OT: Kentucky Boots 3 players, I Want Brian to Kick Some Redneck Blogging Ass
As you may know, John Calipari massively oversigned this season, resulting in 17 players on scholarship (13 is the max). Today, three players were given the boot. Another 2 players (1 if Jodie Meeks goes pro) need to be kicked off in order for Kentucky to get under the limit.
Brian, is it too much to ask you to make a post tearing John Calipari to shreads ala Nick Saban? Maybe it's just because I know a couple Kentucky basketball fans and they are INCREDIBLY annoying, but I really want them to stop their fawning over "Coach Cal".
http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/story/11789509
It isn't exactly the same situation as it was with Saban. While obviously still not the perfect thing to do, Calipari didn't sign these guys.
Which is actually why it's even more obscene. They signed up to play for Kentucky, then the new coach says "see ya, I need to get MY players in here ya dig?".
I'm not arguing that it is moral or ethical or whatever, just saying that it isn't as heinous as what Saban did.
its still pretty heinous. i really hope there is some sort of media outrage against this.
a couple weeks ago rivals had this mailbag answer:
http://www.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=948508
where jerry meyer (who looks like a pedophile) put such a spin on this situation. instead of railing into calipari, he made it seem like it was in the best interest of the players getting cut to get the numbers down:
"then I'm certain that the players at the bottom of the roster who need to leave will easily be convinced that it is in their interest to transfer to a program where they can get more playing time."
no mention of any snarky behavior.
Seems alright to me.
It sounds like Calipari is helping the guys who still have eligibility find a school that fits them better.
i.e. they're not losing their free education that they may or may not be able to afford on their own...it's much less bad (double negative much?). My problem is when kids are thrown away with no regards to their future.
Basketball recruiting is dirty, dirty, dirty, dirty, dirty, dirty Thad Matta, drity Johm Calipari dirt.
except he waited until September to cut the kids, which pretty much screwed them over as far as finding another school.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/28/sports/ncaabasketball/28harvard.html?…
There are no athletic scholarships in the Ivy League. The Harvard players didn't have to play basketball to go to school.
I think he meant if they wanted to play bball they didn't have time to transfer or something.
didn't beilein do essentially the same thing to reed baker when he took over? or did reed baker decide to leave the team because beilein told him he wasnt going to get any PT?
Beilein didn't have to cut players. Calipari does because he was 4 scholarships over the limit. This, like the Alabama situation, all boils down to when the coaches have no choice but to cut down scholarship players. It should NEVER be permitted to recruit over a scholarship limit.
Baker's situation was weird. As I understand it, Amaker basically told him that we'd guarantee him a scholarship for one year, and if he proved his worth that year, we'd keep him around. Beilein came in, concluded that Baker didn't have the goods, and the two parted company. It's not clear if Beilein actually pulled his scholarship or just told him he was unlikely to see playing time going forward, but at any rate, this was not a normal situation from the start.
That is my first thought when reading things like this. Belien is bringing in student atheletes, who will give Calipari's one and done hired guns all they can handle, should ever they meet in the tourney.
Bring on Kentucky, I would love to see it!
If a coach came in and did this at UM, I have a feeling that most of us here would be talking about how great it was and how far the program had fallen to make it neccessary do that to get decent players. I know I would; I would blame it all on the previous coach.
Therefore, I will give Calipari a pass for doing it this year. I think it is fine to come in and "hire your own staff." If he overrecruits on a regular basis, though, I will change my mind toward him. But I won't spend any outrage on it. I will save outrage for things that matter more to me than Calipari encouraging a few kids to transfer.
No, I would bitch up a shitstorm that no one would care about. I don't care if a Michigan coach encourages players to transfer. I do care if the Michigan coach encourages players to transfer because HE PROMISED SCHOLARSHIPS TO FOUR NEW PLAYERS HE DIDN'T HAVE ROOM FOR.
Calipari didn't really "overrecruit" - that would imply being 1 or 2 over the limit, with expectations that spots would open up as guys head to the pros. He went after 4 big-name kids, knowing full well that at least 2 or 3 spots would need to open up for them to fit in. I get that he is trying to nab the best players possible, but he put himself in a position where he would need to force out a almost 1/3 of his team to make room. That doesn't make sense to me, and if a UM coach did that, he would deserve whatever vitriol Brian heaped upon him.
Doesn't the Big Ten have rules stating that the teams must know where the scholarships are coming from before they let players sign the LOI? I know they have something like this in football, but I don't follow basketball recruiting as close. The SEC does not, which is why this can happen along with the shenanigans at Alabama. I don't know about other conferences, although I think I remember hearing about oversigning with UNC football this past year.
I was not aware that the B10 had that rule. Are you sure? Can anyone else verify this?
Brian did during the Alabama Kerfluffle.
Also, apparently Dr. Saturday read my post and decided to help me out: Link
I must be losing my shit. I remember the whole discussion (or so I thought), but I would have sworn that he was proposing that as a solution. My bad, thanks for the correction.
Tater once again proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that his moral compass is pointing south.
Just...wow.
Yeah, If one of our coaches did something back, I'd look the other way too...unreal. (shakes head)
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=4210798
And know allegations surfacing in Memphis. Is anyone even mildly surprised?
Absolutely no one is surprised. Here's a little Nazi-ism but I think you meant now not know.
Thanks for that tidbit, now I will never confuse with Mr. Pony.
Good one.
reading other sites message boards, how OK the Kentucky fans are w/ all of this. They all are defending Cal tooth and nail despite the two current issues afflicting him. (former team violations, and oversigning.) Yet I haven't seen one UK fan say, yeah this is embarrasing. I wonder how we would handle a similar situation here.