Long post incoming. I've been frustrated this season, and this is what I see as our biggest worry moving forward.
Count me as someone who believes most of our recruiting woes can be chalked up to shady, behind-the-scenes stuff. Whether that means deteriorated Nike relationships, funny business in Durham, etc. I'm not privy to the specifics, but I'm not naive, either.
But, just for the sake of discussion, imagine that the world of recruiting is totally on the level. What you see is what you get. In this case, imagine how easy it is to recruit against UK right now. If I'm walking into a recruit's home today, I'm the head of a relatively successful program, and UK is my main competitor, then I'm as confident as can be.
The recruit wants better their brand by going somewhere they'll get lots of national fanfare? Cool, there are 6-7 schools that get discussed in the media as much as UK this year. Come play at my school, where you can make Sportscenter and not have to worry so much about being in a pressure cooker with hyper-emotional fans.
The recruit has budding relationships with UK's staff? Which ones? The analytics dude who's never won anything? The failed head coach who only has his job because Cal feels sorry for him? The bigs coach who hasn't successfully developed a star prospect since...? Or the head honcho, who just threw his players under the bus after an OT loss in the second biggest games of their careers in Madison Square Garden?
The recruit wants to get drafted? Well, fortunately, the NBA draft is actually a lot closer to the NFL draft than Cal would have you believe. If you're a star, they're not going to forget about you on draft day, whether you're on a terrible LSU team, a terrible Washington team, etc. If you're good enough, you'll go. With or without the dubious Calipari magic.
The recruit just wants to flat out win? Well, there have been several programs winning at UK's level for the past three years, and most of them didn't get this season started by getting throttled so badly that it sent their fans reeling for months.
So yeah, very frustrating. What do we do? I'm not sure. I definitely don't think replacing Cal is a realistic or even desirable option. I would probably recommend a gigantic staff shakeup, and even beyond that, Cal's whole gimmick needs to be revamped. No more 'This isn't for everyone.' Kiss *** if you need to. Tell Bol Bol he can play point guard for all I care. Just get the best kids on campus, because that's going to be our lifeblood as long as he's here.
Count me as someone who believes most of our recruiting woes can be chalked up to shady, behind-the-scenes stuff. Whether that means deteriorated Nike relationships, funny business in Durham, etc. I'm not privy to the specifics, but I'm not naive, either.
But, just for the sake of discussion, imagine that the world of recruiting is totally on the level. What you see is what you get. In this case, imagine how easy it is to recruit against UK right now. If I'm walking into a recruit's home today, I'm the head of a relatively successful program, and UK is my main competitor, then I'm as confident as can be.
The recruit wants better their brand by going somewhere they'll get lots of national fanfare? Cool, there are 6-7 schools that get discussed in the media as much as UK this year. Come play at my school, where you can make Sportscenter and not have to worry so much about being in a pressure cooker with hyper-emotional fans.
The recruit has budding relationships with UK's staff? Which ones? The analytics dude who's never won anything? The failed head coach who only has his job because Cal feels sorry for him? The bigs coach who hasn't successfully developed a star prospect since...? Or the head honcho, who just threw his players under the bus after an OT loss in the second biggest games of their careers in Madison Square Garden?
The recruit wants to get drafted? Well, fortunately, the NBA draft is actually a lot closer to the NFL draft than Cal would have you believe. If you're a star, they're not going to forget about you on draft day, whether you're on a terrible LSU team, a terrible Washington team, etc. If you're good enough, you'll go. With or without the dubious Calipari magic.
The recruit just wants to flat out win? Well, there have been several programs winning at UK's level for the past three years, and most of them didn't get this season started by getting throttled so badly that it sent their fans reeling for months.
So yeah, very frustrating. What do we do? I'm not sure. I definitely don't think replacing Cal is a realistic or even desirable option. I would probably recommend a gigantic staff shakeup, and even beyond that, Cal's whole gimmick needs to be revamped. No more 'This isn't for everyone.' Kiss *** if you need to. Tell Bol Bol he can play point guard for all I care. Just get the best kids on campus, because that's going to be our lifeblood as long as he's here.
