do: win. Why does a team have to accomplish their goal of winning championships and then get hated for it? Last time I checked, that was what all the teams were trying to do.

[PhantomPain]

Here is a very interesting article (blog) by Rex Chapman, the best and most timely tweeter in America lol, that provides a very interesting analysis of one and dones and the success they have have (or haven't had).

Rex breaks down all the one and done players since they instilled the rule into 3 categories. No Brainers, Top-19 and Head Scratchers. After compiling stats, he comes to this conclusion:

Quote:

After researching all of the “one and done” players and their numbers – it only backs-up what I’ve always believed about early-entry in to the NBA. The best predictor for “one and done” success is if you’ve dominated the college game enough that you’ve become a unanimous 1st-team all-conference performer, an All-American and/or NCAA POY during your freshman season.

The History of the One and Done and a Guide for all Freshment considering making the jump

[ehh]

You could write a novel on the subject because there are so many far reaching variables and situations.

The easiest and shortest answer is that you shouldn't hate Kentucky basketball because they're playing within the set of rules that was given to them.

The NBA created this monster (thankfully they're going to kill it in three years) and it has bastardized college basketball a little bit but college basketball has been a mess for nearly 15 years now.

The most interesting aspect of Kentucky in this era is that the hatred is never based towards the players, it's all towards Calipari. I can't think of an unlikable player they've had since Cal took over. It's not like Duke of yesteryear where they always had a few players that everyone despised. Battier, Paulus, Wojo, Redick, etc. It was about hating Coach K and the players. Hating on UK is solely hating on Calipari.

I've never cared for Calipari for a variety of reasons, mostly because of the Camby/Ray Allen stuff when he was at UMass. He's always had the "used car salesman" vibe.


As for Rex Chapman's article, I think he's missing the point on guys like Bayless. It doesn't really matter that Bayless is a journeyman. He's 25 years old, has already made $15m in his career and plays 20 minutes a night as a back up. Something tells me that he doesn't have any regrets about leaving Arizona after one year.

This is hilarious though...

Quote:

The 2013 “one and done’ers” (Yikes!) Take a look at this past year’s group of rookie “one and done” guys. *Steven Adams (12th-overall) – 3.3 ppg & 4.3 rpg *Anthony Bennett (1st-overall) – 4.1 ppg & 2.9 rpg *Archie Goodwin (29th-overall) – 3.3 ppg *Grant Jerrett (40th-overall) - D-League *Ricky Ledo (43rd-overall) – 1.7 ppg – D-League *Ben McLemore (7th-overall) – 8.3 ppg & 2.9 rpg *Shabazz Muhammad (14th-overall) – 3.9 ppg – D-League *Nerlens Noel (6th-overall) – Has not played yet due to Knee-injury

This is also SO accurate...

Quote:

In my opinion, the reason that so many current freshmen have such little understanding of how difficult the jump from college to the NBA will be – is because college basketball has never been weaker. When college freshmen, by and large, are the most talented/physically gifted players in the college game – that means that the college game has been weakened (due to “one and done” – and because the most talented players LEAVE AFTER ONE YEAR.). The “best”, most talented and most “polished” collegiate players NATURALLY used to be juniors and seniors. Those days are gone. Freshmen are now lulled into a false sense of security in the college game. Many believe that since they’re doing well in college that the next step for them is naturally the NBA. The truth is that they’re doing well in the most watered-down college basketball era in history. The college game presently resembles more “Senior High School” than the college game of yesteryear.

Though I have never seen an article where someone "quote" so many words for emphasis. I think Rex needs to a hire a PR/editor/proof-reader.

[PhantomPain]

Quote: Originally Posted by ehh

You could write a novel on the subject because there are so many far reaching variables and situations. The easiest and shortest answer is that you shouldn't hate Kentucky basketball because they're playing within the set of rules that was given to them. The NBA created this monster (thankfully they're going to kill it in three years) and it has bastardized college basketball a little bit but college basketball has been a mess for nearly 15 years now. The most interesting aspect of Kentucky in this era is that the hatred is never based towards the players, it's all towards Calipari. I can't think of an unlikable player they've had since Cal took over. It's not like Duke of yesteryear where they always had a few players that everyone despised. Battier, Paulus, Wojo, Redick, etc. It was about hating Coach K and the players. Hating on UK is solely hating on Calipari. I've never cared for Calipari for a variety of reasons, mostly because of the Camby/Ray Allen stuff when he was at UMass. He's always had the "used car salesman" vibe. As for Rex Chapman's article, I think he's missing the point on guys like Bayless. It doesn't really matter that Bayless is a journeyman. He's 25 years old, has already made $15m in his career and plays 20 minutes a night as a back up. Something tells me that he doesn't have any regrets about leaving Arizona after one year. This is hilarious though... This is also SO accurate... Though I have never seen an article where someone "quote" so many words for emphasis. I think Rex needs to a hire a PR/editor/proof-reader.

Yes, Editor is not a position that Rex will hold anytime soon. And you are also right about the players with the exception that a lot of people didn't care for Demarcus Cousins which is understandable considering his antics on the court (I still maintain he is one of the better guys in the NBA he just immature).

As for your example of Bayless, while Rex may be off based and Bayless is super happy about his decision, I took the main gist of the article to say "this so far is the norm. Sure there are exceptions, but they are just that...exceptions. And those exceptions don't happen very often." So I would lump Bayless in that category and maybe even a couple of others.

But it is hard to argue the data of the most successful players and where they were taken in the draft.

[ehh]

I guess Cousins might fit in that category of disliked players but I don't know. He was/is immature but he seemed relatively harmless to me. He was an easy target for opposing fans because he could be set off so easily. I always enjoyed watching him play while he was at UK though.

[jsquigg]

You can't say anything about how legitimately dirty Calipari is without UK fans responding in denial. I guess Cal just isn't responsible at all for his previous teams having their Final Four accomplishments wiped clean from the record books. Here's an idea: As a coach, maybe you have a little responsibility in how the players on your team act within the rules. This isn't football where there are often over a hundred players on a team to manage. This is basketball, and given how short a time the players are at UK, you'd think Cal could keep them out of trouble. Another reason people hate Cal is because if you underperform he cuts your scholarship the following year. While this may be within the rules (for now), many consider it unethical. We'll see how Kentucky fans feel after the Calipari era is done, especially if he leaves the program in flames like he has done at literally every other stop. Of course that just makes me a "*****" to delusionally biased big blue nation. Facts hurt sometimes.

[PhantomPain]

Quote: Originally Posted by jsquigg

You can't say anything about how legitimately dirty Calipari is without UK fans responding in denial. I guess Cal just isn't responsible at all for his previous teams having their Final Four accomplishments wiped clean from the record books. Here's an idea: As a coach, maybe you have a little responsibility in how the players on your team act within the rules. This isn't football where there are often over a hundred players on a team to manage. This is basketball, and given how short a time the players are at UK, you'd think Cal could keep them out of trouble. Another reason people hate Cal is because if you underperform he cuts your scholarship the following year. While this may be within the rules (for now), many consider it unethical. We'll see how Kentucky fans feel after the Calipari era is done, especially if he leaves the program in flames like he has done at literally every other stop. Of course that just makes me a "*****" to delusionally biased big blue nation. Facts hurt sometimes.

Facts could hurt but in this case there aren't any. Congratulations on posting one of the most ill informed posts I have seen in a long time.