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Now that Cal and UK have finally won that NC with a team full of wunderkind after reaching -4 with a young team the year before did we just witness the beginning of a pattern where a program can reload on a yearly basis and compete for the NC year after year? Now I realize that UK achieved a F-4 Finish-Partial Reload-NC two-year run, but they are in position to pick up another uber-talented class and keep the pattern going. If they do so, but also lose their entire starting line-up that consisted of 3 freshman and 2 sophomores (Lamb & Jones), the latter who at least had one year under their belt, it's yet to be seen if they can win back-to-back NCs or at least get back to -4 and then maybe win the NC the year after that.
One thing is for sure, as much as I don't like Cal, he knows how to develop players and found a way to get this latest crop of elite ones to buy into his program and play unselfishly. They just might have made it to the Championship game last year if Knight had bought into this. I'm still thankful that he followed the pattern I've seen where the top freshman or sophomore shoots his team prematurely right out of the tournament, but I digress.
Now UK did have one upperclassman in Darius Miller who contributed. He often came off the bench but did have his share of big shots throughout the season. If they lose their entire starting 5 plus Miller, history tells us that a team without some sort of returning leadership rarely if ever wins the NC, so the pattern might be more like a 2 year one. Now I bet many of us would sign up for a Reload-F4-Partial Reload-NC-Reload-F4-Partial Reload-NC type Pattern.
As much as many of us don't like Cal he may have finally created the right culture at the right program. It's hard to blame the best of the best for wanting to play together for a year or two, knowing they can hone their skills, win a load of games, have a great shot at winning the NC and getting drafted high, even though they need to share the spotlight with their fellow elite teammates. It's hard to argue that in most cases, his players improve and many go on to be very good NBA players. I realize a lot of them are coming with a great deal of talent, but there are many coaches that are good at either screwing up that talent or developing it slowly. Cal has coached players that came in with great potential into great players. He's also developed some unheralded ones into very good ones as well, something that JC has excelled at over the years. For those who think he's just a slick car salesman that simply throws the ball out there and says play, isn't paying attention.
In the past, a team that loses a bunch of talented underclassmen often are not able to fill all their holes with ready-to-contribute freshman. Cal seems to be the first or one of the first to do so and looks to be in position to reload in similar fashion for another run at the F4 and NC over the next year or two. We'll have to wait and see how things play out with the remaining 2012 class and to some degree what talent UK lands in the 2013 class as well, but I would not be shocked if UK lands Nerlens Noel and Shabazz Muhammad and maybe even Bennett to go along with Poythress, Goodwin & Cauley, who have already committed to UK. That would be yet another scary bunch of talented freshmen. I think someone mentioned that there is some talented transfer PG that will be eligible next season. If that's the case and they lose Teague, who I think should return for another season, they might have enough leadership for another deep run. Having experience and talent at the PG position is usually critical to go deep in March. Teague would seem to be one player who is very important for Cal to convince his return for next season.
Now don't get me wrong. I like the way JC has built our UConn program on the backs of the unheralded. I hope that continues long after JC hands over the reigns to the next Head Coach whenever that day arrives. Granted he gets his handful of McD AAs (Donyell, Rip, Khalid, Taliek, Rudy, Kemba, etc.) and highly touted freshman (Caron, Drummond, Hasheem, etc.), but it's the combination of them and the unheralded (Smitty, Nadav, Ollie, Ray, Donny, Jake, KFree, Emeka, Ben, Hilton, Boone, Lamb, Bazz, etc.) that has made rooting for UConn one of the most exciting rides we've ever experienced. I'm good with that model. There are few programs that could even pull off what Cal is doing at UK. And of course it's quite satisfying when our program knocks off the Burger AA laden programs such the UK's and Dook's of the college basketball world.
One thing is for sure, as much as I don't like Cal, he knows how to develop players and found a way to get this latest crop of elite ones to buy into his program and play unselfishly. They just might have made it to the Championship game last year if Knight had bought into this. I'm still thankful that he followed the pattern I've seen where the top freshman or sophomore shoots his team prematurely right out of the tournament, but I digress.
Now UK did have one upperclassman in Darius Miller who contributed. He often came off the bench but did have his share of big shots throughout the season. If they lose their entire starting 5 plus Miller, history tells us that a team without some sort of returning leadership rarely if ever wins the NC, so the pattern might be more like a 2 year one. Now I bet many of us would sign up for a Reload-F4-Partial Reload-NC-Reload-F4-Partial Reload-NC type Pattern.
As much as many of us don't like Cal he may have finally created the right culture at the right program. It's hard to blame the best of the best for wanting to play together for a year or two, knowing they can hone their skills, win a load of games, have a great shot at winning the NC and getting drafted high, even though they need to share the spotlight with their fellow elite teammates. It's hard to argue that in most cases, his players improve and many go on to be very good NBA players. I realize a lot of them are coming with a great deal of talent, but there are many coaches that are good at either screwing up that talent or developing it slowly. Cal has coached players that came in with great potential into great players. He's also developed some unheralded ones into very good ones as well, something that JC has excelled at over the years. For those who think he's just a slick car salesman that simply throws the ball out there and says play, isn't paying attention.
In the past, a team that loses a bunch of talented underclassmen often are not able to fill all their holes with ready-to-contribute freshman. Cal seems to be the first or one of the first to do so and looks to be in position to reload in similar fashion for another run at the F4 and NC over the next year or two. We'll have to wait and see how things play out with the remaining 2012 class and to some degree what talent UK lands in the 2013 class as well, but I would not be shocked if UK lands Nerlens Noel and Shabazz Muhammad and maybe even Bennett to go along with Poythress, Goodwin & Cauley, who have already committed to UK. That would be yet another scary bunch of talented freshmen. I think someone mentioned that there is some talented transfer PG that will be eligible next season. If that's the case and they lose Teague, who I think should return for another season, they might have enough leadership for another deep run. Having experience and talent at the PG position is usually critical to go deep in March. Teague would seem to be one player who is very important for Cal to convince his return for next season.
Now don't get me wrong. I like the way JC has built our UConn program on the backs of the unheralded. I hope that continues long after JC hands over the reigns to the next Head Coach whenever that day arrives. Granted he gets his handful of McD AAs (Donyell, Rip, Khalid, Taliek, Rudy, Kemba, etc.) and highly touted freshman (Caron, Drummond, Hasheem, etc.), but it's the combination of them and the unheralded (Smitty, Nadav, Ollie, Ray, Donny, Jake, KFree, Emeka, Ben, Hilton, Boone, Lamb, Bazz, etc.) that has made rooting for UConn one of the most exciting rides we've ever experienced. I'm good with that model. There are few programs that could even pull off what Cal is doing at UK. And of course it's quite satisfying when our program knocks off the Burger AA laden programs such the UK's and Dook's of the college basketball world.
