Calipari expects 5-7 NBA departures...
Jaylen Brown had said something to the effect of he's waiting to see how the NBA decisions play out at the schools he is favoring.
If we assume Kentucky is one of the leaders for Brown, then I am guessing this would improve their odds of landing him. There will definitely be plenty of minutes available.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaab/2015/04/06/kentucky-nba-john…
It would be nice if HE were part of that 5 - 7 figure.
Lol- that would be nice, but it doesn't sound like its happening (at least not before something happens and he takes the Pete Carrol express out of town)
I wouldn't trade JB for Cal, but here's a question... if JB were to retire tomorrow, would you be upset if Calipari was hired at Michigan? I've talked too much shit about him to support it, but I feel like a lot of people would forget about some past indiscretions...
I think integrity matters, so I wouldn't touch the guy. We all saw how the Fab 5 scandal set Michigan basketball back a decade. I never want that again, so I would never hire someone like Calipari, especially with his already sleazy track record at multiple schools.
His "past" indiscretions? The man is an NBA agent not a basketball coach. Take Bookers recruitment for example. These kids are being guaranteed an NBA contract after they leave UK. No other coach can guarantee that.
or the several $100 bills that carrot is wrapped in?
He's doing well with the Celtics, but I wonder how much of his leaving Butler for the NBA had to do with him thinking about future recruitng at a major program. IU should make him the highest paid coach in basketball.
But many people said similar things about Harbaugh, too, and now he's here. So hey, what the hell do I know?
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UK/Calipari make the NCAA an extraordinary amount of money alone.
You guys say that you wouldn't welcome him, but once he started winning big, crushing rivals and getting to final fours it'd change. That's just my opinion though.
I love Coach B and wouldn't trade him for Cal, because Beilein made Michigan basketball good again and deserves our loyalty.
Calipari cheated his way to success at Umass and Memphis, getting caught at both places, and it's really only a matter of time or effort from the NCAA until his Kentucky wins are all vacated as well. So coach Cal is a twice caught cheater and hasn't shown an ability to actually coach good basketball without cheating.
Saban, while not the most ethical of coaches, has not cheated to get where he is. Oversigning is really unfortunate for the kids but it's perfectly legal, and until the NCAA goes to 4-year schollies or annual limits, it's going to happen at a lot of schools. Saban wouln't be allowed to oversign here and has had great success in the big ten without oversigning or cheating so I think it'd be a lot more reasonable to be ok with him coming here than Calipari.
be a total disaster. Honestly, I would have trouble being a MBB fan if Calipari were the coach. I just can't imagine that happening.
Rob
If I thought the NCAA was about to get rid of regulations involving boosters, players and money, I would be happy to see Calipari at Michigan. As it sits now, though, I would be strongly against his hiring.
We all saw what happened the last time Michigan decided to recruit like UK does now: they got caught and it set the program back ten years. We don't need this again.
I still wouldn't be able to... he's pretty classless.
I live Lexington.....if Cal became the coach at Michigan, I would have to eat crow for breakfast, lunch, and dinner everyday for a year for all the times I've criticised him around my friends. So I hope for that reason it is never even in the realm of possibility.
However, whenever Cal retires, I don't know what these Cats fans are going to expect. They are now so used to their current system of having 3-5 new McDonald's all American starters every year, I just don't think they could get used to someone who actually builds talent and program the way a Bo Ryan or John Beilein does....from the ground up. UK fans are very used to taking the easy path to winning by recruiting the fab5 every year.
/thread
Damn.....when 2 of your backups are NBA caliber players
and you dont win it all......says something about the coach
Yea, four Final Fours in 5 years is impressive regardless of the talent he brings in. Not to mention what he was able to do at UMASS and Memphis- when he wasn't getting 3 five star recruits each year. He's not the best coach but he can certainly coach.
So by no surprise, his last four seasons at Memphis were the very successful ones. And without loads of talent during his first five years, Calipari's teams were nothing too impressive.
that's what cost them, not the coach's play calling. 18 and 19 year olds in year 1 versus 21 and 22 year olds with 3 years experience. It would take some extraordinary kids to pull that off against a group of men. And they were oh so close, twice.
I'd take Calipari coaching Michigan. But JB has earned the right to stay as long as he wants, and on his terms.
I'm still in awe of how Calipari got into the Hall of Fame before Izzo. Ryan I can somewhat understand...
There is no reason for Calipari to be in before Bo either.
Calipari has made the NCAA with three teams. Granted, he's made the Final Four with three teams, which is pretty impressive (though I believe both final fours with other teams were later vacated). He's made four final fours with UK for 6 total Final Fours. No doubt, a very nice resume despite the cheating (he also has an NIT championship and has won 30+ games 9 times in 23 seasons). You discount the cheating, and yeah, that's easily an HOF resume for Calipari.
But Bo Ryan shouldn't be punished because he took a different path, and was damn successful. Bo Ryan won 4 DIII Championships in 9 years. He had two undefeated seasons. In his last 12 seasons in DIII, he didn't lose more than 5 games once and lost three games or less 7 times in 15 years. That's a team, that when he took over, went 9-17. He won 6 of his last 7 conference titles. He won 8 overall in DIII. That's just crazy impressive.
At Wisconsin he has never missed the NCAA tournament (14 straight years). He's never finished worse than 4th in the B1G. He's won the B1G 4 times, including his first year. He's made two Final Fours. He did take over a relatively strong program from Dick Bennett (3 straight NCAA showings, with one being a FF), but he built on that. I had no idea how impressive his resume was at UW-Platteville, but that's a guy that should be in the HOF.
At Wisconsin, all they care about is their suckoffs.
Calipari is also in the hairdo hall of fame
I would think Towns, Cauley-Stein, Booker, and Lyles are virtually guaranteed to go. The Harrisons are not such locks, but their stock is not going to go up much by staying there another year, I don't think.
yeah -- I expect the Harrison's to go for the same reason Yogi Ferrell should leave -- no point in staying right now.
Harrisons are 2nd rounders and are going to be 2nd rounders next year too. If they plan on giving the NBA a try there is no reason to keep "playing school".
But you can certainly argue that their usage will skyrocket, depending on who stays or goes. If one of them develops into a 20 ppg scorer or consistent 3 point shooter with that physique, a first round pick isn't out of the question at all.
It's funny (to me anyway) that almost nobody ever says this about their own guys (e.g., GR3/Michigan fans). We could be just as flippant about Caris...
I mostly agree, but the Harrisons are a bit more of a known commodity than Caris. They have two full seasons starting for the nation's most consistent program. I think Levert's ranking comes a bit more from athletic potential.
But if Levert thinks his ranking is not going to get any higher than it is now, he should absolutely go as well, and I will salute him.
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Why? He's unlikely to suddenly move into being a top 10 pick. And he wastes a year of his potential pro career (possibly millions of dollars) and risks quite a bit if he is injured or exposed as having a unrepeatable freshman performance.
If he loves the college life, by all means, stay. But I doubt coming back is a better decision as far as his pro career.
Devin Booker got absolutely abused by Wisconsin and he wasn't even guarding their best players. He's got the offensive game for the leauge and I'm sure his defense will come around too, but he's gonna be spending a lot of time on the pine in the NBA unless he makes huge strides on that end.
The NBA drafts on potential and figures defense can be developed. There's only a handful of rookies playing even 20 mpg. Most of those play for teams that are tanking, are injury replacements, or have NBDL or Euro experience. In other words, playing time is hard to come by for rookies and shouldn't factor into decision making much, if at all. Most development will happen in practice and daily training.
As for Booker's case specifically, he can look to Stauskas as a role model in either case (return for soph year to break out, or poor-defending shooter who had a respectable rookie year development-wise). The difference is that nobody thought of Stauskas as a first rounder (let alone a potential lottery pick) after his freshman year. The other difference is that Booker is never going to be a high usage player like Stauskas was with all the talent Kentucky has.
From a financial perspective, the only reason Booker should return is if he thinks he can make a leap into the top 5 territory. The extra year of free agency more than offsets the lost earning potential of going in the 20s vs going in the late lottery.
I actually see a better argument for the Harrisons coming back. I think the best case for them is one going pro and the other returning. That'd open up the potential for a high usage role next season for one bro. And, if the other bro succeeds, that'll shoot the stock up for the one who stuck around.
anybody else feel like Kentucky was kind of really overrated this year, both as a team and individually? I mean the Harrison's, Cawley-Stein, Booker, I mean they were good, but were they that good? Wisky just handed them their ass and I still don't know how ND didn't beat them. And still as of Saturday at 8:30 many people believed they may have been the best college basketball of all time? The core of this team never won a national championship, and they still are regarded like this. I am puzzled by the awe over this Kentucky team. Towns is the real deal. The rest, meh.
I would agree "Handed their ass to them" is a strong statement, but they did control the game from start to finish. Kentucky made a few runs as all good teams will do. Heck, Whisky controlled the game against Zona. I know a number of Zona folks who are pissed that they didn't get a 1 seed over Nova. i don't agree...but they think that.
means Wisconsin handed everything to them - assess, jerseys, jocks, humble pie, packed bags, plane tickets, and most importantly the keys to the kingdom and a seven-figure signing bonus. You're welcome.