379 (edited by Shredit 2012-04-02 23:56:28)

Re: NCAA Basketball

Curby wrote:

Shred and Bill,

Guess you guys don't follow Calipari.  Not only did he leave Memphis in the middle of the night, but he took his top three recruits with him to UK.  Our cheating Kelvin Sampson had a top 5 class at Oklahoma and didn't touch 'em.  Self isnowhere in the same orbit as Coach Cal.

No Curby I know Calipari, my nephew lives in Memphis, my niece is a freshmen there too (sounds corny, but a fresh-woman sounds worse)....Lance and I always talk basketball, he played alot growing up in the bay area.....when Cal pulled that crap, I ripped him a new one to my nephew "looks like your boy is dirty again, I never liked that used car salesman"....Cal is slicky than snot, and just as nasty....got to be "nice" to Lance, he works for the IRS and looks over our taxes, he's not allowed to charge for his services....so anyhow, I do know Cal (damned pretty boy lol)

Shreddy

Re: NCAA Basketball

I am really, really HAPPY FOR LIZ, its fun to be a winner and she is a very devoted fan!! Calipari delivered and that is what he was hired to do! However, I don't think I will ever be able to look the other way as far as Calipari's past, especially when I'm not so sure he's changed all of his ways, even though he is doing good things for his image. (damage control)

Regardless of Calipari individually, I am really discouraged by the college sports world. The most winningest programs in College basketball have turned into breeding grounds for the NBA. There is corruption and recruiting violations everywhere and plenty that are getting away with it that we don't even know about. It seems like everywhere one looks anymore, someone is being dishonest...I just read a story about the bridge commission in the Philly area and how a percentage of our increased tolls are going to pay debt and money owed for political favors etc. I'm just not so sure what kind of mixed signals the youth of America are receiving from folks in power anymore...Personally, I think too many peoples moral compass have gone astray!!

If you run a clean program, can you still win in college sports? I wonder... wink

OK, off the soap box...looking forward to baseball to help me escape reality! lol

Curby wrote:

Shred and Bill,

Guess you guys don't follow Calipari.  Not only did he leave Memphis in the middle of the night, but he took his top three recruits with him to UK.  Our cheating Kelvin Sampson had a top 5 class at Oklahoma and didn't touch 'em.  Self isnowhere in the same orbit as Coach Cal.

StringsforaCURE~Helping cancer patients one STRING at a time.
http://stringsforacure.com/

Re: NCAA Basketball

Congrats Liz, and hope you are back soon. Thanks for bringing it home to the SEC, we are proud of your Cats for getting it done.

Tres

As corn through a goose, so are the days of our lives

Re: NCAA Basketball

It was never even close.  UK dominated from the opening tip.  Way to Geaux Cats!

383

Re: NCAA Basketball

Just up. News that our Aztecs have lined up a game with mighty UCLA next season. They finally have stooped to letting us play them in the Wooden Classic. (word is attendance is lagging and the rabid fans down here will pack the stands) The locals have laid waste to the Pac powers the last two years with USC and Ariz. the latest victims so we'll see. Already looking forward to next year. smile
Rick

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Re: NCAA Basketball

RickB wrote:

Just up. News that our Aztecs have lined up a game with mighty UCLA next season. They finally have stooped to letting us play them in the Wooden Classic. (word is attendance is lagging and the rabid fans down here will pack the stands) The locals have laid waste to the Pac powers the last two years with USC and Ariz. the latest victims so we'll see. Already looking forward to next year. smile
Rick

Wonder if Pauley Pavillion will be up and running by then. The plans call for a 2 year renovation. Sounds par for the course with UC projects like the renovations @ Memorial Stadium in Berkeley. Leave it to those wizards @ Stanford to demo and build a new state of the art stadium in less than 12 months. A damn nice stadium at that.

                                                                                                                        Rock The Vote,

                                                                                                                        J Dawg

What is success? Is it do yo' own thang, or is it to join the rest?   -Allen Toussaint

Re: NCAA Basketball

Curby wrote:

Shred and Bill,

Guess you guys don't follow Calipari.  Not only did he leave Memphis in the middle of the night, but he took his top three recruits with him to UK.  Our cheating Kelvin Sampson had a top 5 class at Oklahoma and didn't touch 'em.  Self isnowhere in the same orbit as Coach Cal.

Curby,
It just doesn't have the same impact unless he does it to a team you follow.
That said, sleeze balls are sleeze balls...not sure you get extra points for being a repeat offender, lol.

"Rock ON & Keep the Faith"

386 (edited by Curby 2012-04-03 21:38:26)

Re: NCAA Basketball

First off congrats to Liz and Big Blue Nation for a great season.  Nowhere in the US is basketball more loved than in the Bluegrass.  They now have 8 National Championships and could have won it all in '10 and '11 with a pinch more luck.  I have to remind myself that these kids are still teenagers and that today's athletes are way more seasoned than the stars of my era.  Despite my feelings for Calipari I found myself in awe of Anthony Davis and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist.  Those two are throwback players that come to play every night and if you're going to beat them you damn well better bring your A+ game.  I'd rank them maybe the two best ever to don a Kentucky jersey.
The flip side of Kentucky winning was the awkwardness of the trophy presentation involving a coach who has vacated two Final Four appearances and seasons.  Calipari carries more baggage than Madonna.  Even more disturbing was seeing all the starters going into the stands and hugging William Wesley, aka World Wide Wes, a guy probably #1 on the NCAA's most wanted list.  I came across an interesting post about the one and done of college basketball.  I'll let you guys make your own assumptions regarding its validity.

From someone connected...


I am writing this due to the number of posts that accuse several major programs of cheating and the follow up posts that ask why doesn't the NCAA do anything about it. First let me say, that I have coached at some of the biggest HS basketball camps in the country and I have family and friends at every level of basketball from NBA GM's to college coaches, high school coaches, agents themselves and journalists at ESPN.

What I am writing is not a guess of what's going on in college recruiting it is a fact. Several years ago cheating as a college coach meant your school was paying HS or Junior College players to sign with them. The going rate for top 20 talent was around 50k cash. Some schools like Missouri got caught and many others did not.

Things started to change when the NBA first made the rule allowing kids to be drafted straight out of HS. This rule gave agents an incentive to start cultivating relationships with HS players and coaches and "handlers". Once those relationships were made, agents became the power brokers of college basketball. However, this didn't really impact the game until the NBA once again changed the rules and stated that a player must at least wait one year after his class graduates to be drafted.

This rule meant that the agents had to find college coaches that would take the player's they had great relationships with and not try and turn the player's toward a competing agent while that player played for that coach. This is where I know every top ten program play's the game if you will. You do not get several McDonald all american's without understanding how this works.

Now here is where Coach Cal up's the ante. While many coaches will do what I mentioned above most will still try and keep the player's in college as long as possible or at least until the player is definitely ready for the next step. Coach Cal does the opposite and the agents love it. Coach Cal's message is you have one year here and then I am kicking you out. The agents love it, because they get the player back earlier which helps in two ways, the obvious one being agents make money when players sign contracts and two the shorter period of time a player is in college the less chance another agent will be able to sway them to their agency. The player's love it because they know starting spots will definitely open up for them and Coach Cal is going to give them heavy minutes and do all he can to push them to the NBA.

Added on top of this is the fact that it is UK and Coach Cal is considered by those of us in the game to be a good coach and there you go, UK get's just about any player they want.

Don't get me wrong, there are other coaches who agents believe do a good job preparing player's for the NBA, only most of them have a conscience and won't push a player out of the program whether they are ready or not. If you notice this year's UK team has a couple of sophomores, the main reason for that is the NBA lockout. Jones is definitely gone last year if it was a normal year and maybe even Lamb although occasionally agents will let Cal keep a player there if the player has a chance to move up from a second rounder or free agent to a first rounder because first round draft picks get guaranteed cash and second rounders most often do not. Player doesn't make money neither do the agents.

It should be noted not all agents play this game, however several of the biggest one's do and Coach Cal is tied in tight with them.

Now the question is, is this cheating or not, in many cases player's or their families or handler's get a line of credit ( there are many times the player doesn't even know about it)
to me this is obviously cheating by the agents, but where do the colleges come in. I can tell you the college coaches have nothing to do with the cash and don't want to know if a player received any benefits or not from the agent. Yes, they all bury their head in the sand. But before you crucify them realize they don't have much of a choice, they do not know who get's paid and who doesn't usually. They don't break any current rules, all they do is say to player's when they are ready to leave " ok you like Andy Miller ( NBA agent ) go for it, sign with him" and really don't get in the way.

Now, is their other types of cheating going on, a little bit not anything huge. Example might be Coach Cal allowing D. Rose's brother to ride to games on the team plane and stuff like that.

387

Re: NCAA Basketball

Here's one on Wes.

http://www.oregonlive.com/sports/oregon … e_k_1.html

388

Re: NCAA Basketball

Shabazz to UCLA (keep those tickets Rick) and Nerlins Noel to UK.  Kentucky has #1 class fourth straight year.  I'm sure Liz is happy.  Our game with them will be a goodun next year.

389

Re: NCAA Basketball

Curby wrote:

Shabazz to UCLA (keep those tickets Rick) and Nerlins Noel to UK.  Kentucky has #1 class fourth straight year.  I'm sure Liz is happy.  Our game with them will be a goodun next year.

big_smile http://goaztecs.cstv.com/sports/m-baskb … 12aaa.html This will be a dandy!

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390

Re: NCAA Basketball

It gets better out here. Winston Shepard signed up, a 5 star 6'9 gem who can play any position. This is arguably the best recruiting class ever for Coach Fisher. He now has 4 returning starters, 2 div. 1 transfers and top caliber recruits which will make the Aztecs a real threat for several years to come. Success breeds success and Fisher's long grind to develop this program is paying dividends.
Rick

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Re: NCAA Basketball

First chance I've had to get over to this topic with my new identity wink The victory was sweet. It got a little nerve racking there towards the end of the game but they pulled it out. I was really happy for the senior Kentucky native Darius Miller. Every photo he was in that night and the next day on their return he had the net around his neck!

It's hard to explain what it is like to live in the Big Blue Nation. UK basketball dominates such a big part of every day life here year round. And they are still celebrating here. An example the trophy is on a tour of the state!  Only in the Big Blue Nation!

http://www.truebluefan.com/news/calipar … n-ashland/

This team will be remembered as one of the greatest to ever play here. And Anthony Davis certainly one of the best too. I was so glad to see him receive so many awards. He is a great kid, and really a kid he turned 19 during the SEC tournament! He was on Jimmy Kimmel just after the tourney if you missed it, here is the link, he really held his own with Jimmy he was very funny!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NraJwLav8SQ

It was announced earlier the starting 5, Davis, Teague, Kidd-Gilchrist, Jones and Lamb are holding a press conference tomorrow at 2:00pm. Sounds like tomorrow we'll know who is going to stay and how is going to go?
But the reload has begun with Noel. Is it October yet??

f/k/a #1kyfan original registration 5/2010
"Lookout Man the storm's about to rage"

Re: NCAA Basketball

Welcome Back My Friend To The Show That Never Ends... Lizzee is a cute name! wink Congrats on your team winning, have your feet touched the ground yet? Agreed-very talented team, it would have been a major upset if they didn't carry it off.

Lizzee wrote:

First chance I've had to get over to this topic with my new identity wink The victory was sweet. It got a little nerve racking there towards the end of the game but they pulled it out. I was really happy for the senior Kentucky native Darius Miller. Every photo he was in that night and the next day on their return he had the net around his neck!

It's hard to explain what it is like to live in the Big Blue Nation. UK basketball dominates such a big part of every day life here year round. And they are still celebrating here. An example the trophy is on a tour of the state!  Only in the Big Blue Nation!

http://www.truebluefan.com/news/calipar … n-ashland/

This team will be remembered as one of the greatest to ever play here. And Anthony Davis certainly one of the best too. I was so glad to see him receive so many awards. He is a great kid, and really a kid he turned 19 during the SEC tournament! He was on Jimmy Kimmel just after the tourney if you missed it, here is the link, he really held his own with Jimmy he was very funny!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NraJwLav8SQ

It was announced earlier the starting 5, Davis, Teague, Kidd-Gilchrist, Jones and Lamb are holding a press conference tomorrow at 2:00pm. Sounds like tomorrow we'll know who is going to stay and how is going to go?
But the reload has begun with Noel. Is it October yet??

StringsforaCURE~Helping cancer patients one STRING at a time.
http://stringsforacure.com/

Re: NCAA Basketball

No surprise all 5 starters to the NBA! I hope they all have long successful careers they hold a great place in UK Basketball history. Anthony Davis is 1 step closer to the white Bentley smile The story one of the funny parts of the Jimmy Kimmely interview, link is in previous post.

f/k/a #1kyfan original registration 5/2010
"Lookout Man the storm's about to rage"

Re: NCAA Basketball

A post in honor of the great Pat Summit college basketball's winningest coach. I saw on the news earlier she will receive the Medal of Freedom, a well deserved honor for her.

f/k/a #1kyfan original registration 5/2010
"Lookout Man the storm's about to rage"

Re: NCAA Basketball

Pollard will finally announce his final choice, tomorrow we think. roll My understanding is that he's down to Texas, and Alabama. This would be a monster pickup for Anthony Grant. Please pick us Mr D.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPOPOkUly90

As corn through a goose, so are the days of our lives

Re: NCAA Basketball

Time to give the basketball thread a bump! Big Blue Nation is psyched, this will be another history making team no doubt. The Blue/White scrimmage was last night they are already impressive. Cal of course down played it because they were playing each other. Cauley-Stein lost weight and bulked up, he'll be a force. Randle is a beast, the Harrison twins are going to be awesome, Willis a Kentucky native had a great game. We play Transylvania University in an exhibition game tomorrow night. Transy's campus is actually closer to Rupp Arena than UK's!

Really cool thing Cal did last night at the scrimmage, students attending the game could enter a drawing, 2 students would win undergrad tuition paid for the Spring semester by Coach Cal! If you're out of state or post grad, he pays equal to in state undergrad for the semester toward theirs. Generous jester, hope he carries on the tradition.

Now just for fun, you be the judge. A friend of mine shared this on Facebook awhile back, Kentucky native Johnny Depp a big UK fan attends games incognito?


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRSMB01oM0k

f/k/a #1kyfan original registration 5/2010
"Lookout Man the storm's about to rage"