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Results will determine this. Last years class was very special from a talent, results, and timing perspective. From a program standpoint, it ranks almsot on par with the unforgettables.
Yes, but relative to their capabilities, their Elite 8 performance sucked... Relative to their capabilities. 5 NBA 1st rounders! No doubt Cal is a great recruiter but as a great coach, he isn' t quite there. So yes, with that level of talent He is unforgettable!
I'll post this for you again M-Tiger since you didn't read it when I replied to your other identical response......
......While there is no excuse for their performance in the WVU game you cannot heap the blame on Cal or his coaching skills. The guys played like shit, look at the stats. Cal can't play for them... I'd hazard a guess you didn't even watch the game....
Dear Marc, I fully stand by my comments. So under your definition a Coach is never responsible since he can't play for each and every player. Dumb logic. btw I watched every single second and cheered for Huggins and his time with great pleasure!
Win as a team, lose as a team. You are both right, quit bickering about it, its over. You sound like a couple of UofL fans crying about the elbow Cousins dropped on Swopshire's face last year.
Maybe someone can shed some light for me on why Memphis fans hate Cal/UK so much too. Where you were and where you are now has everything to do with what he did for your program. I can understand being mad about the vacated final four but honestly, you would not have been there at all if not for Cal. Plus he left you in the hands of a young, capable coach who looks like he is going to do great things at Memphis. So is it just sour grapes he left or what?
I can't speak for the Memphis fans, but surely all UK fans remember what it was like when Pitino left. Rebuilt the program from ashes, won a national championship, should have won back-to-back (but he was right not to play Derrick Anderson, dammit). There was talk of dynasty. He said he wouldn't leave, said he was in Camelot, then two weeks later he was gone. We felt like a jilted lover. Add the fact that he later accepted the head coaching position at Louisville, and well, that was just salt in the wound.
I get it. It takes time to heal. Another national championship the following year certaintly helped us recover. But it really took longer for me to look at Pitino again without feeling angry at him. It didn't help that he said it was the biggest mistake of his career to have left UK.
At the same time, I never frequented the UofL blogs to vent or hate. So I can't relate to that part of it. Does that help anything? Doesn't seem like the prescription for healing wounds.
Yea I can understand that a little. My feelings towards Pitino turned sour when he accepted the head coaching position at our rival. We are not and have never been a rival of Memphis. I would venture to say you will NEVER see the head coach of Ohio State coach at Michigan or Florida at FSU or Texas at Oklahoma. Yet, our coach did just that, not only stabbing us in the back to go to the NBA but then to twist the knife by accepting the UofL position. That to me holds more merit for dislike than a coach leaving for another job. This is the coaches era where they jump ship for money/fame/prestige all the time.
Marc, sorry if I offended you. I most certainly did not mean to call anyone such an atrocious profanity. I only meant to imply the futility of the argument. Nobody deserves that sort of abuse haha. (unless the parade around in red and black with a bird head over their heart).
The only reason UK lost that game to WV was because UK defeated itself. West Virginia was not known for its 3 point shooting and they have a good 3 point shooting game. When as a team, you collectively hit 4/32 from the 3 point line, not even God can save you at that point. How can that be blamed on the coach. We just had a terrible shooting night. Relying on a bunch of freshmen to take the team to the elite 8, now that does take some coaching.
Cal's job was to fully prepare them and keep them mentally in the game. That is what a great coach does. Their confidence in them selves as a team wasn't there. 12.5% from downtown, 55% at the line. Cal was responsible...PERIOD!
All last season I worried about losing games because of our inability to hit 3-pointers. It may or may not be true that the coach can't teach his athletes how to shoot the 3, I just hope he is recruiting guys who can.
In our loss to SC, we shot 25% from the 3. Loss to Tenn we shot 9%!!!
So if you have 5 NBA ballers against a team not playing at full stength (pt guard) you can't find a way to win. Here' an idea (if you had a coach) STOP SHOOTING 3s and pound it in to your bigs!!! PP, DC and even DO could have eventually overwhelmed them. How about trying to press WVU's inexperience in the backcourt. Try something other than relying on talent to win out. At some point you have to make in-game adjustments and your COACH did not. Duke had no problems solving the 1-3-1.
That's why no one is really shaking in their boots over UK with a ton of high level recruits because he can't coach. If Izzo or coach K had these 5* players the banner would already be printed. WWCD (What would Cal do) if he had to coach that team from Butker last year? No one on the planet saw Duke in the picture but coach K is money.
So far all the "players program" at UK is good for is making NBA millionares and fanbase excuses.
Duke won because somehow they got a 1 seed they didn't deserve and they got the tournament draw Kansas should have had. Not to mention the NCAA has some weird love affair with them. Out of their entire tournament run they played 2 ranked teams and neither of them were in the top 10 (toughest game was 3 seed Baylor). We will see this year just how "great" coach K is too because he has the best team in the nation except for maybe Purdue. I have seen him lose time and time again with great teams and also fail to improve his McDonald's all-American talent. It's like I always said, Duke is where McDonald's all-American talent goes to die.
OK Anonymous Duke hater, let's count all these excuses.
Duke won because somehow they got a #1 seed they didn't deserve (excuse)
Not to mention the NCAA has some weird love affair with them (excuse)
Out of their entire tournament run they played 2 ranked teams and neither of them were in the top 10 (UK played Cornell, Wake Forest, E. Tenn-which one was top 10?)
We will see this year just how "great" coach K is (funny, the rest of us saw it last year, now the world is seeing it again w/FIBA tournament)
Duke is where McDonald's all-American talent goes to die (UK is where they go for one year)
It appears some of you UK fans are bringing down the others?
Well Mr. Duke lover, 1) how are 1 and 2 excuses, that's not an excuse it's a debatable opinion that many other people share with me. 3) I never said UK didn't have an easy draw, I said Duke got Kansas' draw. Kansas got Dukes bracket and Duke got theirs. The Midwest was by far the hardest bracket and Duke being the 4th 1 seed should have been there. Also, I'm not so sure I wouldn't have wanted Duke's bracket over Uk's anyway. Cornell and Wake were better than advertised and I'll take the play in game winner any year. Maybe national rank is not a good way of determining the toughness of a bracket but I would at least like to see the Natl. champ have to beat a top 10 team at full strength to win the title (and I realize that's not Dukes fault they didn't have to). 4) I could coach the FIBA team and win a gold, the USA fields our 3rd best team and still stomps every other nation. 5) Outside of Carlos Boozer (and maybe, maybe Luol Deng and that is defiantly debatable) who else is in the NBA doing anything? And maybe the talent does come for a year but the players still go on to the NBA and have great careers. Just look at Rose, Evans and watch Wall/Cousins this year. That's called developing talent.
I never once mentioned UK in my post and yet all your observations are based on UK and not Duke. I don't hate Coach K and I don't hate Duke. It is simply the way things are in my opinion.
Maybe point 5 sums it up. Players go to Duke to win championships and to UK to go the the NBA. Which both are fine (wish I could do either). But to expect a NC in just one year with the same core of players is short-sighted. Not impossible (I guess that's what drives it) but too much is expected from these young kids, when an elite 8 finish is not good enough.
Couldn't agree with you more there. I honestly did not want Cal I wanted Izzo who is IMO the best coach out there right now. Alas, he is exciting and brings hope which is why he is so loved right now. We will see what his coaching brings us in a few short years.
27 comments:
Please. It's better. And it's not done yet.
Results will determine this. Last years class was very special from a talent, results, and timing perspective. From a program standpoint, it ranks almsot on par with the unforgettables.
Yes, but relative to their capabilities, their Elite 8 performance sucked... Relative to their capabilities.
5 NBA 1st rounders! No doubt Cal is a great recruiter but as a great coach, he isn' t quite there. So yes, with that level of talent He is unforgettable!
I'll post this for you again M-Tiger since you didn't read it when I replied to your other identical response......
......While there is no excuse for their performance in the WVU game you cannot heap the blame on Cal or his coaching skills. The guys played like shit, look at the stats. Cal can't play for them... I'd hazard a guess you didn't even watch the game....
Dear Marc, I fully stand by my comments. So under your definition a Coach is never responsible since he can't play for each and every player. Dumb logic.
btw I watched every single second and cheered for Huggins and his time with great pleasure!
I fully realize you would stand by your comment, you haven't the intellect to dissect what you believe to be true and what actually is.
No surprise there.
LOL...SOP for a KY fan...when you lose you resort to insult. Thanks for confirming my comments.
Win as a team, lose as a team. You are both right, quit bickering about it, its over. You sound like a couple of UofL fans crying about the elbow Cousins dropped on Swopshire's face last year.
Maybe someone can shed some light for me on why Memphis fans hate Cal/UK so much too. Where you were and where you are now has everything to do with what he did for your program. I can understand being mad about the vacated final four but honestly, you would not have been there at all if not for Cal. Plus he left you in the hands of a young, capable coach who looks like he is going to do great things at Memphis. So is it just sour grapes he left or what?
I can't speak for the Memphis fans, but surely all UK fans remember what it was like when Pitino left. Rebuilt the program from ashes, won a national championship, should have won back-to-back (but he was right not to play Derrick Anderson, dammit). There was talk of dynasty. He said he wouldn't leave, said he was in Camelot, then two weeks later he was gone. We felt like a jilted lover. Add the fact that he later accepted the head coaching position at Louisville, and well, that was just salt in the wound.
I get it. It takes time to heal. Another national championship the following year certaintly helped us recover. But it really took longer for me to look at Pitino again without feeling angry at him. It didn't help that he said it was the biggest mistake of his career to have left UK.
At the same time, I never frequented the UofL blogs to vent or hate. So I can't relate to that part of it. Does that help anything? Doesn't seem like the prescription for healing wounds.
You can call me anything, but don't call me a UL fan....LOL.....I'm sure even Memphis would take that as an insult. :)
Yea I can understand that a little. My feelings towards Pitino turned sour when he accepted the head coaching position at our rival. We are not and have never been a rival of Memphis. I would venture to say you will NEVER see the head coach of Ohio State coach at Michigan or Florida at FSU or Texas at Oklahoma. Yet, our coach did just that, not only stabbing us in the back to go to the NBA but then to twist the knife by accepting the UofL position. That to me holds more merit for dislike than a coach leaving for another job. This is the coaches era where they jump ship for money/fame/prestige all the time.
Marc, sorry if I offended you. I most certainly did not mean to call anyone such an atrocious profanity. I only meant to imply the futility of the argument. Nobody deserves that sort of abuse haha. (unless the parade around in red and black with a bird head over their heart).
The only reason UK lost that game to WV was because UK defeated itself. West Virginia was not known for its 3 point shooting and they have a good 3 point shooting game. When as a team, you collectively hit 4/32 from the 3 point line, not even God can save you at that point. How can that be blamed on the coach. We just had a terrible shooting night. Relying on a bunch of freshmen to take the team to the elite 8, now that does take some coaching.
Most glaring stats:
TOTAL FG% GAME: WVU 38.5% UK 34.3%
3-Pt. FG% GAME: WVU 43.5% UK 12.5%
F Throw % Game: WVU 67.6% UK 55.2%
POINTS OFF TURNOVERS: WVU 19 UK 8
There is more list but enough to make a point, Cal can't coach these stats.....
Cal's job was to fully prepare them and keep them mentally in the game. That is what a great coach does. Their confidence in them selves as a team wasn't there. 12.5% from downtown, 55% at the line.
Cal was responsible...PERIOD!
All last season I worried about losing games because of our inability to hit 3-pointers. It may or may not be true that the coach can't teach his athletes how to shoot the 3, I just hope he is recruiting guys who can.
In our loss to SC, we shot 25% from the 3. Loss to Tenn we shot 9%!!!
So if you have 5 NBA ballers against a team not playing at full stength (pt guard) you can't find a way to win. Here' an idea (if you had a coach) STOP SHOOTING 3s and pound it in to your bigs!!! PP, DC and even DO could have eventually overwhelmed them. How about trying to press WVU's inexperience in the backcourt. Try something other than relying on talent to win out. At some point you have to make in-game adjustments and your COACH did not. Duke had no problems solving the 1-3-1.
That's why no one is really shaking in their boots over UK with a ton of high level recruits because he can't coach. If Izzo or coach K had these 5* players the banner would already be printed. WWCD (What would Cal do) if he had to coach that team from Butker last year? No one on the planet saw Duke in the picture but coach K is money.
So far all the "players program" at UK is good for is making NBA millionares and fanbase excuses.
Duke won because somehow they got a 1 seed they didn't deserve and they got the tournament draw Kansas should have had. Not to mention the NCAA has some weird love affair with them. Out of their entire tournament run they played 2 ranked teams and neither of them were in the top 10 (toughest game was 3 seed Baylor). We will see this year just how "great" coach K is too because he has the best team in the nation except for maybe Purdue. I have seen him lose time and time again with great teams and also fail to improve his McDonald's all-American talent. It's like I always said, Duke is where McDonald's all-American talent goes to die.
whine whine whine you big fat crybaby....Ky fans have more pitiful excuses than any NCAA team in the country.
LOL...I take it you have never read a UL forum....
I just can't imagine how pathetic your life must be to come on another team's blog and talk trash.
No matter the outcome of any game, my life will always be better than yours.
LOL you are shooting blanks now. You must be out of ammo.
OK Anonymous Duke hater, let's count all these excuses.
Duke won because somehow they got a #1 seed they didn't deserve (excuse)
Not to mention the NCAA has some weird love affair with them (excuse)
Out of their entire tournament run they played 2 ranked teams and neither of them were in the top 10 (UK played Cornell, Wake Forest, E. Tenn-which one was top 10?)
We will see this year just how "great" coach K is (funny, the rest of us saw it last year, now the world is seeing it again w/FIBA tournament)
Duke is where McDonald's all-American talent goes to die (UK is where they go for one year)
It appears some of you UK fans are bringing down the others?
Well Mr. Duke lover,
1) how are 1 and 2 excuses, that's not an excuse it's a debatable opinion that many other people share with me.
3) I never said UK didn't have an easy draw, I said Duke got Kansas' draw. Kansas got Dukes bracket and Duke got theirs. The Midwest was by far the hardest bracket and Duke being the 4th 1 seed should have been there. Also, I'm not so sure I wouldn't have wanted Duke's bracket over Uk's anyway. Cornell and Wake were better than advertised and I'll take the play in game winner any year. Maybe national rank is not a good way of determining the toughness of a bracket but I would at least like to see the Natl. champ have to beat a top 10 team at full strength to win the title (and I realize that's not Dukes fault they didn't have to).
4) I could coach the FIBA team and win a gold, the USA fields our 3rd best team and still stomps every other nation.
5) Outside of Carlos Boozer (and maybe, maybe Luol Deng and that is defiantly debatable) who else is in the NBA doing anything? And maybe the talent does come for a year but the players still go on to the NBA and have great careers. Just look at Rose, Evans and watch Wall/Cousins this year. That's called developing talent.
I never once mentioned UK in my post and yet all your observations are based on UK and not Duke. I don't hate Coach K and I don't hate Duke. It is simply the way things are in my opinion.
Maybe point 5 sums it up. Players go to Duke to win championships and to UK to go the the NBA. Which both are fine (wish I could do either). But to expect a NC in just one year with the same core of players is short-sighted. Not impossible (I guess that's what drives it) but too much is expected from these young kids, when an elite 8 finish is not good enough.
Couldn't agree with you more there. I honestly did not want Cal I wanted Izzo who is IMO the best coach out there right now. Alas, he is exciting and brings hope which is why he is so loved right now. We will see what his coaching brings us in a few short years.
Why do I keep talking to myself...
I just called myself an idiot!
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