Thamel

[UConn9604]

It's possible he's doing this for the singular purpose of pissing me off, but if I read one more article about Kentucky's "superior team" getting "outfoxed" by "a less talented team," I'm going to jump out a window.

The kicker was this:

This win for Ollie will age well, as Calipari's more talented freshmen grow into NBA stars and Ollie's players meander through their professional basketball careers.
Really, Pete?

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/-c...-connecticut-huskies-john-calipari/?eref=sihp

 

[phillionaire]

It's possible he's doing this for the singular purpose of pissing me off, but if I read one more article about Kentucky's "superior team" getting "outfoxed" by "a less talented team," I'm going to jump out a window.

The kicker was this:
This win for Ollie will age well, as Calipari's more talented freshmen grow into NBA stars and Ollie's players meander through their professional basketball careers.
Really, Pete?

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/-c...-connecticut-huskies-john-calipari/?eref=sihp

saltier than the dead sea

 

[nym410]

I saw about 100 predicitions from experts yesterday. Some picked UK, some picked UConn. They were all close games. Except for one. His pick was 81-65 UK. Guess who made it?

 

[Mr. French]

While I do agree with you, there are slight digs all over at us, but let's remember the gist of the article: He is RIPPING Cal in a way that no one else does very often, and in a way that we as UConn fans and Squid haters agree with...

If you look at the comments, the UK fans are livid, and I can't say that I wouldn't be too if this was my team's coach. I hate Squid more than anyone, and I loved reading that article. Just focus on that, which is the main point of the article. It will feel much better.

Plus, his point in taking that small dig at our talent level is that in 5 years, if that UK team has 4-5 really good pros, and we have a bunch of journeyman, people are going to look at Squid the way we do at Rick Barnes or Ben Howland with those talent laden squads that came up short. That's really what he's getting at.

 

[freescooter]

Calipari is a great recruiter. He's a terrible game coach. His disciple at memphis is Little Cal. though he is not anywhere near as slimy.

 

[UConn9604]

While I do agree with you, there are slight digs all over at us, but let's remember the gist of the article: He is RIPPING Cal in a way that no one else does very often, and in a way that we as UConn fans and Squid haters agree with...

If you look at the comments, the UK fans are livid, and I can't say that I wouldn't be too if this was my team's coach. I hate Squid more than anyone, and I loved reading that article. Just focus on that, which is the main point of the article. It will feel much better.

Plus, his point in taking that small dig at our talent level is that in 5 years, if that UK team has 4-5 really good pros, and we have a bunch of journeyman, people are going to look at Squid the way we do at Rick Barnes or Ben Howland with those talent laden squads that came up short. That's really what he's getting at.

That's fair, but whenever I see "talent" in print, it's usually written by someone who thinks basketball is only offense and not defense.

Plus, one of his theories was that "Calipari didn't stop the clock and force the Huskies to make pressure free throws."

Which is funny, because I was begging for the EXACT SAME STRATEGY out of Calipari, but for completely different reasons...

 

[aceboon]

I saw about 100 predicitions from experts yesterday. Some picked UK, some picked UConn. They were all close games. Except for one. His pick was 81-65 UK. Guess who made it?

LMAO @ him thinking UConn's D would give up 81 pts, wtf had dude been watching all tourney

 

[J-dog]

Our guards were better than their guards & their big guys while very athletic, are not highly skilled basketball players…

Young was by far their best player on the floor & that wasn't enough…

It's not unreasonable to think if we didn't have that first half foul trouble that this game wold have never gotten that close...

 

[BNich]

Everyone of the analysts on ESPN, CBS etc. aren't sure Uconn's the best basketball team in the country? They beat the only other team left standing. They are the BEST. Believe it! Who else do they have to beat? Another team that had won 30 straight since they last lost to who other than Uconn, or another #1 preseason ranked team, or another conference champion. Who else does Uconn need to beat for this team to earn some credibility?! Give these young men some credit for the hardwork they put in, the heart they showed, and the skill that led them to the championship. The only team left standing.

 

[1husky]

In a world of douchy, arrogant, holier-than-thou "sports journalists" there are not many more unprofessional or more biased than this Cuse . He doesn't even try to pretend he is a pro. It's espcially bad with his twitter feed but even his columns are over the top. SI should can his pathetic ass.​

 

[alexd]

How about the last sentence?


And that leads us to a final fitting twist. On a night when a rumor about John Calipari coaching the Lakers buzzed through AT&T Stadium, he got outcoached by a much more viable candidate for the job.

 

[tzznandrew]

It's possible he's doing this for the singular purpose of pissing me off, but if I read one more article about Kentucky's "superior team" getting "outfoxed" by "a less talented team," I'm going to jump out a window.

The kicker was this:
This win for Ollie will age well, as Calipari's more talented freshmen grow into NBA stars and Ollie's players meander through their professional basketball careers.
Really, Pete?

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/-c...-connecticut-huskies-john-calipari/?eref=sihp

Ok...I'll bite. Which of the Kentucky players will be NBA Stars?

So far, with all the one and dones, they have three players who may qualify. Anthony Davis is a no brainer. John Wall has been fantastic. Demarcus Cousins is very good as well.

I see no one on this year's UK team who are as good as any of those.

Randle is good, but I think he isn't big enough, nor have deep enough range or defensive skills, to effectively play the NBA 4 or 5, nor the ball handling ability to play the 3. He's a tweener. I think he can have a good, but not great, career.
The Harrisons lack elite athleticism. Sure, they're big, but they'll get abused by NBA 1s and 2s worse than by Napier and Boatright.
Willie Cauley-Stein and Poythress can be good bench players, but they aren't going to be stars. I'd wager Dakari Johnson won't be either.

Which leaves Young. He's their only hope, I think, to be an NBA star. But he's no sure bet like the three stars I named above.

 

[Nostical]

That small dig at our talent level is that in 5 years, if that UK team has 4-5 really good pros, and we have a bunch of journeyman, people are going to look at Squid the way we do at Rick Barnes or Ben Howland with those talent laden squads that came up short. That's really what he's getting at.

On the other hand, was George Mason really better than our first rounders? There were pundits asking how could we have lost that game in the Elite Eight? Where are those George Mason players today? That's what the KY crowd is saying about us. Time will tell who has better pro careers, but it doesn't matter in the short term. We beat all comers and are indeed the best team in America. And Cal was out coached by our guy. It was pretty obvious and that's what irks the KY crowd the most.

 

[UConn5]

I mean whatever. That team may consistent of a bunch of guys that have longer NBA careers, but we had a better team.

I agree that Thamel is the only person I've seen that is willing to rip Calipari like this. Everyone else is gonna say "oh man they didn't hit their free throws" or "oh man they were rattled, they're young."

Thamel is just getting after Calipari himself. Love it.

 

[Carl Spackler]

Thamel is a tool. I think that it's a strong probability that he spent most of the night coming up with an angle on writing about the championship game that could have him somehow get knocks in against UCONN. It's all there in the first paragraph, and the conclusion. He set up Calipari as some kind of mentor for Ollie and at the same time made UCONN an inferior team. Then he opines that Ollie is a viable candidate for a job other than UCONN.

Hey Pete - hope you're reading. Calipari is one of the many, many coaches that Ollie has played for at some point in his career. Kentucky is 0-2 vs. UCONN in the final four. NBA is a different level of competition than NCAA. NCAA championships are earned through successful regular season play, and then advancing through a tournament field of the top 64 teams in the country. UCONN in the past 16 seasons, owns 4 NCAA national titles now. No other program has won more than one since 1999. That makes UCONN, by far the best basketball program in the country, in the current century. The problems of the recent past away from the court, that were punished - fairly or not - irrelevant now - have been corrected. In May, the three seniors that remained through it, will graduate with 6 rings between them and 3 diplomas. Calipari is an advocate of the one and done recruiting method to the NBA. UCONN, has also managed to do something that other programs that say - only have one title in the past 16 years, have not - and that's transition from an aging coach, to a younger generation. That is what the pinnacle of college basketball is about. That's what UCONN did.

Pete - you chose to write about the NBA and John Calipari's antics. Go cover the NBA. Putz.

 

[upstater]

While I do agree with you, there are slight digs all over at us, but let's remember the gist of the article: He is RIPPING Cal in a way that no one else does very often, and in a way that we as UConn fans and Squid haters agree with...

If you look at the comments, the UK fans are livid, and I can't say that I wouldn't be too if this was my team's coach. I hate Squid more than anyone, and I loved reading that article. Just focus on that, which is the main point of the article. It will feel much better.

Plus, his point in taking that small dig at our talent level is that in 5 years, if that UK team has 4-5 really good pros, and we have a bunch of journeyman, people are going to look at Squid the way we do at Rick Barnes or Ben Howland with those talent laden squads that came up short. That's really what he's getting at.

I simply can't think of a better team.

Can you?

I mean, UConn beat the A10 Champion, it beat the B1G Champion, it beat the BE champion, it beat the SEC Champion twice and the SEC runner-up, it beat the B12 Champion. The only Champion it didn't beat was the AAC Champion. Maybe they're the best team? But then why is that Louisville team losing twice to Memphis? A team UConn beat 3 times? Why is that Louisville team losing twice to Kentucky? A team UConn beat once and a team that lost twice to the #1 team and #1 seed in the country Florida (which, as I already stated, UConn beat twice).

 

[storrsroars]

No other program has won more than one since 1999.

Yo, Carl... Billy D did something even we didn't do. Back-to-back NCs.

Not that we couldn't do that soon...

 

[Mr. French]

I simply can't think of a better team.

Can you?

I mean, UConn beat the A10 Champion, it beat the B1G Champion, it beat the BE champion, it beat the SEC Champion twice and the SEC runner-up, it beat the B12 Champion. The only Champion it didn't beat was the AAC Champion. Maybe they're the best team? But then why is that Louisville team losing twice to Memphis? A team UConn beat 3 times? Why is that Louisville team losing twice to Kentucky? A team UConn beat once and a team that lost twice to the #1 team and #1 seed in the country Florida (which, as I already stated, UConn beat twice).

Truthfully I didn't even finish your entire paragraph, and not out of disrespect for a Buffalo guy, I simply 100% agree. I'm not one of these guys that agrees they are more "talented" bc to me physical ability is not the same as basketball talent. So I HATE when ppl say that. They were one of the most physically gifted teams but not the most talented in basketball.

I really just wanted the OP to recognize that this writer was actually writing a really negative, really ballsy quite frankly article about what an awful coach Squid is, which I've said for years. And the ppl with the real problem with that article are UK fans, so let's bask in that rather than be offended by digs. He only threw those digs in to make his point more effectively. Any point that craps on Squid is worth it to me.

 

[The Funster]

Major ripping of Calipari. Maybe Thamel downplayed UConn to make his point but not much, IMO.

 

[upstater]

I hate the Cuse toadies in the media almost as much as Calapari.

 

[TheChamps990411]

LMAO @ him thinking UConn's D would give up 81 pts, wtf had dude been watching all tourney

Stephen A. said the final score would be 77-74 on First Take and i laughed. No way was uconn giving up nearly 80 points. i thought uk would be lucky to hit 60.

 

[TheChamps990411]

It's possible he's doing this for the singular purpose of pissing me off, but if I read one more article about Kentucky's "superior team" getting "outfoxed" by "a less talented team," I'm going to jump out a window.

The kicker was this:
This win for Ollie will age well, as Calipari's more talented freshmen grow into NBA stars and Ollie's players meander through their professional basketball careers.
Really, Pete?

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/-c...-connecticut-huskies-john-calipari/?eref=sihp

What an idiotic and pointless thing to say which was an obvious dig at uconns players. classless. I get his point but he said it in a piss poor manner. in 10 years if Randle,Young and the Twins are all stars and Bazz and Daniels are back ups and no one else from this team is on an nba roster this win will look even more impressive. Problem with that is i think Bazz will eventually be a starting pg in the nba,DD i think should have decent career as a role player and AB could turn out to be a stud who is a high lottery pick and possibly an all star caliber 7 foot center in the nba.

 

[Carl Spackler]

Yo, Carl... Billy D did something even we didn't do. Back-to-back NCs.

Not that we couldn't do that soon...

Thanks for correcting me. I'm out of my element writing here, but it's a special day. I'm still basking in the glow. What the guys accomplished is trully remarkable - for the all the reasons I stated. Minor accounting error here - the rest of the message stands.

It just annoys me incredibly the Syracuse alum lackeys in the media and their twisted writing. I would bet anything that Thamel chose this angle to write after careful consideration to find a way not to have to acknowledge what UCONN has done. UCONN is, without a doubt the best NCAA basketball program in the country in the current century going back to 1999, and was pretty good before that going back another decade too.

Calipari is well known for what he is. Pitino tried his hand in the NBA too, others have too and come back to college. Calipari's entire career is sketchy. THere is as much chance the the 5 players that started last night will be NBA stars in a couple years, as there is that the Kentucky's appearance last night will be vacated from the record books.

Writing aobut Calipari's antics and grilling him - isn't anything of a surprise, but being strong about it covers up the fact that he can find a way to completely fail to acknowledge the best NCAA basketball program in the country for the past 16 years and counting.

I personally think, that it's gotten much worse as the years go by. The Syracuse "hoarde" embedded in teh media couldn't tolerate UCONN - Cuse hoops situation, but when we started beating the crap out of them year in and year out on the football field it was too much. There are a lot of them out there like Thamel.

It makes me very happy, to see that Bilas tweeted what he did today about UCONN and APR. THe Dukies in the media aren't going to put up with the crap that Syracuse alumsn will do not that they are in the same league.

UCONN needs a sports journalism major dept.

I hope the girls kick ND's butt.

 

[Wise2]

Thanks for correcting me. I'm out of my element writing here, but it's a special day. I'm still basking in the glow. What the guys accomplished is trully remarkable - for the all the reasons I stated. Minor accounting error here - the rest of the message stands.

It just annoys me incredibly the Syracuse alum lackeys in the media and their twisted writing. I would bet anything that Thamel chose this angle to write after careful consideration to find a way not to have to acknowledge what UCONN has done. UCONN is, without a doubt the best NCAA basketball program in the country in the current century going back to 1999, and was pretty good before that going back another decade too.

Calipari is well known for what he is. Pitino tried his hand in the NBA too, others have too and come back to college. Calipari's entire career is sketchy. THere is as much chance the the 5 players that started last night will be NBA stars in a couple years, as there is that the Kentucky's appearance last night will be vacated from the record books.

Writing aobut Calipari's antics and grilling him - isn't anything of a surprise, but being strong about it covers up the fact that he can find a way to completely fail to acknowledge the best NCAA basketball program in the country for the past 16 years and counting.

I personally think, that it's gotten much worse as the years go by. The Syracuse "hoarde" embedded in teh media couldn't tolerate UCONN - Cuse hoops situation, but when we started beating the crap out of them year in and year out on the football field it was too much. There are a lot of them out there like Thamel.

It makes me very happy, to see that Bilas tweeted what he did today about UCONN and APR. THe Dukies in the media aren't going to put up with the crap that Syracuse alumsn will do not that they are in the same league.

UCONN needs a sports journalism major dept.

I hope the girls kick ND's butt.

we need to compile a list of all the Cuse media. Then we can just ignore them and read or listen to everyone else. Its still funny that the best one out their is a Duke grad

 

[FDNY99]

Pete Thamel is a UCONN hating Syracuse grad tool! The next time he has anything good to say about us will be the first. It is journalists like him having the stage he has had at bith the NY Times and SI that have not helped us one bit in CR. He banned me from following him on twitter after I called him out about trashing UCONN.