Sheppard: Inexperienced UK won't win title, not a fan of one and dones

MIDDLETOWN, Ohio — He was a Final Four MVP on a national championship team at Kentucky, still lives in the state and supports the UK basketball program any way he can.

Yet Jeff Sheppard admitted Saturday at the Ohio UK Convention that he didn’t think Kentucky’s inexperienced team could win the 2014 national championship.

“I am 100 percent for UK and the program and want them to win all their games and win a national championship, but I am not going to predict that. I am going to predict they will not be as bad as last year. I just don’t believe that a team this young can win a national championship,” said Sheppard. “I hope this year’s team proves me wrong.  Maybe the talent level will be so much greater that I will be proven wrong, and I hope that I am. All I can do is speak from my experience, and that experience gave us such an advantage when we were playing.”

Kentucky returns three players — senior Jarrod Polson and sophomores Alex Poythress and Willie Cauley-Stein — with extended experience off last year’s NIT team to go with eight signees, including six McDonald’s All-Americans.

Sheppard was on UK’s 1995 team that lost to North Carolina in the Elite Eight — “and we should not only have won that game but the whole tournament,” said Sheppard. He was on UK’s multi-talented 1996 national championship team and a redshirt on the 1997 team that lost to Arizona in overtime in the NCAA title game. He led UK to the national title in 1998 as a senior and then watched in 1999 when many of his former teammates lost to Michigan State in the Elite Eight.

“The Final Four atmosphere is different,” Sheppard said to defend his stance on UK’s lack of experience. “There is just something different about playing in a Final Four. If you have never played in the NCAA Tournament, that is a real disadvantage no matter what team or coach you play for. There are arguments against that, but I just believe NCAA playing experience is very valuable.

“A lot of players on those great Kentucky teams I was on had a lot of experience. When we showed up at the Final Four we were not celebrating just being at the Final Four. We were there to finish the last third of the NCAA. A lot of teams when they make the Final Four it is almost like they won the championship itself. If you are a first-year player and make it to Final Four, that is a very dangerous trap to fall into thinking we have won the championship already and not finish the last two games strong.”

Sheppard said UK coach John Calipari is “doing a great job playing the game he has to play now” with so many players leaving UK early for the NBA draft — 17 overall draft picks in the last four years and only two were seniors.

“You get great players on campus and then they are out of here,” Sheppard said. “It is a shame because Kentucky fan loves to know the player on the court but also off the court. What I learned during my career, and especially after, is the love fans have for the individual. You know things about me most fans don’t know about players. You want to get to know those players and follow them and see what they do and how they develop. All those things that you have traditionally been able to follow and build on has changed.

“I don’t like it. I don’t think the Kentucky fan overall likes it. We have had to accept because it is working. We have won a national championship, and that’s the way it is. I wish the NCAA or NBA would put in policies to change that. I think would make college basketball stronger.

“I don’t know how coach Calipari gets his guys together in such a short time. When adversity comes if you are really not a closely knit group, it can bust it up quickly. The individuals try to take over instead of letting the team take over. The neat thing about being part of a team is understanding how important that role is and sticking to it.”

Sheppard knows not every UK fan will feel the same as him and emphasized he meant no disrespect to Calipari for the “phenomenal” job he’s done at Kentucky.

“I don’t want to take away from the run coach Calipari has had at Kentucky. It has been phenomenal,” Sheppard said.

But here comes the old-school in Sheppard, a five-year player.

“I think too much emphasis is put on celebrating first-round draft picks. I would rather celebrate national championships,” Sheppard said. “But that is where the high school athlete is. To recruit, you have got to show a track record of putting players into the NBA. I am all for that as long as it is the by-product of team performing well and the team succeeding.

“I think it is a dangerous time when putting players in the NBA is put ahead of team success. We as Kentucky fans are not as excited about the draft as people think. We want our boys to do well, but we would rather our boys win national championships.”

Its a slippery slope either way...My question to Jeff is, would you rather have John Wall, Cousins, Davis, Knight, MKG, Teague, Harrison Twins, Randle, and Young playing for you or against you...Cal wants the program to succeed just as much as the players to be NBA first round pick, but he is going to take care or the 18-19 year old kid first, not the 40 year old fan who wants to only see UK get to final fours.

It is also not surprising to see guys like Sheppard and other fans start to go down this path a little bit...This will sound odd, but Cal needs a big run this year to the final four, if not, guys like Jeff Sheppard will get a voice out there to the media and will spin it stating that UK needs to be finished with the one and done type player. Maybe we should get more Sheray Thomas type players, develop them...

This is going to end well.

That Zona 97 team was really short on experience, they did OK. Sure experience is great, I love it, and pure talent wont' do squat, as last year proved, but talent PLUS the right attitude and maturity can most definitely overcome college experience. Wish we could have both, and so does Cal.

Personally I'm very excited about the draft. No it doesn't replace titles, but we do root for the kids to do well (goes to his point about our relationship with them) and it's crucial for the program as well.

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Originally Posted by anderwt

It is also not surprising to see guys like Sheppard and other fans start to go down this path a little bit...This will sound odd, but Cal needs a big run this year to the final four, if not, guys like Jeff Sheppard will get a voice out there to the media and will spin it stating that UK needs to be finished with the one and done type player. Maybe we should get more Sheray Thomas type players, develop them...

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Last year will give people who didn't like the approach an opening to express it no doubt, but I don't think it's all that widespread yet. Now if we miss the dance this year, all bets are off and it will get ugly.

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Originally Posted by anderwt

It is also not surprising to see guys like Sheppard and other fans start to go down this path a little bit...This will sound odd, but Cal needs a big run this year to the final four, if not, guys like Jeff Sheppard will get a voice out there to the media and will spin it stating that UK needs to be finished with the one and done type player. Maybe we should get more Sheray Thomas type players, develop them...

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Oddly I agree with you. Cal has 2 final fours, a title and elite 8 in 4 years, yet I do believe some UK fans believe he must make it to the final 4 or win it this years team. Silly really.

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Originally Posted by CitizenBBN

Last year will give people who didn't like the approach an opening to express it no doubt, but I don't think it's all that widespread yet. Now if we miss the dance this year, all bets are off and it will get ugly.

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We need a run to the final four...really is no excuse with the talent he has 1-7....I don't care if they are all freshman and sophomores. I will be extremely extremely disappointed if UK is not playing that final weekend.

Guys, Cal does HAVE to make the Final 4 this season (maybe even win it all) or there will be multiple questions
concerning this ones and done philosophy. Of course, hundreds of teams with tons of experience and ZERO 1 year
players will also not win it all.

Darryl

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Originally Posted by GhettoBird

Oddly I agree with you. Cal has 2 final fours, a title and elite 8 in 4 years, yet I do believe some UK fans believe he must make it to the final 4 or win it this years team. Silly really.

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It wouldn't be so bad except he missed the NCAA altogether. Prior to BCG we hadn't missed the tourney since probation. It's really a special and rare accomplishment in the modern era for UK to be that bad. Go in as a 4-5 seed and have a bad night, OK it happens, but to be so bad all year you don't make the dance then lose the first NIT game? You've had an historically bad year at UK.

If you have 8 future 1st round picks on the roster expectations will be high, but what last year does is leave the jury out on whether this recruiting approach works or not. Got a title, then got the NIT. People are wondering which one is the fluke. Unfair given 2010 and 2011 but for those in that group IMO that's how it's played out.

Had he had an OK year this wouldn't be an issue, but now people are wondering if we'll just collapse and be awful. Has people more amped than usual.

Shep played on two of our national title team and was the MOP in 1998. His experience is at the highest end of our great program.

I celebrate national titles and Final Fours. I also celebrate the success of our players. Great teams that win titles usually are composed of great players who go to the NBA.

The more Shep talks on this subject, the worse he is looking.

The 2012-13 season was a downer as we went to the NIT. How well did our most experienced players play in the loss to Robert Morris?

Also a season ending injury to a team's best player is going to hurt any team. Most programs that win a title with a veteran team usually does not repeat and has some level of a down year.

The 1996-97 UK season and the 1998-99 are more the exception than the rule.

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Originally Posted by anderwt

We need a run to the final four...really is no excuse with the talent he has 1-7....I don't care if they are all freshman and sophomores. I will be extremely extremely disappointed if UK is not playing that final weekend.

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I'll be disappointed b/c to me it begs the obvious question: if we can't get there with this much talent, how will we ever get there?

It's not completely fair b/c IF we keep a few guys we end up with a mix more like 2012 and this last year just really put a break in the whole works. Hopefully while Alex and WCS don't have NCAA experience they have plenty of basic college experience and it will be enough to carry us through along with all the ability and the sheer toughness of these guys.

IMO that's what we'll see change in Cal's recruiting: not a move from one and done but a move to one and dones that he feels have the initial mental toughness and attitude and work ethic to compete right away and not have to be cajoled into doing the right things. THey can be young and talent, they cant' be young, talented and have no clue how to approach the game.

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Originally Posted by UKHistory

The 2012-13 season was a downer as we went to the NIT. How well did our most experienced players play in the loss to Robert Morris?

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The were the two worst players on the roster, which speaks to just how much trouble we were in last year.

Doesn't matter what strategy you use. Coaches at KY and other places will be criticized. Roy Williams has 2 titles and is on thin ice. Self has multiple FFs and a title but has to win it all with Wiggins. Pitino has back to back FF and the title yet a couple of years ago was about to be run out of town. It's the endless argument like the chicken and the egg. It's a debate without answer. Which weighs heavier talent or experience. That being said, Cal actually did win the title with a very young team and this team does have some experience coming back.

I'm so tired of this horse hockey.

I really, really respect Jeff for giving his honest, personal opinion instead of saying what everyone wants to hear.

I loathe "yes" men, and obviously Jeff isn't one (not that anyone that disagrees with him is).

I like that.

Well we are about to see if he can take the heat

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Originally Posted by Kacat

Doesn't matter what strategy you use. Coaches at KY and other places will be criticized. Roy Williams has 2 titles and is on thin ice. Self has multiple FFs and a title but has to win it all with Wiggins. Pitino has back to back FF and the title yet a couple of years ago was about to be run out of town. It's the endless argument like the chicken and the egg. It a debate without answer. Which weighs heavier talent or experience. That being sad, Cal actually did win the title with a very young team and this team does have some experience coming back.

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Excellent points. It's lonely at the top.

Heck, Pitino was about to be run out of town as of January of last year. His methods were totally discredited, his time all but elapsed.



I put FAR more value on the experience brought back by WCS and Alex than Kyle. Alex so far seems to be committing to the right course, and as a frosh I was more willing to give him the benefit of the doubt where Kyle was already a soph and still needed to adjust his thinking. WCS never had an issue with his approach, and was just starting to show those glimmers of greatness last year as he got comfortable being out there.

Those are the two guys who will have to help us on the college experience front, and IMO those were always the two who we'd rely on for it. Are they so different from TJ and Doron after their frosh years? We lack a Darius Miller, that's a big difference, but we do have far more depth, so on a given night we do have more chances to find someone who steps up and has that big game like Allen Edwards in 96 at Georgia. I can easily see Hawkins or Lee having that one game where the rest of the team is a little flat and they give us that spark. Darius could do it game after game, but with the added depth we may only need it here and there this year.

I LOVE, I Mean LOVE the attitude of this group of guys, and when people say "experience" a lot of the time what they mean is "maturity" and "toughness", and this team has a lot of maturity despite their years.

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Originally Posted by anderwt

Well we are about to see if he can take the heat

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He's going to feed off it. Already is IMO when you look at the depth on this roster and how he's broadening his net in future classes.

Kenpom tracks experience level. For Cal's UK teams, their national rankings were

2010: 341
2011: 312
2012: 340
2013: 334.

So he's already gone to an Elite 8, a Final and won a national title with some of the youngest teams in college basketball. If Cal's way stops working, maybe Shep will have an argument at that point.

Whatever Shep's motivation and intentions this is the national view of his comments. Here is Mike DeCoursey.

http://www.sportingnews.com/ncaa-bas...l-nerlens-noel

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Originally Posted by UKHistory

Whatever Shep's motivation and intentions this is the national view of his comments. Here is Mike DeCoursey.

http://www.sportingnews.com/ncaa-bas...l-nerlens-noel

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"During his career, Sheppard played for NCAA championship teams in 1996 and 1998; he was named Most Outstanding Player at the 1998 Final Four.

That season was Tubby Smith’s first as Kentucky coach. However, all the things he talked about—players developing, getting stronger, staying on campus for several years—occurred during Smith’s tenure. What didn’t happen after that first season, transacted almost entirely with players recruited by Rick Pitino, was the sort of high-level success coach John Calipari has delivered in his four years."


Ouch!

I'd like to hear who Jeff see's as final four material.

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Originally Posted by CitizenBBN

He's going to feed off it. Already is IMO when you look at the depth on this roster and how he's broadening his net in future classes.

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I think Ander meant Sheppard getting the heat.

Darryl

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Originally Posted by Darryl

I think Ander meant Sheppard getting the heat.

Darryl

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Oh, gotcha. Probably not well. He won't like what's going to come of this.

Thanks Larry V. I really appreciate Shep's willingness to be open and honest in his thoughts on a subject he knew was controversial among the fan base. It is not often we get to read the thoughts of a former player, a 5 year player at that, who's experiences at UK tend to carry weight in my mind.

I doubt Cal has all that much disagreement with Shep. He'd love to season the mix with a little experience.

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Originally Posted by dan_bgblue

Thanks Larry V. I really appreciate Shep's willingness to be open and honest in his thoughts on a subject he knew was controversial among the fan base. It is not often we get to read the thoughts of a former player, a 5 year player at that, who's experiences at UK tend to carry weight in my mind.

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Me too, Dan O!!

I agree. Unfortunately Shep created an image of the one and done model as Cal's brainchild and that Cal did not really apppreciate UK's tradition.

Laughable considering that Shep played for Pitino. I also really disliked the off handed way Shep said "championships" and then added "at least one". I took that turn of phrase to be critical of Cal unnecessarily.

Shep's tone, word choice, and the reference to however fleeting that Cal is the enemy was beyond horrible.

Shep brought Laettner into Rupp and consider the UofL head coach to not be the enemy?

WTF? Seriously WTFF? I am not for the one and done and unless Shep or anyone is willing to call Cal a liar, our head coach does not either.

Cal is doing what every coach in America is doing. Cal is recruiting the best talent that he can to come and play for him. The combination of Cal plus UK means Cal is getting some of the very best talent out there. In today's world that means a lot of those players have a chance to be drafted early.

I used to be bothered myself by Cal not touting graduation enough. But he does. At best Shep really used poor judgment.

Cal and Robic are the enemy. We played UMass 5 times in the 1990s. We won 4 of the games including two NCAA tournament games. Pitino is the enemy if we are going to use such strong terms to describe our rivals.

WTF!?

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Originally Posted by Genuine Realist

I doubt Cal has all that much disagreement with Shep. He'd love to season the mix with a little experience.

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Sheppard is in business with UL organizing their ex-player's autograph tours. He has no working relationship with UK.
Methinks his remarks are very self serving. As of now, I am not much of a Sheppard fan.

Darryl

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Originally Posted by Darryl

Sheppard is in business with UL organizing their ex-player's autograph tours. He has no working relationship with UK.
Methinks his remarks are very self serving. As of now, I am not much of a Sheppard fan.

Darryl

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Final 4 MVP be damned?
Are all the good, sometimes great, moments he brought us now all forgotten?
He has brought us a million times more good than bad.
I prefer to give him credit for the good/great memories, and the benefit of the doubt.
Don't we owe him that, at least?