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Posted by handycat (Member # 2323) on 09-30-2015, 07:39 PM:

John Calipari had some strong words when asked about the Harrison twins both being in the game at the end of the Wildcats’ Final Four loss to Wisconsin.

“Now you may say, ‘Why didn’t you have Tyler and Devin in at the end of the Wisconsin game? You probably would have won,’’’ Calipari said during his hour-long talk, according to USA Today. “Because I was being loyal to those other two who led us to a championship game a year ago and they deserve to be on that court. That’s why I did it. I knew who was playing well and who was struggling. You think I wasn’t sitting there watching?”

http://network.yardbarker.com/college_basketball/article_external/john_calipari_loyalty_to_harrison_twins_may_have_cost_kentucky_championship/19623388?mb_edition=5023&linksrc=mb_fa vorites_head

Posted by catmandoo (Member # 1284) on 09-30-2015, 08:49 PM:

I buy what Cal says about the Harrison's playing well and can see why he would play them however to say that Ulis and Booker were struggling is a stretch at best. In 17 minutes Ulis made 2-3 of his 3 point attempts where our whole team only made 3 three pointers the whole game. Booker a lottery pick also shot the ball well going 3-6 from the field playing less than half a game.

Posted by Tiptree (Member # 844) on 10-01-2015, 08:46 AM:

CMD,

I actually think he is saying "Even though it was clear that Tyler and Devon were playing better, I stuck with the Harrisons out of some misplaced, stupid sense of loyalty" (paraphrased, of course) [Wink]

Cost us a perfect season and a championship... and for what? Really, Cal, for what?

For all his brilliance, I often question his coaching, especially at the end of games. How many times have we lost games because of his refusal to make changes?

Posted by catmandoo (Member # 1284) on 10-01-2015, 09:38 AM:

TT, that even makes it worse. If I were Cal I would leave bad enough alone.

Posted by SCWC (Member # 2464) on 10-01-2015, 09:50 AM:

I agree with all of you, think Cal should have steered clear of a topic like this, not good for UK or future recruiting. We all like Cal as our coach but sometimes he makes some off the cuff statements that have many of us scratching our heads and asking ourselves "WHY".

Posted by catmandoo (Member # 1284) on 10-01-2015, 10:21 AM:

What even makes it worse is that in the last 7 minutes and 14 seconds of the game Aaron and Andrew went 1-8 from the field.

Posted by handycat (Member # 2323) on 10-01-2015, 10:45 AM:

In defense of Cal, loyalty to his players is one of the reasons he is such a great recruiter, at least IMO.

However, I think this is another "off the wall comment" that would have been better left unsaid. Cal is becoming known for this.

Now I expect we will all be chastised for daring to say any thing negative about Coach.

Posted by ukman (Member # 3032) on 10-01-2015, 11:53 AM:

Tip and Handy, you better be careful talking about Cal. IF you disagree with him some people thnk that means you hate him. I have always said, and will continue to say, Cal is an average in game coach, and pre-game strategist. In my opinion he cost us the Championship and a perfect season. I know he wasn't on the court, but I am pretty darn sure he told the team to slow it down like we did all season. And just like we did all season, we blew a lead. Yes we didn't lose any before that, but go back and watch. There were so many games where we had large leads, Cal would have us go to the slow down game the last 6 minutes, and every time we would lose some of that lead. Now, I will also say I don't know if another coach could have got us to that final four or not. HE does great at managing talent. Great recruiter, great player developer, great at team concept, but average in game coach and at preparing for what another team is going to do. Still, I don't think I would want anybody else out there right now coaching us I just wish he would give a little more value to scouting other teams and being prepared for what they are going to do. That is really what killed us against Wisconsin.

Posted by catmandoo (Member # 1284) on 10-01-2015, 12:27 PM:

The one game that will always stand out to me was the loss to West Virginia. To lose with talent he had against a team that was ordinary at best really has set the tone for some of these losses against teams we should have beat easily with the talent he recruited.

Posted by SCWC (Member # 2464) on 10-01-2015, 12:50 PM:

Bruce, three of those missed shots by the twins were after Cal let the air out of the ball trying to get it down low to Towns who was being double teamed by Wisconsin. I saw the Wisconsin break down of the game by Bo Ryan on the big ten network and he stated that he knew Willie Cauley Stein was no thread offensively out on the floor and that Towns was killing him down low. At about the six minute mark in the game, once Kentucky took the lead, he decided to use no defender on Willie because he was not near the basket and double team Towns. Cal was having the twins play the clock in an effort to get the ball to Towns down low which was good strategy but the Wisconsin defense was not going to allow that and the Harrison's had to take bad shots at the end of the shot clock, three shot clock violations in a row if memory serves me right. YOu could clearly see Cal take the air out of the ball and start playing to protect his 4 point lead rather than attack and put Wisconsin away after coming back from an 8 point deficit, taking a 4 point lead and have the ball with just under six minutes left. That was a game we should have won but didn't. UKMan makes great points and I agree with everything he stated in his post.

Willie played the most minutes in the game, 33, had five rebounds, 2 points, 2 blocked shots and was no real factor or defense like he normally was. He is the player either Ulis or Booker should have been in the game for the last five plus minutes.

I think Cal did an outstanding job of getting so much talent to play together as a team, I doubt any other coach in the NCAA could have pulled that off. He is going to win a lot of games for us at UK and certainly is the right fit for our program. No one is advocating getting rid of Cal, at least no one who has posted on this thread. I think we are all very happy with the state of our basketball program and this is merely a fan discussion of a subject brought up by our coach and our feelings on some of his moves in late game situations. I doubt that any true blue fan would want any other coach looking over our basketball program right now, I know I wouldn't.

[ 10-01-2015, 12:55 PM: Message edited by: SCWC ]

Posted by catmandoo (Member # 1284) on 10-01-2015, 08:03 PM:

Good post!!

Posted by PaulCat (Member # 513) on 10-02-2015, 07:32 PM:

If not for those twins, we wouldn't have gone to the finals the year before. Does anyone remember Aaron draining the game winning 3-pointers against Michigan and Wisconsin? I think the twins more than earned the right to be on the floor at the end of that game. They were ready for the clutch performance - sometimes it just doesn't work out.

I wonder how many game-winning shots Michael Jordan missed. [Wink]

Posted by Old Norm (Member # 1482) on 10-02-2015, 09:12 PM:

Good question.

Posted by ukman (Member # 3032) on 10-03-2015, 10:54 AM:

I don't have an issue with the twins being on the floor. It wasn't their fault we settled for terrible shots at the end of the shot clock. They were just following the game plan. We gave that game to Wisconsin at the end. 3 shot clock violations in a row is ridiculous. Don't think I have ever seen that before, and it wasn't because the defense was spectacular.

Posted by Tiptree (Member # 844) on 10-03-2015, 01:53 PM:

ukman,

The three violations were a direct result of their defense and Cal's directive on offense. Cal said "get the ball in to Townes on the block". The Wisconsin defense had him double (and sometimes triple) teamed for the entire last 6 minutes of the game.

I really put this one on Cal's intransigence and his love of slowing it down and "out-executing" the opponent at the end of games. If we had a senior-laden team, out-execution is a viable option. But when you rely on young, but not particularly veteran players, execution can be spotty. Had Cal said "try to get the ball into Townes, but if that isn't available, run this play" we might have won. After all, if Townes is doubled, somebody is open. But it was very clear that there was no "plan B".

[ 10-03-2015, 01:54 PM: Message edited by: Tiptree ]