OT: Kentucky Fan on Calipari

[whosurdaddy2720]

The Rupp Rafters message board is a serious trip. Is there such a thing as a fanbase that's TOO passionate?

The venom they spew about a man who's brought them to four final fours and a championship is almost scary. They really expect him to be damn near perfect "or else". There has to be a point where even 9 million a year isn't worth the insanity.

 

[BGesus4]

Their message board will be interesting after tonight’s game

Edit: doesn’t disappoint Next year's class is worthless...

 

[HooperScooper]

Their message board will be interesting after tonight’s game

Edit: doesn’t disappoint Next year's class is worthless...

Well at least Calipari will be happy that he'll get a few more kids into the NBA. Since he can't win championships that's what he seems to care about the most. Which is a noble cause but fans want championships. Rightfully so.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

The deal was never just Calipari gets a lot of money but has to deliver. Kentucky offered the perfect platform to Calipari. Money for him, but also a willingness to help the dirtiest coach in college basketball history cheat at a level never before imagined. Does anyone think Calipari was able to put together an unprecedented series of recruiting classes because he was so charming? He was able to stockpile class after class of NBA lottery picks because he was paying them very well.

Kentucky had the resources to pay these recruits, and the muscle to protect Calipari from getting caught and his wins vacated like he did at UMass and Memphis. But in return, they wanted championships, and lots of them. One championship and four Final Fours for a program that has had the amount of top tier NBA talent come through that Kentucky has bought is pathetic.

Now it is all over. There is basically no such thing as cheating, and the talent can and will go anywhere and get paid. I think people really do not appreciate what a seismic shift NIL is for college sports, and especially for programs like Kentucky basketball.

 

[ucp990411]

Well at least Calipari will be happy that he'll get a few more kids into the NBA. Since he can't win championships that's what he seems to care about the most. Which is a noble cause but fans want championships. Rightfully so.

These players that Calipari gets to the league come to him ready to play in the league. Has he ever gotten a fringe player into the league by helping that player improve? Whatever happened to those supposed can't miss Harrelson twins?

 

[HooperScooper]

I usually don't revel in other people's failures, but this does warm my heart.

The big national headline, however, is still that Kentucky will enter January with zero Quadrant 1 wins and even less of an identity. Calipari has neither the type of overwhelming NBA talent he's normally had at UK, nor an obvious understanding of how to maximize the pieces actually in the program. That's a bad combination that's led to a rough start to this season and the removal of the Wildcats from Thursday morning's updated CBS Sports Top 25 And 1 daily college basketball rankings.

Calipari has always had his critics, sure, but the concerning thing for him now is that his most intense critics are diehard fans of the program he's running, and that's never really been the case for him at the collegiate level since he began his head coaching career more than three decades ago.

Is there still time to get things right?

Of course.

But history tells us once your own fans turn on you to this degree it's difficult to completely win them back over, and the fact that KenPom is now projecting Kentucky to lose eight more times before Selection Sunday suggests that Big Blue Nation will likely spend the next three months just growing more and more disgruntled with a very expensive coach who is finding it harder than ever to meet expectations.

College basketball rankings: Kentucky falls from Top 25 And 1 as John Calipari critics grow louder

The Wildcats, No. 1 in KenPom.com's preseason rankings, dropped to 8-4 after a blowout loss to Missouri

www.cbssports.com

 

[WestCoastHusky]

The deal was never just Calipari gets a lot of money but has to deliver. Kentucky offered the perfect platform to Calipari. Money for him, but also a willingness to help the dirtiest coach in college basketball history cheat at a level never before imagined. Does anyone think Calipari was able to put together an unprecedented series of recruiting classes because he was so charming? He was able to stockpile class after class of NBA lottery picks because he was paying them very well.

Kentucky had the resources to pay these recruits, and the muscle to protect Calipari from getting caught and his wins vacated like he did at UMass and Memphis. But in return, they wanted championships, and lots of them. One championship and four Final Fours for a program that has had the amount of top tier NBA talent come through that Kentucky has bought is pathetic.

Now it is all over. There is basically no such thing as cheating, and the talent can and will go anywhere and get paid. I think people really do not appreciate what a seismic shift NIL is for college sports, and especially for programs like Kentucky basketball.

NIL is really a game-changer for college sports.