ESPN game cast had them as a 97.9% to win with 4:43 to go.
Cal doing Cal things
- Thread starter Wildcat22Fan
- Start date
What's crazy about his team's meltdown is it seems to ALWAYS end the same.
His teams get a lead, then he ALLOWS certain players to go one-on-one that shouldn't, slacks off on the defensive end, gives up offensive rebounds and leaves dudes WIDE OPEN. Then by the end of the game, the opponent has a shot at winning.
We ALL just knew as soon as Tech got within 3, it was going to OT. Then in OT IF Tech got the lead, Cal and his players BUTTS would get TIGHT and they would eventually LOSE!!!
Same script EVERY TIME!!!
SOOOOOOO glad to be ONLY an observer from this point forward!!!!!
No matter what happens tomorrow night, I am ELATED to have Mark Pope as our coach now!!!!!
His teams get a lead, then he ALLOWS certain players to go one-on-one that shouldn't, slacks off on the defensive end, gives up offensive rebounds and leaves dudes WIDE OPEN. Then by the end of the game, the opponent has a shot at winning.
We ALL just knew as soon as Tech got within 3, it was going to OT. Then in OT IF Tech got the lead, Cal and his players BUTTS would get TIGHT and they would eventually LOSE!!!
Same script EVERY TIME!!!
SOOOOOOO glad to be ONLY an observer from this point forward!!!!!
No matter what happens tomorrow night, I am ELATED to have Mark Pope as our coach now!!!!!
Cal said hold my beer and watch this!!!
How many times can it happen before he thinks I should foul up 3, or I should watch tape or be aggressive instead of hold the ball up 13. Maybe call a TO to run a play instead of making it up.
I just shudder. What if that were us...like he was still our coach and we went out like that. We would be devastated. Can't even imagine.
Don't get it twisted. Couldn't happen to a better guy.
That game was over, just basic strategy and decent gameplay wins that. Tech didn’t even light the scoreboard up. Just steadily broke the lead down.
Would UK have made the tournament if he didn't take the Arkansas job?
If he stayed, I reckon the roster would've been pretty much the same except for the bigs. UK would have Cyril and Quaintance instead of Brazile and Aidoo. Neither Brazile nor Aidoo are stars or anything, but they bring strong defensive energy. Both those bigs were instrumental in Arkansas' turnaround in conference play. Arkansas was Cal's best defensive team since 2019 thanks in large part to them.
We probably go like 1-4 against Duke/OSU/Zags/Clemson and maybe get 7 wins in conference.
If he stayed, I reckon the roster would've been pretty much the same except for the bigs. UK would have Cyril and Quaintance instead of Brazile and Aidoo. Neither Brazile nor Aidoo are stars or anything, but they bring strong defensive energy. Both those bigs were instrumental in Arkansas' turnaround in conference play. Arkansas was Cal's best defensive team since 2019 thanks in large part to them.
We probably go like 1-4 against Duke/OSU/Zags/Clemson and maybe get 7 wins in conference.
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This game was Deja Vu all over again, but without the pain.
They were over 97% with a little over 3 minutes to play
Cal legit looked like he was fixing to have a heart attack here.
Per announcers, Cal is now 35-1 in the NCAA tournament when having a lead of 6 or more at halftime. Tonight was his first loss. Again, you let your hate interfere with facts.
It really was a masterclass in Cal chokery.
It had all the hallmarks.
Big lead late.
Slows the game down trying to run the clock out.
Team makes a run and his adjustments lead to his players tightening up and playing on the backfoot.
Players miss key FTs.
Doesn't foul up 3.
Chance to win, goes with 'his guy' instead of the guy who has 30 on the night.
Doesn't call a timeout down 2 with plenty of time to run a play for a good shot.
I think about the only thing it didn't have was a guy going nuts for 8-10 3s and making absolutely no adjustments to slow him down the entire game.
I wonder if they have Little House on the Prairie where lives now.
Wagner's shot at end of regulation and OT were both on right side--not where he does well and Cal lost complete composure worrying about officiating and not coaching his team when they needed him. The guy literally is dominant going left--and has been this way since he played in Junior High-so he goes right....and then a right wing long two? WTF? At end of regulation--Davis just stands 35 ft and watched-instead of tracing when you could've had Wagner throw it back out for a FT area jumper for the win....but he only had 30 pts-why would you do that?
11 pt lead with 2:44 to go in the game. Lose in OT. We've been there too many times. Sick feeling but then relaxed knowing it wasn't my team he was coaching anymore.
Second largest comeback in Sweet 16 history.
Cal still out here setting records......that you don't want.
Cal still out here setting records......that you don't want.
Dude he played like dogshit for 90% of the season. A few good games doesn’t make him better than Kevin.
Absolutely the most talented team in the tournament.
Did the Hogs waste a great opportunity?
This is what most of the fans still mourning over Cal just don't recognize.
If Cal had come back to UK this year, we WOULD NOT HAVE EVEN MADE THE TOURNAMENT.
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Where are all those piggy fans? We had threads where they were 50% of the conversation this week. Did they just vanish? Weird.
For as apoplectic as this board is you think we’d be worried about the basketball gods. Can we just shut the f for a night and focus on UT? Jesus Christ.
The tournament is a crapshoot but I’d feel pretty safe saying that next year’s team will be better overall. Obviously who knows what will happen but Wagner, Knox, Richmond, and Brazile returning with Thomas and Acuff coming in is a really good core. Just need some big men from the portal.
I turned the game off when they had a double digit lead with about 10 minutes left. Tech just looked outclassed and I had made peace with the fact that poor, mistreated Cal was seemingly destined to win a "Cinderella" title with a team loaded with Burger Boys and the number 1 portal stud in Davis who the Chicken Man helped pay a kings ransom for to keep him from us, and this was our punishment. I wasn't even going to comment no matter how far they made it.
Then about an hour later I checked ESPN. Unbelievable. If they had scrapped their way back for a close loss and put up a valiant effort, okay, fine. But to lose like this? Yikes. I get the OAD talent still loving him, he's going to let you run the asylum, but I have questions for any portal player that is serious about winning in college that decides to play for him. What's sad is we'll probably lose a guy or two that we really want to them each year because of Chicken Man's deep pockets, but they'll never be able to say they went there for the great coaching.
Win or lose today, I'm happy that man is no longer the coach at UK and that we now have Pope. And no, I don't think me or anyone else commenting on this impacts our game one way or the other. This is a forum to discuss college basketball, a sport we all love. As for me, I'm more stunned and amazed than I am happy. I wonder what Paaaaaul (gotta say it with a 'Bama accent) Finebaum has to say now? The national and SEC media folks sure seemed eager to feed UK fans some humble pie for letting this coaching genius go.
Then about an hour later I checked ESPN. Unbelievable. If they had scrapped their way back for a close loss and put up a valiant effort, okay, fine. But to lose like this? Yikes. I get the OAD talent still loving him, he's going to let you run the asylum, but I have questions for any portal player that is serious about winning in college that decides to play for him. What's sad is we'll probably lose a guy or two that we really want to them each year because of Chicken Man's deep pockets, but they'll never be able to say they went there for the great coaching.
Win or lose today, I'm happy that man is no longer the coach at UK and that we now have Pope. And no, I don't think me or anyone else commenting on this impacts our game one way or the other. This is a forum to discuss college basketball, a sport we all love. As for me, I'm more stunned and amazed than I am happy. I wonder what Paaaaaul (gotta say it with a 'Bama accent) Finebaum has to say now? The national and SEC media folks sure seemed eager to feed UK fans some humble pie for letting this coaching genius go.
And if you had any other coach on earth, perhaps they would all return. Unfortunately…
You will almost certainly not recognize a single player on your team next season.....and get used to that moving forward.
Seriously lol.
I just replied to him before I saw your comment.
Unless there is an NBA lockout, they need to prepare for a typical Cal off-season and not expect to know a single player on the team at season start.
Man, I don't miss that at all
Exactly…how come he couldn’t do that here? I was so mad I even went to bed after seeing Ark with a called out-of-bounds play that lead to a inbound lob pass for a dunk. I was pissed, but good to see our boy hasn’t changed a bit!
I think you're a bit insane on that one. 8 pts 3 reb 1.1 assist for Carter vs 15.6 pts 5.4 rebs 1.4 assists for Kevin.
You can tell by his breathing that he was melting down, thats panic attack mode right there. That picture of how he looked being interviewed with like 10 minutes to go vs how much he was sweating and breathing heavy there, is wild.
Also Cal for years wont draw up plays for who's playing the best, he literally takes his favorites and tries to shoe horn them into being legends by making game winning shots and it rarely works out for him now.
Every bit of it