This is that one game against a putrid team. A team that will surely end up below 300 in every metric. Not sure why Kentucky schedules these type of teams instead of someone else, like Lipscomb, WKU, etc. This isn't like football where schedules are made years in advance. You should be able to spot some top 100-200 games you can fill the schedule with. I know it's not a huge deal but it feels like there's some meat left on the bone by playing these awful teams. It's not as bad as what Cal used to do, however.
Jackson State (next opponent)
- Thread starter KA4Prez_rivals78700
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Easy money, I'd take cats -30.5.
Yep- a lose-lose game. You gain absolutely nothing from playing it- if anything it hurts your ranking metrics, and risk injury.
Mo Williams is the coach. Might be a buddy of Pope's. Nice payday for them.
Get the guys game experience and let the backups get minutes. At this point, I don't mind us getting Chandler, Perry, and Noah plenty of minutes while getting the starters minutes against another opponent to install and clean up offensive and defensive concepts.
Yeah, it's not the best competition, but I'm okay with it as long as it's not the bulk of our schedule.
Yeah, it's not the best competition, but I'm okay with it as long as it's not the bulk of our schedule.
Well you scheduled this game in case it went wrong....lol. A "get Right" game in case you needed to get right.
The other team should try to cancel somehow lol. It's not going to go well lmfao!
Kentucky basketball is back. There's no doubt on this *** kicking unlike with the Cowl
The other team should try to cancel somehow lol. It's not going to go well lmfao!
Kentucky basketball is back. There's no doubt on this *** kicking unlike with the Cowl
It's far too difficult to know where some of these low major teams will wind up, year over year. I'm assuming this game was locked down at least half a year ago, with the date/time of the game still being worked on.. and I'd bet even longer before that.
I wouldn't worry about having 1-2 games a year where the opponent is garbage, especially because everyone is doing it. Uconn for example is 4 for 4 to start the season with teams like Jackson St.
And yes, this should be a game where our bench players get experience (which they will need if you want to make a run in March), while also giving the starters sort of a "night off", where they only play the 1st half and a bit of the 2nd. I'm all for that.
I wouldn't worry about having 1-2 games a year where the opponent is garbage, especially because everyone is doing it. Uconn for example is 4 for 4 to start the season with teams like Jackson St.
And yes, this should be a game where our bench players get experience (which they will need if you want to make a run in March), while also giving the starters sort of a "night off", where they only play the 1st half and a bit of the 2nd. I'm all for that.
Ehh. It doesn’t bother me to have one or two of those on the schedule. It gives the team a chance to try out and work on new things without worrying about losing. And it gives a nobody team a chance to play a blue blood. Plus, I love a watching good thorough thrashing. 
I would argue most of the non-conference games were probably finalized when Cal was still the coach. Certainly, UK could have paid to get out of it but as one poster said above, there was no way of knowing how this season was going to be at this point even back in the summer. I don't know if we'll really see this bad of a team with scheduling in the future.
I looked up this team they only score about 62 points a game and give up 91 points a game. We avg 94 and only give up 68. Sleepwalk to a 30 plus point victory and get Chandler, Perry and Noah extended minutes which will only help us be a deeper team.
Cal created the “Unity Series” where we play an HBCU from the SWAC each year. It’s a 5 year thing with the last year next year.
Yes the teams are awful. No, there’s no way that Pope is pulling the plug early on it.
Yes the teams are awful. No, there’s no way that Pope is pulling the plug early on it.
This was a Calipari Mr No Metrics special.
I’d like to avoid these type of games in the future, but it is what it is. This one might end up looking like the exhibitions, especially after hearing how the team guns for 100.
Yeah, I understand the irritation, but I'm fine with it since it's just one game. The rest of the schedule is pretty good. Even our mid-majors are pretty strong. We've got nonconference games with Western KY, Clemson, Gonzaga, Louisville, and Ohio State still upcoming, along with a very difficult SEC. I'm fine with a cupcake or two.
It can help your metrics if you beat them by 50. I’d run the score up on these teams as much as I could tbh. It’s why gonzaga is at or near the top of all the computer polls every year despite playing a schedule full of teams like that from the bottom half of the wcc.
I think there was one season Gonzaga played 2/3rds of their regular season schedule against sub 200 net teams. Yet there they were #1 in the net at the end of the season.
All these computer rankings still value beating the last place team by 50 more than beating the #1 team by 1 and that’s a problem no one has figured out how to fix yet.
I want a game where guys like Perry and Noah can get some extended run, Like Boley against Murray State. let them play most of the second half or give them some run throughout the game.
Because the way the NET is calculated you basically get rewarded for beating the **** out of bad teams. Thats why UConn has played 4 dogshit teams to start the year.
People worry about this affecting metrics but it's only one game.
For reference here's some of the teams Uconn is playing by their Kenpom rank:
337th
356th
339th
350th
360th
Five of their first six games (other is Memphis).
They had this last two seasons as well and it didn't seem to hurt them lol.
For reference here's some of the teams Uconn is playing by their Kenpom rank:
337th
356th
339th
350th
360th
Five of their first six games (other is Memphis).
They had this last two seasons as well and it didn't seem to hurt them lol.
That's not completely true.
It's all based on expectations. If you were expected to win a game by 30 and you win by 30 the systems will think you've done exactly as expected and you stay where you are at. Win by more, move up. Win by less or lose, move down.
If you are playing the number 1 team and you're an underdog and you win, you going to move up even if that's by a small margin. And it's gonna be more than beating a 300 team by 30-35.
Now I do think there's still an issue at the bottom. Most times predictions against these teams in the 300s has you expected to win by 30-35. Most of the time tho the better teams just smash through this. This is why most metrics have diminishing returns when you get that far of a margin. The difference between a 20 point win and 30 point win is greater than the difference between say a 30 point win and 40 point win.
NET I know does cap things at some point. Kenpom too I believe.
I’m hoping this time next season the team is getting on a plane to Maui or some other holiday tournament.
Don’t care, we have more than enough big name opponents on the schedule that I’ll take all the free W’s we can get.
Our old coach also found a way to regularly lose these types of games.
Our old coach also found a way to regularly lose these types of games.
I don't think Cal ever lost to anyone in the 300s lol, let's be real, he sucked the last decade, no need to exaggerate. Evansville I think was the worst, and they were 130-140.
Mid majors are all the same to me, idk how anyone can really predict where they’ll rate between 150 - 300 from year to year when scheduling.
All I know is that if you lose to them on a yearly basis at a blue blood program you should lose your job.
The beginning Is for sure. Maui they could atleast play UNC, but it’s bad start for the back to back champion to be playing 4 teams in the 300s
There's a major difference between the two.
But yeah.............it always puzzles me because people can acknowledge they can't tell the difference between 150th and 250th but in the same breathe argue that one team should be ranked 13th and the other 14th lol.
Agreed.
My point is, when you play as many marquee matchups against ranked teams as we do, you can schedule cupcakes to fill out the schedule and guarantee you collect some W’s.
The committee is going to look at your biggest wins and your overall record. They’re not going to study how highly rated the couple of mid majors you played were.
Calipari just wanted to sprinkle a few completely worthless wins into the non-con home schedule to offset some of those guaranteed neutral site losses. 
The Unity Series hasn't done much good except give the HBCU's a nice paycheck, which is what they seek each non conference season. They play "guarantee games" to fund their athletic departments. Cal was just trying to get on the bandwagon of pretending to care about HBCU's because it made him look good to some, much like the telethons and making a big deal out of the coal miner who showed up straight from the mines to watch the Blue/White game in Pikeville.
Yeah I totally agree.
No one is going to sit there and think "well Team A played against 200th ranked and Team B played against 140th ranked so lets seed Team B higher" lol.
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