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What the general impression of John Calipari around the country?

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by HejiraHenry, Feb 28, 2009.

  1. king cranium maximus IV

    king cranium maximus IV Active Member

    Everyone's said their piece, so I'll add this that's so far been unsaid: Dude bitched all season long about how the media was overblowing his team's inability to make fucking freebies, and then when it really mattered, clank.
     
  2. Hammer Pants

    Hammer Pants Active Member

    Zag,

    How many times have you watched a Memphis game and said, "Wow, what a well coached basketball team?" He spreads the floor and wins one-on-one matchups, like Florida does in football. But unlike games with Meyer, I never walk away from a game thinking Cal was a great Xs-and-Os coach.

    Cal makes his money (and doles it out ... just kidding) on the recruiting trail. Nothing wrong with that.

    But you're absolutely correct that most fans don't and shouldn't care how their coach handles the media. What's important is on the floor, and Cal's been good there. Off it? Eh, I still think he stands out in a sport full of scum on the sideline. That FedEx program and Worldwide Wes are filthy, but it's only a violation if you get caught.
     
  3. Hammer Pants

    Hammer Pants Active Member

    But Cal is FAR from the only scum in college basketball. No other sport consistently makes me feel dirty while covering it. Everything is so corrupt. It's much worse than football.
     
  4. Big Circus

    Big Circus Well-Known Member

    At Duke, the moms get jobs. That's why K has been so successful - he's ahead of the curve.
     
  5. Twoback

    Twoback Active Member

    Bravo, Blitz.
    It's amazing to me that people in the media need to believe in heroes and villains just as much as the publc.
    I guess it's easier than actually getting to understand what's really going on ... that Calipari is pretty much the same as every other coach, except that's he's better at it than most.
     
  6. Twoback

    Twoback Active Member

    More mindless BS.
    The guys who missed those free throws were both 70-plus percent shooters. (Rose and Douglas-Roberts). Until they missed a combined four over the final few minutes, Memphis had missed only three FTs all game long and had shot 80.6 percent from the Sweet 16 on. Doesn't fit with the theory, though, does it?
    Joe Alexander, who shot 81 percent for West Virginia, bricked FTs that cost his team a spot in the Elite Eight.
    How come nobody harped on that?
     
  7. zagoshe

    zagoshe Well-Known Member

    Oh my -- what a terrible concept -- figuring out what you are better than the other team at and (gasp!) putting your players in position to make plays.

    And I'm guessing that Memphis sees a lot of zone defenses, which means, Cal better -- and does -- have more than dribble drives in his arsenal.

    And for that matter -- when was the last time you came away from a game coached by Roy Williams, Jim Calhoun, Jim Boeheim and even God himself, Coach K and said "what a well coached team" BEFORE you said "he won because he had better players......."

    I get so tired of the only people we're allowed to call great coaches any more are those who have five white boys running through 91 picks and shooting 3's ......

    Players win games and the best coaches are the ones who figure this out early in their careers and make a habit of going out and getting the best players.
     
  8. From that argument, it sounds like Zag doesn't believe someone can be a better recruiter than coach. I completely disagree.
     
  9. zagoshe

    zagoshe Well-Known Member

    I didn't say that -- I said the guys we always hear about being geniuses would be nobodies if they didn't have great players.

    And great coaches understand that if they get great players, they need to put them in a system they can succeed.

    That's what Cal does -- and I'll point out that he didn't run this Memphis system at UMass when he had 3-point shooters and a legitimate -- albeit bought and paid for -- big man.....

    And he made the Final Four with that group, too, which tells me he is a great coach because he's adapted what he does to his talent.

    That's why a "system guy" like John Beilein - who is always hailed as this coaching genius -- is great when he has players capable of running his system -- but when he doesn't have shooters, well he better come up with a Plan B and he really hasn't.

    In fact, I'd argue that WVU has a much better coach now in Bob Huggins and the evidence is that he took a team who was recruited by Beilein, coached a completely different way in a completely different system -- adapted it some to what he does and got them to within a missed Joe Alexander free throw of the Elite Eight.
     
  10. HejiraHenry

    HejiraHenry Well-Known Member

    Rick. Stansbury.
     
  11. jackfinarelli

    jackfinarelli Well-Known Member

    Jerry Tarkanian minus the towel...
     
  12. RedSmithClone

    RedSmithClone Active Member

    I've dealth with him couple of times back in the day at ZooMass. He was always great to deal with in terms of media relations.
     
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