The House of Blue

That's his fault. Like others have noted nobody is perfect. Cal just rambles on most of the time not thinking about the reprecussions until after the fact. That's why he took to his website to clarify. We are all guilty of this, just maybe not as much as him.

I can't defend him in this situation, but he does have to deal with a rather large section of the fanbase who doesn't understand some of the things he talks about, e.g. the greatest night of UK bball history comment.

Great point. I think guys like Cal (and I have friends that do this) talk SO MUCH that they don't remember half the stuff they actually said.

Very much valid points.

Just don't know how he got from "Congrats coach" to that rant.

I think it just gave him the opening to say what he wanted to say. Maybe he overreacted a little bit.

To add to my post above, I think it's clear Cal doesnt expect the 2012 class to have the same type of impact we've seen from his previous classes at UK. Unless we get Muhammad, there is no Wall, Cousins, Knight, Jones, Davis, Gilchrist in the 2012 class. Goodwin I think will have an impact from day one, Cauley and Poythress will probably have similar development curves like we have seen from Teague and Wiltjer. It will take a little bit longer for them to get going imo(by mid season I think Poythress especially will be really good). Cal knows this and so the best thing to do is to take away a road game against a team like UNC and replace it with a home game against a good/decent team. Our 2012 class is still very much up in the air and probably wont be complete until April, it only makes sense and its the right thing to do for Cal to protect his team for next season with all the uncertainty in regards to what the team will look like(although im sure Cal has a pretty good idea).

To be honest I was very concerned about our schedule for next season considering what the team may look like long before Cal started talking, publicly at least, about any of this.

Agree 100% with that. They're getting good guys in Goodwin, Poythress and Cauley, but there's not sure-fire NBA Lottery guy yet, and that means UK has to come down to earth a little bit if Shabazz doesn't jump on board. Even if he does jump on board, it's going to drop off a bit from what we've seen the last two years.

QFT.

One point this brings up is what will Cal do when he does not have a Patterson, a Harrelson & Liggins, and a Miller to step in and give stability to the young line up? His inability to keep anyone of his own recruits beyond a few years may cause problems in the future. UK needs to get some of these guys to commit to them and to stay committed to them over a 3-4 year period. People dismiss this but just think about what each of these 4 guys have meant to us over the last 3 years.

I think he believed Poole might be that type of guy. However, no one will simply sit on the bench without any playing time. You have to throw those guys 5 minutes or so per game especially during these 20-50 point blow outs. Unless they are Kentucky kids ala Jon Hood it won't happen.

These guys will be very important when you play the UNC's, Ul's and IU's of the world.

If you read the entire post you would understand that comparing Cal to Tubby or disliking 5 star recrutis etc is not the issue. By no means am I attacking Cal.

The bigger issue is that experience makes a difference. We will need people like Patterson, Liggins, Harrelson, and Miller in the future but I don't know where they will come from. We're about to run out of them. I think UK needs to invest in some projects or some players that develop slower than others. I hope we bring in the best class every year but finding room for role players will be important. UNC, Duke, Uconn, etc does it and the last time I looked they win a lot of titles.

Cal complained about having to re-load every year and missing on some recruiting targets and or having a down class as far as talent (not having the superstars like Wall or Cousins etc) and this would cause him to lose to the UNC's the Dukes, the Kansas'.

If we had a solid group of Millers and Liggins etc it would help in the down years and the good years. Again, ask yourself. Where would we be without the 4 guys I've mentioned earlier?

Cool.

Btw. Larry ivy is a 100% ass clown WHo
Should be barred from talking about uk and never allowed on campus again.

I agree that you take the talent but don't forget cal isn't using all of his scholly's here. He could take a project with an unused 'ship. You have to figure out a way to balance classes a little.

Now you aren't telling the rest of the story. The caller then made his comment about taking down the next kingpin or whatever he said about the 3 games (IU, UNC, Louisville). Cal's tone and length of discussion about the topic wasn't smart. But his point was 100% valid. Putting SO much emphasis on 3 games in december is plain silly...

I agree. But a lineup with Harrow, Muhammad, Wiltjer, Poythress and hood is VERY VERY VERY good. Sprinkle in another 3 or 4 players and we are a GOOD team. Remember, college b-ball is going to be VERY different next year. Probably not a team as good as UNC, UK, or Ohio State. WIDE open next year. Much like last season.