Jaylen Brown on Cal
- Thread starter chasingwildcat
- Start date
I can see that.... also insane that Jaylen Brown committed to California for a Georgia kid.
Currently one of the better players in the NBA. Plays for the Celtics. I remember where I was when he committed to California. Very weird recruitment from what I remember.
I don't care. Cal wanted to win at the time.
I can’t stand Cal anymore but I would have done the same thing. “Alright, bye” as soon as he said he wasn’t coming, regardless if he had more to say. 
Didn’t we wind up with Jamal Murray instead? That team lacked a big man, not a perimeter player.
Yeah that was the Skal year. We were doomed when Skal wound up a bust. I always wonder how it would have played out if Cal let Skal play more on the perimeter rather than forcing him down low.
I wish I could un-see that Avatar. Dang man.
Strange, lol. Good luck the rest of the way since I won't see any of it.
Yea and his career did fine, but in the end, most players like this do regret it. You will not and cannot find another Kentucky. You’re famous for life here and there are very few places where you can actually say that in college sports especially basketball. Guys like Scottie Hopson made massive mistakes. He can walk down the road in Knoxville and nobody knows him. We’ve got players from the 70’s coming back for reunion, signing autos, absolutely revered. Turning down UK and the legacy here is one of the more stupid things you can do. That’s why guys like WCS come back and live here, it’s why Oscar is in love with the place. WCS told me when he was in SAC town he could go out and nobody would even walk up to him. He goes out in Lexington and famous, signing autos and taking pics. This place is just different.
I know a guy who committed to Memphis over Kentucky. Good friend of my family. He has the signed letter by Rupp offering him a scholarship on his wall and talks more about his offer to UK than he does playing for Memphis. He’s always regretted it. He was actually on one the final four Memphis teams and still regrets it. Says UofM does nothing for former players at all. He stayed home for his mother but still regrets it decades later.
So Brown has done well and probably doesn’t care as much, but he might one day when it’s all over. For other guys it’s a lifetime regret.
and Cal was probably just not interested because he already said this place isn’t for everybody. Brown picking Cal over Cal? Calipari ain’t got time for that bs. I agree. You ain’t build for this, let’s not waste time on ya.
I know a guy who committed to Memphis over Kentucky. Good friend of my family. He has the signed letter by Rupp offering him a scholarship on his wall and talks more about his offer to UK than he does playing for Memphis. He’s always regretted it. He was actually on one the final four Memphis teams and still regrets it. Says UofM does nothing for former players at all. He stayed home for his mother but still regrets it decades later.
So Brown has done well and probably doesn’t care as much, but he might one day when it’s all over. For other guys it’s a lifetime regret.
and Cal was probably just not interested because he already said this place isn’t for everybody. Brown picking Cal over Cal? Calipari ain’t got time for that bs. I agree. You ain’t build for this, let’s not waste time on ya.
I remember Jaylen Brown's commitment date.
People on the boards/social media waited until after Midnight EST, expecting him to choose either Kentucky or Michigan, only for him to commit to California seemingly out of nowhere.
People on the boards/social media waited until after Midnight EST, expecting him to choose either Kentucky or Michigan, only for him to commit to California seemingly out of nowhere.
Cal struck out on just about every recruit that year . Jamal Murray blew up in the all star game and I’m thinking reclassied ? He was a Hail Mary or we would have had another nit year .
So many “if not for him” or “if we just had him” during Calipari’s tenure. He rode the wave far too thin. It is simply amazing how a guy who has 1 title, almost had none, but could have easily had 4-6, or 5 Nit’s.
Cal'a system is not good for SF
He does not have any successful sf in nba
This is his weaknesses. His system is for guard and frontcourt player
I agree with this, but he did start off his tenure with MKG who was elite. Didn’t have a great NBA success because they screwed his shot up to the max but still.
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can still remember being in my 20’s and hearing friends of mine throwing up the Memphis success “we’re here now” BS “Kentucky is the notre dame of basketball” bs. Similar to Auburn these days. They’d go on and on about a kid called MKG, who was already 6’7 or whatever his freshman year expected to grow to 7” tall. How his mother isn’t letting him play anywhere but for Memphis and Calipari. How this kid is going to win titles…. I waited on that and waited on that.
Then watched him win a title for Kentucky. The has been, washed up, notre dame of college basketball ….
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They went right back to where they belong after Cal told them to F off.
He should have used his goat recruiting ability to get some of the guys back that left early.
Dakari Johnson was the one that year. I really don’t think it would have hurt Dakari to play another year of college ball. We were missing a center in a bad way that year. Marcus Lee just didn’t have the body to bang at the college level as a 5 and didn’t have the skill or bball iq to play the 4. (though we had an okay 4 in Poythress). Skal was soft and more of a perimeter oriented 5. Humphries was still very raw and a few years away.
Dakari would have dominated as a 5 that season.
The next season it should have been Poythress. Cal should have talked him into using that medical red shirt for a 5th season. I think it would have been a pretty easy sell. a 5th year Poythress in the front court with Bam would have been disgusting. Bam would have actually had some help against UNC’s front like in the E8. Willis played well down the stretch of that season but he was just over matched physically against UNC’s front court.
yea that’s what the issue was. Recruiting pogo sticks with no skills for NBA draft board potential really hurt too. I get you want to continue to land NBA guys but missing a few to some returnees wouldn’t have hurt recruiting at all. He went too all in.
I will say that Calipari doesn’t have to care about much of that anymore and I knew he’d now say he can get those guys more money in college now so they’d stick around longer. It is a dangerous situation at Arkansas right now. On the flip side, he still has to coach them but Calipari is going to be out to stick it to Kentucky. It’s his personality and he’s going to have returnees now. Definitely worries me a bit. Overlooking Calipari when he’s on his warpaths and willing to adapt to prove points is something we better not sleep on.
for his legacy and ours, I’m hoping for a few early round exists then a retirement, but I’m not so sure. Calipari has always been a guy who likes to take on machines. So far, Kentucky is the only machine he couldn’t pin down. He’s going to try and do it, thats his personality. Always has been. Nike, the NCAA, the NBA, now Kentucky.
He was fortunate to turn last year around. He was shitting the bed like expected. Now he has a lot of talent and returnees so they could be good but he still has to coach lol.
Yep. I agree that we shouldn't sleep on Cal's warpath. That said, even if he goes nuclear on UK and destroys us in every head-to-head for the next few years, he hasn't tamed anything.
At some point, you can't expect overwhelming talent to beat everyone else out. That worked for UK one year, and we barely had the guys we had because of the NBA lockout.
If Cal gets veterans, he could be dangerous, but NIL has drastically changed the college landscape. I don't believe he has the coaching chops to overcome other great, veteran, talented teams year after year. Might be wrong, and I'll own it if I am, but I doubt it based on what we saw at UK.
Something else to think about is that Cal always said that UK isn't for everyone. If he thrives elsewhere (Arky, for example), he might fulfill his own words. That would have to sting knowing that the premier program in college ball was too big for him. Ironically, the time frame that Cal was recruiting this kid and kinda blowing him off really kickstarted his descent as the King of Kentucky.
Yeah and then they were very close to an E8. But i do think he was lucky to get the draw they did. Pitino as his 2 seed was a god send for them. Cal has been Pitino’s Kryptonite for 30 years now. Even the years Rick has managed to beat Cal head to head it hasn’t looked pretty and the games were closer than they should have been. the lone exception was 2016-17
I could be wrong but didn’t originally say he was going to UK then it broke that he actually committed to go to Cal?
I would have quickly said "best of luck. Goodnight" and then hung up. Not much else needs to be said
Yeah he drew the one team who couldn’t shoot a lick. Plays right into a Calipari team strength.
Yeah that was exactly the recruitment and time where he stopped getting every player he really wanted. For some reason he couldn’t get the really elite guys and the ones he did were the Skal’s who disappointed or the Cason Wallace’s who would have been ridiculous 2-3 year players who wouldn’t stay.
They went right back to where they belong after Cal told them to F off.
I used to tell them constantly it won’t last. They are a horrible fan base. Totally think they’re special and national. Dealing with Calipari being there was awful. I always told them UK could take Calipari with no problem but his baggage was stopping it. When news broke we were talking to him I can still remember those days. “Not a chance in Hell Calipari would leave Memphis for UK”.
Then I watched Calipari get his title at UK
