[Stardust]

This is unusual for me, but here it goes. I want to go on record saying this:
"John Calipari will bring a Final Four to Lexington within 4 years."

I usuall don't do that, and I am usually the last to defend him. He was the same coach last year, as he is this year. When a team wins, the coach did it right, when they lose, they didn't. To be fair to most, I am right there with y'all saying that he is not a good in-game coach. Maybe I am just spoiled because Tubby is one of the best X's and O's coaches in the NCAA right now, and I knew watching then that he would call the right play when it mattered.

Cal brings in the talent and he manages it well while they are at UK. Look how well he did with Cousins, NOW look what Cousins is doing in the NBA, another chemistry breaking incident with my Kings. I am not saying he develops it well over a 4-year period but nobody in the game manages ego's, emotion's or inexperience better than Cal.

I like what you have written LWC, nice job. There is more to being a great coach than just X's & O's, just as much as there is more to coaching than just bringing in 5* recruits. I'd love to see a better balance. I'd like to see the in-game adjustments get better. I'd like to see the most critical minutes of the game be managed better. Bottom-line, I'd like to see the kids put into position to win games.

A guy like Pitino not only took one of the best teams in NCAA history to the promise land in 1996, he also took a group of no-names deep into the tournament. That was all done by making adjustmenst and not relying on the exact same style that you have always played. I went through that for years with Huggins at UC. The Bearcats played one way and that was the only way. They never altered their defensive style or played to the natural strengths of the offensive abilities of the players at hand. I have seen Cal's history be this same way. He refuses to play a zone, even when he acknowledges that he is only playing 6 guys. He insists on playing the dribble drive, when he has players on the floor that are not capable of doing it well (This is in his history, not just at UK). He relies on the exact same plays in the exact same situations every time.

As for your comment about the Final four, I agree. The Cats during Cals time will make it to the Final Four and should do it quite a few times. But it will be based on talent being so much better than other teams. There will be many UK teams like last years talent, where all you have to do is roll the ball out onto the floor and the Cats will win 30 games. My fear is when the Cats get into a "dog-fight", they won't have the leader that wills them to win!