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Author
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Topic: Waiting all week to say this
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ukman
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Member # 3032
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posted 04-10-2015 09:08 PM
I have been away from internet since last Saturday, and I really wanted to share my thoughts after our disappointing end. I will say that I feel Cal is the only coach in America that could have got this team to 38-0. He is a master at motivation, pulling a team together, and obviously recruiting. He did a great job at getting all these guys to buy into the team, and that is no easy task. However, I will say that to me this final four loss is squarely on his shoulders. I have always said that he is not a great game coach, and this game showed it loud and clear. It was clear that Ryan saw what Notre Dame did and he picked us to death to get mismatches. We looked completely unprepared for it, and we never made any adjustments in the game. They scored countless times off of mismatches. I think poor Booker was abused on 4 occasions. That was the biggest difference in the game, it was really all Wisconsin had to do, and did.
Then we have a 4 point lead with 5 minutes left. At this point I really felt we were going to win because we had all the momentum, and we had started to click on offense. Just keep attacking and playing aggressive and we are in the final. But what does Cal do, he has them slow it down and run that stupid delay offense. He did it all year, and it never worked all year. Yeah we held on for victories, but we always lost leads when he had us go to the strategy. That is what cost us the game. This team should never have lost that game, and honestly should have won the whole thing. There was not a better team out there, however there are better game coaches. In the last minute of the game there was a timeout he called and he looked like a deer in headlights. Then we come out of the timeout with a pretty bad shot for Aaron. I don't hate Cal, and I am glad he is our coach because he can recruit like crazy, and he seems to get the guys to play together. He just had the one year where he was not able to do that. I am happy that we are always in the discussion for a national championship, but it is also frustrating to know you lost because your team was outcoached, and out prepared. I saw another thread discussing his final four record, and no it is not that good. He himself has stated before that he "counts on his guys being better than yours." Well that will work to a certain point, but then coaching has to come in to play to beat other very skilled teams. I said in 2012 that I felt we won the championship despite the coaching. Great motivator, great recruiter, great team building, and good skill development; just not great game preparation or in game. Just my thoughts. Hope you all enjoy your break until Bball starts again.
Posts: 5441 | From: georgia | Registered: Jan 2009
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AshTuckyUKfan
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Member # 3065
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posted 04-10-2015 09:29 PM
I will politely disagree, you don't get 4 final fours in 5 years without being a good game coach, he knows the game from top down and losing one game proves just that. We may not agree with his methods...but we don't have to.
He also knows how to get the most out of his players, refer to Harrelson for isntance.
Posts: 369 | From: Ashland KY | Registered: Mar 2009
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ALA_KAT2
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Member # 1559
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posted 04-10-2015 09:30 PM
I completely agree with everything you said, ukman. Not only were we outcoached, we were out-hustled. No way we lose the rebounding battle by 12 if not. Milking the shot clock and having the three shot-clock violations inside the last 5 minutes was more than we could overcome. Cal can recruit great players and get us to the Final 4 but has come up short 5 times out of 6. I'm delighted that he can consistently get us there, just wish he was a better x and o guy. A great motivator but not great strategist.
[ 04-10-2015, 09:35 PM: Message edited by: ALA_KAT2 ]
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Posts: 4046 | From: Louisville, KY | Registered: Dec 2001
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Bama Cat
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Member # 153
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posted 04-10-2015 09:35 PM
There is no need to hide what happened. I agree totally. I think there are a lot of people who know what happened and I just cringed everytime we went into that stall hoping to get fouled, make the free throws and build on our lead. It happened during the season numerous times but it didn't happen against WI.
[ 04-10-2015, 09:37 PM: Message edited by: Bama Cat ]
Posts: 14178 | From: berea, ky, usa | Registered: Sep 1999
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ukman
Player
Member # 3032
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posted 04-10-2015 09:39 PM
Thank for being polite ashtuck. I do hope people see the good things I said about Cal. And I do say he gets the most out of his players, he demands their best which is great. I really feel he is the best at a lot of things, just not the in game so much, and game preparation. I have heard it said before that he does not watch much film on teams. Don't know if that is true or not, but in some cases it would appear so. I just don't see how anyone could watch that final four game and not see how much of a factor the coaching was in the loss. Even the announcers were questioning it after the game, even Barkley who is a Cal fan. Again, I am thrilled with the fact that we are in final fours and championship discussions. It is just frustrating to know you have the absolute best team in America and not get it done. We had the game in hand and the offensive strategy used down the stretch certainly did not work.
Posts: 5441 | From: georgia | Registered: Jan 2009
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EnterpriseCat
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Member # 2881
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posted 04-11-2015 07:19 AM
The fact that Cal refused to say that we slowed it down on purpose bothered me. If he didn't tell Andrew to slow it down, then who did? I woukd have spread the floor and gotten Towns the ball one on one every possession in the last 4 minutes. Nobody on Wisconsin coukd stop him. Glad we have Cal, but we weren't real sharp in the last 4 minutes of that game for sure.
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JD4U
Posts: 2307 | From: Enterprise, AL | Registered: Oct 2007
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Gunny
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Member # 2869
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posted 04-11-2015 08:08 AM
it's easier looking like a really good coach when you are loaded with 5 star players? But when your not, you might look like an average coach. I guess we better be glad coach Cal can recruit really well. Tubby did good until he ran out of really good players then he went down hill. Tubby never could sign the top players like coach Cal.
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USMC/Gunny
Posts: 332 | From: Elizabethtown Kentucky | Registered: Sep 2007
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m hamilton
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Member # 127
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posted 04-11-2015 08:57 AM
There's only one coach to ever win 38 games in a single season. Our's has done it 3 times already!
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I still can't believe some people believed that LIAR!!!
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Posts: 123992 | From: vevay, IN USA | Registered: Sep 1999
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Bama Cat
Player
Member # 153
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posted 04-11-2015 09:04 AM
Agree about doing well with 5 star players. But we have to go all the way back to Cal's first team here with Wall, Bledsoe and Cousins. Here was another BEST team in the country who went down to poor plans. We have 2 teams now that were definitely the best team in the country but could not win #'s 9 & 10. Maybe Cal needs to watch film of the opponent if we have the best players and can still not win a championship. I hope he studies his in game strategy and improves like he expects the players to improve. He seems to have everything he needs but the in game strategy. Are the assistants providing any input during the game, or will he accept any input? Do you see any quick coach meetings during the time outs before he goes into the huddle with the players? Just wondering.
Posts: 14178 | From: berea, ky, usa | Registered: Sep 1999
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Old Norm
Administrator
Member # 1482
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posted 04-11-2015 09:18 AM
What Hamilton said.
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Pray For Our Country!
Posts: 36272 | From: Western KY | Registered: Aug 2001
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michigankat
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Member # 2775
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posted 04-11-2015 09:25 AM
I think we have the best Coach in America..We all know that the last 5 minutes in a game is make it or break it time.
Wisconsin's strategy was pretty simple.Make us beat them from the perimeter. We did not.
Our game plan was the same plan had vs ND. Get it inside. We did not do that effectively, especially the last 5 mins. Put the two together and we lose.
The players did not execute the plays to get it inside while controlling the game.
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Posts: 454 | From: Birmingham, Michigan | Registered: Mar 2007
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boomdaddy
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Member # 2644
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posted 04-11-2015 10:02 AM
Kentucky got out rebounded and out hustled in the last game. Coach must have told the players that is what they needed to do to win the game.
Posts: 8791 | From: paris, ky | Registered: Mar 2006
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Tiptree
Administrator
Member # 844
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posted 04-11-2015 10:03 AM
The fact is that ND could not stop the pass to Townes, and he scored at will to close the game. But Wisconsin did a remarkable job defensively, packing the defense and denying the easy pass in to Townes. If Townes did get the ball, he was too far out from the block to start his move, and well-defended to boot.
But, you could tell that the first, second, and third option was to get it to Townes near the paint. Bo Ryan knew what was coming, and the Wiskies made that damn near impossible. So, as time wound down, we ran out of options and either tried to drive in into the teeth of that packed paint defense, or just simply fizzled.
I don't hold that on Cal, I give credit to Ryan and his team. We tried to execute a certain offense, and they effectively stopped it. Game over.
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Tiptree
“If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be.” Thomas Jefferson
Posts: 13628 | From: Terre Haute, IN | Registered: Sep 2000
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Tiptree
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Member # 844
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posted 04-11-2015 10:06 AM
As I posted earlier, the biggest disappointment was our rebounding and defensive efforts. Very, very tepid on both counts, for most of the game. We turned up the defense for about 10 minutes, and came back from way down to 4 up. We still played decent defense after that, but not enough.
THAT is on the players. They were playing with terrific effort and intensity all season long, and then laid an egg. The only part that is on Cal is he pulled the plug on the platoons, changing the time those guys were on the floor significantly. I still wonder why he did that....
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Tiptree
“If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be.” Thomas Jefferson
Posts: 13628 | From: Terre Haute, IN | Registered: Sep 2000
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handycat
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Member # 2323
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posted 04-11-2015 01:51 PM
I have a couple of thoughts about this. When it appeared that we started to let the air out of the ball, I (along with a lot of you) started screaming at the TV. I've never liked that strategy and it has bugged me all year. But in fairness to Cal it got him 38 straight wins this year so why would he change something that worked all year for him? Even though I don't like it and am not a fan of the platoon system, it also got us 38 consecutive wins. I'm pretty sure he knows more about the game than I do.
As far as getting out rebounded, when a team goes for the block on almost every shot it gives the opposing team more opportunity for an offensive rebound, at least IMO.
I think every fan has a right to criticize the coach within reason. After all he makes the big bucks and to look at him as some sort of deity makes no sense.
As for me I think Cal is the best recruiter and motivator in the game and overall is an excellent bench coach. Maybe not the best but very, very good.
Posts: 5411 | From: decatur ill. | Registered: Feb 2005
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catmandoo
Player
Member # 1284
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posted 04-11-2015 02:33 PM
We are a team which includes the players and the coachs. They share all the highs and lows as that's what teams do.
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FlaCatz
Player
Member # 925
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posted 04-12-2015 12:49 AM
What Norm said, Hamilton said............
For as long as I have been watching and paying really close attention to the NCAA Tournament..(75/76 for me)...To win it all 3 things have NEVER changed...
1. You have to have a REALLY Good Team
2. You have to have a REALLY Good Coach/Staff
3. You have to have a little bit of luck...
Sometimes the best team wins. Sometimes the best coach wins, and sometimes a little luck helps 1 and 2 over the hump....
38-1 2 wins shy of a Perfect Season.... 2 wins short of something that hasn't happened since I was in HS.... This was one hell of an enjoyable season... 4 Final Fours in 5 years..... THAT has been even more fun.... Think about it... We have been to more Final Fours in the last 10 years than the ENTIRE state of Indiana...Thank Goodness they have Butler...and that makes me smile.. ![[Wink]](wink.gif)
[ 04-12-2015, 12:51 AM: Message edited by: FlaCatz ]
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Posts: 8880 | From: Lawrenceburg, Indiana | Registered: Oct 2000
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m hamilton
Player
Member # 127
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posted 04-12-2015 08:29 AM
I never thought about it like that, Fla.
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The potus is planning 1st major tax hike since '93 in next economic package!
I still can't believe some people believed that LIAR!!!
Your whole life is determined(by) 10% what happens to you, and 90% how you handle it!!!
Posts: 123992 | From: vevay, IN USA | Registered: Sep 1999
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