Breaking News: Calipari is a real jerk...

[cto]

Just saw his post game presser. He blamed the loss on his players while absolving himself of any fault: "We lost because they didn't foul.. The whole timeout was talking about fouling." It was like, "Hey, it ain't my fault we lost; I told them what to do, and they didn't do it."

 

[NineOneSeven]

Which is true, technically.

 

[jekelish]

It's true, sure, but what kind of coach throws his team under the bus like that?

 

[orangepassion]

He must be buds with Brian Kelly

 

[mountaincuse]

He said before the year started that it was all about the kids, perhaps he was foreshadowing to cover up his douchebaggery

 

[PeteCalvin]

He said before the year started that it was all about the kids, perhaps he was foreshadowing to cover up his douchebaggery

It's a "players first" program. Therefore, the players are first under the bus.

 

[Zelda Zonk]

It's true, sure, but what kind of coach throws his team under the bus like that?

I don't see anything wrong with it.
If JB did it, people here would be praising his "brutal honesty."

Sometimes coaches 'send messages' via the media. These players are 18+. I think they can handle a bit of criticism. Their classmates are fighting in wars. No need to coddle collegians. It's not as if he said they suck. He said they made a mistake. Ouch.

 

[memcorsu]

Cal always will be a great recruiter but a poor game coach. I saw it at Memphis. The name of his game is to get the best of the best and throw a ball in the gym. They are going to be fun to watch, lots of dunks, run and gun, but when it comes to things of substance, no dice. The fans will always support him because he brings this kind of game to town. The man is as slick as oil is black.

He reminds me of the ole' snake oil salesmen. He will bring in a cure-all and when the townies finally catch on to what he is, he will be gone the night before with their money stuffed in his pockets and their daughters with buns in the ovens. The "daddies" will be left broke and having to take care of the consequences left behind. Three more years and he will be due to make a jump some where else. I think being at a program like Kentucky he will have to go back to the pros.

This was the second game in the row they showed that they are very beatable. They should have lost last week.

The biggest problem he is going to have year in and year out is that he will never have the veterans that know how to get it done. Just like at Memphis and UMass, his teams will have superior talent compared to the rest of the league and then fall when they hit the tourney. Sure, I think he could probably win one eventually on talent alone. As they say, "even a blind squirrel finds a nut every now and then".

 

[Bornorange]

You can throw your team under the bus in college. In the NBA if you did that
your power forward would throw the coach under the team plane.
The difference between him and JB is, JB will blame himself for a loss.

 

[texascpa]

I don't see anything wrong with it.
If JB did it, people here would be praising his "brutal honesty."

Sometimes coaches 'send messages' via the media. These players are 18+. I think they can handle a bit of criticism. Their classmates are fighting in wars. No need to coddle collegians. It's not as if he said they suck. He said they made a mistake. Ouch.

Agreed. JB almost always mentions a player or two that played horribly, and sometimes mentions how the whole team stunk at something.

If Cal told his players to foul and they didn't, then it IS the players fault. Hell, you could see Cal right after the play asking his guys why they didn't foul.

 

[arbitragegls]

...guess Cal isnt the great communicator...whole time-out telling them to foul and not one came forward and did it any where on floor...SILLY PLAYERS...am sure they will listen next time...hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

 

[Capt. Tuttle]

Actually, a foul could have been called about mid court
Nvr mind. Saw the replay. The guy who looked ready to foul got screened.

 

[orangenirvana]

It's true, sure, but what kind of coach throws his team under the bus like that?

A coach that every high school kid wants to play for, apparently.

Whatever he's doing, it's working.

 

[stuckinbig11]

Just saw his post game presser. He blamed the loss on his players while absolving himself of any fault: "We lost because they didn't foul.. The whole timeout was talking about fouling." It was like, "Hey, it ain't my fault we lost; I told them what to do, and they didn't do it."

He doesn't care. None of them will be around a year from now.

 

[DomeStranger]

If fouling was that much of a priority to him, he would've called a TO after the made FT.

The mistake is on him.

 

[cliftonparksufan]

Agreed. JB almost always mentions a player or two that played horribly, and sometimes mentions how the whole team stunk at something.

If Cal told his players to foul and they didn't, then it IS the players fault. Hell, you could see Cal right after the play asking his guys why they didn't foul.

I think most coaches will say the team didn't execute properly down the stretch. Usually that is coachspeak for someone really frigged up.

 

[OrangeZone]

A coach that every high school kid wants to play for, apparently.

Whatever he's doing, it's working.

Yes it's working; it's working for Cal by playing to into the NBA dreams of top recruits whose intention is to be one and done. In the short-term its working for Kentucky; in the long-term not so much. Of coarse, he will be long-gone hired by some NBA owner with no memory. Of coarse, Kentucky might just think it's all worth it; there will be long-term as the piper's deeds will involve NCAA penalties.

 

[DomeStranger]

Yes it's working; it's working for Cal by playing to into the NBA dreams of top recruits whose intention is to be one and done. In the short-term its working for Kentucky; in the long-term not so much. Of coarse, he will be long-gone hired by some NBA owner with no memory. Of coarse, Kentucky might just think it's all worth it; there will be long-term as the piper's deeds will involve NCAA penalties.

I think Cal will stay in Kentucky as long as he stays clean and as long as Kentucky keeps paying him $4M a year. Those are big if's but I don't think the NBA will pay a lot more than that for him and it's a much bigger gamble going to the NBA instead of staying at Kentucky where the odds for him to succeed are much higher.

 

[orangefan13]

Well then they should have fouled their best free throw shooter from 3 just like he wrote it.

 

[OrangeTarheel]

I don't think I've seen a team evidence as much lack of respect for its coach, and such a severe lack of discipline, as Kentucky last night. With that much individual talent there is no way they should have lost to Indiana.

As for throwing his team under the bus ... Cal should be disciplining these kids when they don't execute his directions. It seems like the easiest thing to do at a place like Kentucky where your bench runs deep. Say what you will about JB, he has a much better chance of molding a team with his style of coaching than Cal does.

 

[orangecuse]

I don't see anything wrong with it.
If JB did it, people here would be praising his "brutal honesty."

Sometimes coaches 'send messages' via the media. These players are 18+. I think they can handle a bit of criticism. Their classmates are fighting in wars. No need to coddle collegians. It's not as if he said they suck. He said they made a mistake. Ouch.

Couldn't agree more. Unfortunately, it's a generational problem that we as a society have created with all this pampering, psychobabble approach to parenting, etc. And, repeatedly stroking kids most of their lives telling them how great they're, etc. The moment they get any wink of direct criticism they can't/don't know how to deal with it and practically have a nervous breakdown...sorry if I ran off on a tangent...whew!

 

[RoysRunts]

Compared to the KState Coach he's Casper Milquetoast

 

[HoustonCuse]

He threw them under the bus. True leaders do not do that, period. It's Cal's team and he is ultimately responsible for their success or failure. He recruited the players, trained them, gave them the game plan, and even made the schedule. No great leader would ever do what he did here. Even in the case where he told them exactly what to do and they didn't do it, that is still on him because he didn't have the coaching/leadership skills to get them to listen to him.

If an Army officer tells his troops not to fire their weapons across the North Korean border and they do it anyway (likely triggering a war), is he a good leader? And does it make it ok for him to say "well I tooooold them not to do it!!"? No on both counts. And throwing them under the bus only confirms a complete lack of leadership.

 

[Ghost]

Ah, he was yelling that the refs should have called a foul on his guys immediately after the shot - I thought he was saying IU fouled someone.

 

[TheOrangeBuddha]

Just saw his post game presser. He blamed the loss on his players while absolving himself of any fault: "We lost because they didn't foul.. The whole timeout was talking about fouling." It was like, "Hey, it ain't my fault we lost; I told them what to do, and they didn't do it."

You really must have hated Rollie Massimino then. After EVERY loss he blamed the players and took credit for EVERY win. Couldn't stand him.

As for Calipari yesterday, he was at least being honest about the end-game scenario. Pretty brutal that his team is THAT dense to not use their "foul-to-give" at the end, when it was clearly discussed during the timeout.