My Two Cents...

I'm no expert and I can't say I've watched all of the UK games this year.  I've seen many and parts of most.  

I'm tired of losing to average teams,  I'm tired of having more NBA players than NCAA Titles and SEC Championships.  I'm tired of seeing John Calipari act like a bufoon on the sidelines of UK's college basketball games and criticizing every call and not coaching on every play.  

This and I'm sure more was all on view as I sat at the game on Saturday night in Columbia.  This USC team lost at Auburn and to Georgia at home in the past week or so by 20 in each game and yet they play what should be the most-talented team in the SEC and get beat in a less-than-hostile environment.  There were 14,000 fans or so at South Carolina and at least 7,000 were from Big Blue Nation.

The Big Blue Nation didn't leave early.  They stayed the whole time and based on many of the past games in Columbia, they were all ready to come down to the floor in hopes of getting a view of Coach Cal and the Wildcats.  They left sick and with no sight of Calipari except for his coat tails as he left the arena floor ejected.

I was embarrassed as well.  How does a team that is touted as undefeated early lose to the LAST-PLACE team in the SEC?  

My thought is real simple - coaching.

The Cats made a gallant comeback in the final 10 minutes of the game and nearly pulled out the win.  The Gamecocks didn't win this game.  They were as vanilla as they've been all year.  Frank Martin was still pulling his hair out and screaming at the top of his lungs.  But they fought and manned up.  They were more physical and more determined.  They have been pitiful at defending the dribble-drive into the paint all year and I'm sure Calipari planned for that.  But on this one night, Martin played the same players and they defended in the 2-3 zone.

And Cal the first 30 minutes kept trying to feed it in and drive it into the paint.  He didn't change anything in the second half except for one change in the lineup.  After Cal was ejected, the Cats moved the ball more and started taking some more three-point shots and the comeback was on.

Instead of focusing on the three officials and their calling that was bad both ways, the coaching staff focused the Cats on the game and on a plan to attack the zone from outside and you know the result.

Again, the Cocks didn't win this.  The Cats lost this and I personally blame the entire loss and the setbacks this season squarely on Cal.

I've been questioning the recruiting earlier this year but being able to focus on Cal and the bench and the game on Saturday, if this was any indication of how the other games were lost, i can see why they were.  

JMO

I don't know what it's going to take to get this bunch going. Aaron Harrison says the story has yet to be written. Well if they don't start writing soon, it's going to be a very, very short story.  

I'm not advocating the removal of John Calipari just yet, but, if he does happen to leave through whatever means, who do you get to replace him?

The names I keep reading are the following two and it's insane to me:

-Travis Ford? - This dude practically threw that Marcus Smart kid under the bus as that kid was a head case and did nothing to try and reel him in. I don't even recall him admonishing him over assaulting that fan, even if the fan deserved it or not, still can't do it. I can see BCG-type player treatment coming out of this dude, in my opinion.

-John Pelphrey? - Please, this dude drug Arkansas through the mud and while Arkansas is not a traditional power in basketball, I wouldn't call them nobodies either. They're somewhere in between where they can be good on a regular basis to they can have a bad year here and there. Johnny, I appreciate your efforts your senior year, but, no thanks on being the coach good sir.

If I had to pick today, assuming Cal did leave through whatever means, I'd be trying to get Shaka Smart on the phone. I like what he's doing at VCU personally.

Who do you guys pick?

Not throwing him under yet. Just want to see this team play.

My thoughts are Greg Marshall at Wichita. I like Shaka. I like the UVA coach.

Pelphrey NO. Travis Ford, not crazy about.

I hear you man, and I didn't mean to say or imply you were calling for his head, I just was trying to express that it is out there.

No problem and not taken that way at all.

I personally think Coach Cal needs to focus on the Kentucky Basketball Tradition!! He needs to recruit more student athletes and a lot less of the one and dones. It would also help if he gave his team a little praise every now and then instead of all the negativity!!

One thing he said on TV when I watched the replay today that would have me a bit agitated if I were a UK fan was when he said he was all about doing what is best for the player even if it hurts the program. Wait, what? Who's paying your salary here John? Shouldn't you be more worried about what is good for Kentucky. They are paying you to win championships, not be a farm system for the Lakers.

Yeah this players program he's running or says he runs is a legitimate cause for concern because soon the bench is going to be very short and unless he can tweak it a bit and start getting out of classes of 5 kids, getting 3 of the 5 to be ones with potential of staying and building a team then things might start to get out of hand up here. I'm not saying that he shouldn't go after 5* talent but just want him to consider that we also need to be able to field a team and that's where the 2-3 4* guys come into play and maybe even talking your NBA potential talent to stick around when he's not ready. We'll just have to see what happens in the off season.

I'm not calling for a coaching change by any means, but, rather a change in tactics as far as fielding and putting a team on the court.

Now with the rumors of Cal thinking about leaving on his own accord to the NBA, which happens every year, I think it's also interesting to see who people would pick to fill his spot.

Some of his players should have been advised to stay another year at least. It's not always about getting paid as soon as you can. I understand some of these guys come from poverty but hey, you been po this long, what's one more year? Mama will be better off in the long run if baby boy has a longer NBA career right? Daniel Orton, Nerlens Noel, maybe even Brandon Knight and I'm sure I'm missing a few others, would have been a lot better off staying at UK. I would even argue Demarcus Cousins could have used another year to work on his personal demons.