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  • Calipari's Team's High Level Play but Monster Producing?

    by
    LonnyDemaree
    Published on 01-26-2014 04:18 PM
    1 Comment Comments
    By: LONNY DEMAREE

    Who can quarrel with the high level Coach John Calipari's teams play at? But with the fantastic talent he is bringing to UK much is expected of his teams. He is 79-2 in Rupp Arena which is phenomenal. Has he created a monster?

    With the constant turnover and what he has been able to achieve on the basketball court and his players achieve in the classroom how can anyone question what he is doing for the BBN. But the great irony is there are fans that are beginning to question his methods as it relates to recruiting. Who wouldn't want the top talent in the country every year if they could get them?

    The rub comes in the monumental task every year to get them out of the AAU mind-set. Many fans have forgotten what happened the summer prior to the national championship year. It was the time that the NBA was locked out due to the contract negotiations. For a goodly portion of that summer Oklahoma City Thunder's Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and the Boston Celtics Rajon Rondo worked out at Joe Craft Center. When playing with and against those professional players and observing their work ethic it had an immeasurable effect on that team's maturity and development toward their championship run. For instance a Durant day looked like this; 09:00 - 11:00AM shoot around in Joe Craft; lunch break; 1:00 - 3:00 in the weight room; and 3:00 - 5:00 pickup basketball.

    This is not to take away from the job Cal does in molding young talent every year because his peers say he is the only one in the country that could do it as well as he does. Another rub is that the young super-star talent he brings in all expect to go immediately to the NBA. And it take a while - sometimes too long - for the reality check to set in.

    The hurdles that this team has to make are incremental. Cal said the team has to shed all the "clutter." The Harrison twins are at times having a hard time with that phenomenon. Calipari alluded to perhaps one such situation when Aaron Harrison miss a shot against Georgia and dropped his head in disgust. Cal said - "When he got upset the one ( miss), He put his head down. I took him out. It was a great shot. You missed it but you going to have your attitude-head down on that? Just play for your team. Take the shots you're supposed to take."

    These are the kinds things Calipari has to deal with when coaching young players every year. It's their (players) expectation + fan expectation = a aging Cal. People that have the privilege of watching Cal on a almost daily basis say it is getting to him trying to conquer the monster year-after-year.
    1. Categories:
    2. Basketball
    Comments 15 Comments
    1. CitizenBBN's Avatar
      CitizenBBN - 01-26-2014, 12:49 PM
      It's going to get to him, which is why he's already changing his recruiting. Prior to this last class he never would have taken Willis or Hawkins and maybe not Lee. I think he would have taken Mudiay and passed on Ulis as well and in the end that one will work out to his benefit, but overall last year taught him he has no magic wand and the players may not come around and drop their AAU approach (for lack of a better term), so he needs a roster and eventually some experienced depth.

      If he can have some experienced players, esp. a PG, it won't be so bad a fight. Those guys will communicate the culture and help bring the new guys up to speed so Cal doesn't have to do all the lifting.

      Also he has to target some guys who have a blue collar attitude already. I think Ulis has a lot of that, which will help next year and probably for 3-4 years thereafter.
    1. BudCat_upthecreek's Avatar
      BudCat_upthecreek - 01-26-2014, 03:23 PM
      Quote Originally Posted by CitizenBBN View Post
      It's going to get to him, which is why he's already changing his recruiting. Prior to this last class he never would have taken Willis or Hawkins and maybe not Lee. I think he would have taken Mudiay and passed on Ulis as well and in the end that one will work out to his benefit, but overall last year taught him he has no magic wand and the players may not come around and drop their AAU approach (for lack of a better term), so he needs a roster and eventually some experienced depth.

      If he can have some experienced players, esp. a PG, it won't be so bad a fight. Those guys will communicate the culture and help bring the new guys up to speed so Cal doesn't have to do all the lifting.

      Also he has to target some guys who have a blue collar attitude already. I think Ulis has a lot of that, which will help next year and probably for 3-4 years thereafter.
      Couldn't agree more. 10 yrs will wear him out, but with the change in recruiting it gives him a chance at 1 or 2 more NC's before retirement.
      Glad to see the change personally.
    1. Jeeepcat's Avatar
      Jeeepcat - 01-26-2014, 04:08 PM
      Quote Originally Posted by BudCat_upthecreek View Post
      Couldn't agree more. 10 yrs will wear him out, but with the change in recruiting it gives him a chance at 1 or 2 more NC's before retirement.
      Glad to see the change personally.
    1. Genuine Realist's Avatar
      Genuine Realist - 01-26-2014, 04:50 PM
      My only comment is that I don't think Cal has had to learn anything. I do believe he was way, way ahead of the curve here, in the need to get away from a strict OAD mode, but circumstances and individual player's decisions did him in.

      I just don't believe a basketball guy with more than 30 years in, building two midelevel teams into NC contenders, and reviving the fortunes of the Empire, has really anything more to learn. I think he was stuck on the treadmill, fully aware of the dangers, and looking for a way out for some time.
    1. Philly Cat's Avatar
      Philly Cat - 01-26-2014, 05:09 PM
      I like the direction of next year's recruiting class, but I don't think it was intentional. Cal really wanted Mudiay and Johnson, from all that I understand-- both of whom would have been OAD. Only after he didn't get those guys do we have the makings of a "mixed" class of OAD and longer-term players. Sometimes, I make the mistake of describing that class as the one that Cal desired-- as if he is intentionally departing from the OAD model. He's not. Yet. Maybe this class will convince him of the wisdom of doing that. Until that time, it's just us (me included) projecting our hopes for the recruiting future as if it was Cal's plan all along.
    1. blueboss's Avatar
      blueboss - 01-26-2014, 05:17 PM
      Cal doesn't let the clutter effect anything he does.


      Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
    1. CitizenBBN's Avatar
      CitizenBBN - 01-26-2014, 05:47 PM
      Quote Originally Posted by Genuine Realist View Post
      I just don't believe a basketball guy with more than 30 years in, building two midelevel teams into NC contenders, and reviving the fortunes of the Empire, has really anything more to learn. I think he was stuck on the treadmill, fully aware of the dangers, and looking for a way out for some time.
      Cal has repeatedly said he and the staff are learning as they are going, and he has in just his tenure at UK talked several times about learning from other coaches and changing things he does based on that.

      The best thing about Cal is he's not stuck in his ways, locked in on "his" system b/c he's got 30 years in it and knows his stuff. Sure he does, but he always listens and adapts. When he got here he hated pick and roll, didn't want to bring two defenders to his best player as he put it, spent the summer working with the Dominican team and talking with larry brown and some pro guys and now uses it pretty much as his basic 10 second "get a shot" play.

      I think he may have known the arguments, the risks, but until you live it you dont' really know them the same way. Knowing it's possible your guys don't buy in and you have injuries and dont' have a bench to help and really feeling the impact of it all happening are different things.

      The proof is in the pudding. he went from saying in 2010 he didn't want a deep bench b/c he didn't want guys unhappy with PT and causing friction to stocking it the year after it all came home to roost. I think he knew it was possible, not sure he believed it would ever happen.
    1. CitizenBBN's Avatar
      CitizenBBN - 01-26-2014, 05:50 PM
      Quote Originally Posted by Philly Cat View Post
      I like the direction of next year's recruiting class, but I don't think it was intentional. Cal really wanted Mudiay and Johnson, from all that I understand-- both of whom would have been OAD. Only after he didn't get those guys do we have the makings of a "mixed" class of OAD and longer-term players. Sometimes, I make the mistake of describing that class as the one that Cal desired-- as if he is intentionally departing from the OAD model. He's not. Yet. Maybe this class will convince him of the wisdom of doing that. Until that time, it's just us (me included) projecting our hopes for the recruiting future as if it was Cal's plan all along.
      Agreed.

      Hawkins and Willis clearly were additions for long term depth and experience, but in this next class it's tough to say what he would have done in that regard if anything had he gotten Mudiay and Johnson. Would he have gone after Ulis as well or some other player(s)? Can't really say but I agree he landed a multiyear PG not so much by choice as by necessity of missing on the OAD guy.

      I don't think he's departing from OAD at all, but I do think he has decided he needs some guys like Miller, Liggins, Harrellson as well. If he has 2-3 more experienced guys who do play in the rotation it will really help the new guys adjust and understand what the standard is for effort.
    1. Philly Cat's Avatar
      Philly Cat - 01-26-2014, 08:03 PM
      Quote Originally Posted by CitizenBBN View Post
      I don't think he's departing from OAD at all, but I do think he has decided he needs some guys like Miller, Liggins, Harrellson as well. If he has 2-3 more experienced guys who do play in the rotation it will really help the new guys adjust and understand what the standard is for effort.
      This is the part where I'm trying to be careful. I know WE think that he needs experienced players. Where do we see Cal, from his ACTIONS, recruiting like he believes it? Willis & Hawkins were afterthoughts. I'm talking about top targets each year. I'm not so convinced that he has changed his philosophy at all-- we might be just attributing a change to him based on the results of this year, which is obviously a flawed way of thinking.
    1. CitizenBBN's Avatar
      CitizenBBN - 01-26-2014, 08:23 PM
      Fair point. Willis was signed pretty early on though, not sure he's an afterthought, and it's tough to say if Hawkins was or if he just had good timing with the debacle of last season and it was about the time Cal decided to sign some depth.

      At the same time he did sign 9 players, massive by his previous standards, and changed all his talk about depth. It's true I don't think he said much about needing upperclassmen but he did talk about needing depth. is he hoping to have guys like Miller who will be a core rotation player or is he thinking of a Polson who may get some minutes but not really play much? I can't say.
    1. Jimcats's Avatar
      Jimcats - 01-27-2014, 12:06 AM
      Quote Originally Posted by CitizenBBN View Post
      Agreed.

      Hawkins and Willis clearly were additions for long term depth and experience, but in this next class it's tough to say what he would have done in that regard if anything had he gotten Mudiay and Johnson. Would he have gone after Ulis as well or some other player(s)? Can't really say but I agree he landed a multiyear PG not so much by choice as by necessity of missing on the OAD guy.

      I don't think he's departing from OAD at all, but I do think he has decided he needs some guys like Miller, Liggins, Harrellson as well. If he has 2-3 more experienced guys who do play in the rotation it will really help the new guys adjust and understand what the standard is for effort.
      I think maybe WCS and Poythress could have some bearing on his thinking too. This year's super-frosh team wouldn't be nearly as good w/o them. And he will have a couple of good 5-star left-overs back next year too, most likely.
    1. UKHistory's Avatar
      UKHistory - 01-27-2014, 12:28 PM
      Cal is very experienced and will work from his knowledge. But the one and done is very different than any other recruiting era. So too is operating at Kentucky.

      This is a whole new animal for Cal. It allows him a much larger stage to display his talent but he is also under far greater scrutiny for his every action too.

      Cal has always tried to recruit the best players available. All coaches do. At UMass or Memphis I think you understand you are not going to command as much attention from the elite as you do at UK, UNC, etc.

      So Cal is learning as he goes. I think what we consider a more balanced coming in next year is the result of missing out on higher ranked guys.

      The fact that Cal played Willis and Lee and Polson more is more demonstrative in a slight change to his approach than what we have seen in recruiting.

      Ulis did get recruited before Mudiay committed to SMU but Cal may have realized SMU was going to be the winner.

      Older, talented players will greatly help Cal showcase his coaching skills.

      But the treadmill analogy mentioned above has some real merit. It is hard to build depth when the NBA is so quick to draft on potential. Yet it is counter intuitivie not to recruit and sign the very best players available in a given class.
    1. Philly Cat's Avatar
      Philly Cat - 01-27-2014, 03:11 PM
      Citizen, I think Willis WAS an afterthought... or a pre-thought? Either way, I bet you dollars to doughnuts that Cal didn't see Willis as any more of a rotation player than Jon Hood has been. He was always going to be a nice KY guy to make fans feel good and add depth in practice. Based on the tone of his public statements, I think Cal has been as surprised as any of us by Willis's strong play.

      Here's the question that's really interesting to me-- will we EVER see another Darius Miller at UK under Cal? That is, a senior playing "core" minutes and serving as a team leader.

      Time will tell, and this incoming crew (and Hawkins) gives us the best chance of re-creating that role.
    1. cattails's Avatar
      cattails - 01-27-2014, 03:22 PM
      I don't think Cal started out looking for only OAD players. I think he knew he had little to work with when coming to UK, he lands Wall and Cuz, Bledsoe was a shock, wasn't supposed to be this good this early, made Liggins into a different type player, brought Miller along, Orton was more or less a bust being hurt. Cal has never recruited like this at any other school, UK + Cal a perfect match. Hawkins and Willis were the walk on players of the past, just so happens they turned out better than any expected. You're talking about a couple of 4 years players (at least I think so), Willis may jump out of the box, who knows. Ulis has no where to go for 4 years, no matter if he starts or comes off the bench, he is a welcome addition. What this team does not have this year, it looks like we will have for a number of years now, experience.
    1. cattails's Avatar
      cattails - 01-27-2014, 03:28 PM
      Quote Originally Posted by Philly Cat View Post

      Here's the question that's really interesting to me-- will we EVER see another Darius Miller at UK under Cal? That is, a senior playing "core" minutes and serving as a team leader.

      .

      I believe we have a couple of Miller type players on the team right now and one coming in next year. And I am so glad for Miller, he is making a nice pay check and getting minutes in the NBA. He may have been drafted to join Davis, but I think they have come to understand they got a deal when they signed Miller.

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