Well up until this year it has worked out really well for Cal. This year is really the first speed bump he’s hit. More times than not Cal has been able to shape these groups of new kids together into a cohesive unit. This year has been tough. With that being said, I wouldn’t trade Cal for anything even with the year we are having. Like others have said he’s still reeling em in and continuing to have #1 class after #1 class.

Yes it’s hard to keep up sometimes with the kids making the quick jump to the NBA (NBA rule though, and would love to see it change), but I’d rather have the best talent out there and bank on Cal blending them together into a TEAM, than a bunch of projects being worked on for 4 years. The program is exciting and people are still talking about us, even if we aren’t the top TEAM. Fact is no matter how long they might have played here they are UK players and part of the ever expanding Big Blue Nation.

Ultimately I feel the positives out way the negatives most years.  

SBCatMan2 wrote: This has been mentioned over and over, and so this is not a new revelation.  But ...

As good as Cousins and Wall and Bledose and Knight and Davis and MKG were, the ultimate success of those teams depended largely upon Patterson and Harrelson and Liggins and Miller and the sophome versions of Jones and Lamb. 

The true difficulty of REALLY starting over from scratch every year is being demonstrated this year.

As good as next year's class will be -- and it may be the best freshman class in the history of the sport -- the team's success will be helped greatly if a couple of this year's guys come back, even if they do not start.

TheHuntinHog wrote: I come in peace and honestly ask how you feel about Calapari recruiting.  I would love to have the recruiting classes that he pulls in, I think...  It seems like there is a lot of turnover and I just wonder as a fan how you guys feel about not only the chemistry, but also only seeing these players for a few years.  It seems like it would be difficult to remember who your players are.  Also, it seems like you might never have that player that is there for 4 solid years that will have his jersey retired.  I just wonder how you guys feel about this.  Thanks for your responses.

SBCatMan2 wrote: This has been mentioned over and over, and so this is not a new revelation.  But ...

As good as Cousins and Wall and Bledose and Knight and Davis and MKG were, the ultimate success of those teams depended largely upon Patterson and Harrelson and Liggins and Miller and the sophome versions of Jones and Lamb. 

The true difficulty of REALLY starting over from scratch every year is being demonstrated this year.

As good as next year's class will be -- and it may be the best freshman class in the history of the sport -- the team's success will be helped greatly if a couple of this year's guys come back, even if they do not start.

statewrestlingchamp wrote:

SBCatMan2 wrote: This has been mentioned over and over, and so this is not a new revelation.  But ...

As good as Cousins and Wall and Bledose and Knight and Davis and MKG were, the ultimate success of those teams depended largely upon Patterson and Harrelson and Liggins and Miller and the sophome versions of Jones and Lamb. 

The true difficulty of REALLY starting over from scratch every year is being demonstrated this year.

As good as next year's class will be -- and it may be the best freshman class in the history of the sport -- the team's success will be helped greatly if a couple of this year's guys come back, even if they do not start.

What happens if Poythress, Goodwin, Noel and WCS leave for the NBA draft? We are basically stuck in the same situation we are in this year, no real leader (I know we will have Wiltjer) and a crop of talented freshman coming in. What happens if these freshman fail to meet expectation but are still able to be drafted in the lottery? Back to square 1 in 2014 with no title to show for it.

As you stated, the success of Cal's previous teams were in large part due to Patterson/Harris, Liggins/Harrelson, and Miller, all of which Cal did not recruit. Obviously Lamb and Jones played a huge role in hanging #8 but Jones probably doesn't return if there is no threat of a lockout and to be honest we probably don't win it all without him sticking around.

This is no knock on Cal and his recruiting philosophy, because I wouldn't trade places with any other team, I'm just saying at which point do we start to have some solid basketball players stick around to become veteran leaders?

statewrestlingchamp wrote:

SBCatMan2 wrote: This has been mentioned over and over, and so this is not a new revelation.  But ...

As good as Cousins and Wall and Bledose and Knight and Davis and MKG were, the ultimate success of those teams depended largely upon Patterson and Harrelson and Liggins and Miller and the sophome versions of Jones and Lamb. 

The true difficulty of REALLY starting over from scratch every year is being demonstrated this year.

As good as next year's class will be -- and it may be the best freshman class in the history of the sport -- the team's success will be helped greatly if a couple of this year's guys come back, even if they do not start.

What happens if Poythress, Goodwin, Noel and WCS leave for the NBA draft? We are basically stuck in the same situation we are in this year, no real leader (I know we will have Wiltjer) and a crop of talented freshman coming in. What happens if these freshman fail to meet expectation but are still able to be drafted in the lottery? Back to square 1 in 2014 with no title to show for it.

As you stated, the success of Cal's previous teams were in large part due to Patterson/Harris, Liggins/Harrelson, and Miller, all of which Cal did not recruit. Obviously Lamb and Jones played a huge role in hanging #8 but Jones probably doesn't return if there is no threat of a lockout and to be honest we probably don't win it all without him sticking around.

This is no knock on Cal and his recruiting philosophy, because I wouldn't trade places with any other team, I'm just saying at which point do we start to have some solid basketball players stick around to become veteran leaders?

UKlaw82 wrote:

statewrestlingchamp wrote:

SBCatMan2 wrote: This has been mentioned over and over, and so this is not a new revelation.  But ...

As good as Cousins and Wall and Bledose and Knight and Davis and MKG were, the ultimate success of those teams depended largely upon Patterson and Harrelson and Liggins and Miller and the sophome versions of Jones and Lamb. 

The true difficulty of REALLY starting over from scratch every year is being demonstrated this year.

As good as next year's class will be -- and it may be the best freshman class in the history of the sport -- the team's success will be helped greatly if a couple of this year's guys come back, even if they do not start.

What happens if Poythress, Goodwin, Noel and WCS leave for the NBA draft? We are basically stuck in the same situation we are in this year, no real leader (I know we will have Wiltjer) and a crop of talented freshman coming in. What happens if these freshman fail to meet expectation but are still able to be drafted in the lottery? Back to square 1 in 2014 with no title to show for it.

As you stated, the success of Cal's previous teams were in large part due to Patterson/Harris, Liggins/Harrelson, and Miller, all of which Cal did not recruit. Obviously Lamb and Jones played a huge role in hanging #8 but Jones probably doesn't return if there is no threat of a lockout and to be honest we probably don't win it all without him sticking around.

This is no knock on Cal and his recruiting philosophy, because I wouldn't trade places with any other team, I'm just saying at which point do we start to have some solid basketball players stick around to become veteran leaders?

You say its not a knock but then you post like it is one.  Look, he went three years with kids who wanted to be coached and pushed,  and it worked well.  Now we have a group that is different and you want to say it will be like that in the future,  is that fair?  I will contend if this next group resembles this current group next year,  you have an argument but until it happens can we please stop with the sky is falling and act like we just won #8?

quinceyh wrote: That could happen but unlike this years freshmen next season freshmen fit as perfect as a you can. You have a big passing pg with a scoring shooting guard who is deadly from out side, you have a chemistry in the back court that no other backcourt in the history of basketball has ever had as freshmen because these guys have played together all their lives, you have a Sf who is a elite rebounder for his position as well as a scorer, shooter and has no issue taking a back seat as a scorer and a good defender, you have a pogo stick shot blocking elite defensive big who is raw on offense which isn't a issue since there will be other who can score so he won't need many touch's and then you have a real big man who is a great defender and rebounder but also very good back to the basket player who you can throw the ball down to and let go to work.


You couldn't say half of that about this years class even though they were all good individually

statewrestlingchamp wrote:

SBCatMan2 wrote: This has been mentioned over and over, and so this is not a new revelation.  But ...

As good as Cousins and Wall and Bledose and Knight and Davis and MKG were, the ultimate success of those teams depended largely upon Patterson and Harrelson and Liggins and Miller and the sophome versions of Jones and Lamb. 

The true difficulty of REALLY starting over from scratch every year is being demonstrated this year.

As good as next year's class will be -- and it may be the best freshman class in the history of the sport -- the team's success will be helped greatly if a couple of this year's guys come back, even if they do not start.

What happens if Poythress, Goodwin, Noel and WCS leave for the NBA draft? We are basically stuck in the same situation we are in this year, no real leader (I know we will have Wiltjer) and a crop of talented freshman coming in. What happens if these freshman fail to meet expectation but are still able to be drafted in the lottery? Back to square 1 in 2014 with no title to show for it.

As you stated, the success of Cal's previous teams were in large part due to Patterson/Harris, Liggins/Harrelson, and Miller, all of which Cal did not recruit. Obviously Lamb and Jones played a huge role in hanging #8 but Jones probably doesn't return if there is no threat of a lockout and to be honest we probably don't win it all without him sticking around.

This is no knock on Cal and his recruiting philosophy, because I wouldn't trade places with any other team, I'm just saying at which point do we start to have some solid basketball players stick around to become veteran leaders?

statewrestlingchamp wrote:

quinceyh wrote: That could happen but unlike this years freshmen next season freshmen fit as perfect as a you can. You have a big passing pg with a scoring shooting guard who is deadly from out side, you have a chemistry in the back court that no other backcourt in the history of basketball has ever had as freshmen because these guys have played together all their lives, you have a Sf who is a elite rebounder for his position as well as a scorer, shooter and has no issue taking a back seat as a scorer and a good defender, you have a pogo stick shot blocking elite defensive big who is raw on offense which isn't a issue since there will be other who can score so he won't need many touch's and then you have a real big man who is a great defender and rebounder but also very good back to the basket player who you can throw the ball down to and let go to work.


You couldn't say half of that about this years class even though they were all good individually

statewrestlingchamp wrote:

SBCatMan2 wrote: This has been mentioned over and over, and so this is not a new revelation.  But ...

As good as Cousins and Wall and Bledose and Knight and Davis and MKG were, the ultimate success of those teams depended largely upon Patterson and Harrelson and Liggins and Miller and the sophome versions of Jones and Lamb. 

The true difficulty of REALLY starting over from scratch every year is being demonstrated this year.

As good as next year's class will be -- and it may be the best freshman class in the history of the sport -- the team's success will be helped greatly if a couple of this year's guys come back, even if they do not start.

What happens if Poythress, Goodwin, Noel and WCS leave for the NBA draft? We are basically stuck in the same situation we are in this year, no real leader (I know we will have Wiltjer) and a crop of talented freshman coming in. What happens if these freshman fail to meet expectation but are still able to be drafted in the lottery? Back to square 1 in 2014 with no title to show for it.

As you stated, the success of Cal's previous teams were in large part due to Patterson/Harris, Liggins/Harrelson, and Miller, all of which Cal did not recruit. Obviously Lamb and Jones played a huge role in hanging #8 but Jones probably doesn't return if there is no threat of a lockout and to be honest we probably don't win it all without him sticking around.

This is no knock on Cal and his recruiting philosophy, because I wouldn't trade places with any other team, I'm just saying at which point do we start to have some solid basketball players stick around to become veteran leaders?

I completely agree that this class coming in is considered way more talented than the class we currently have here at UK, however this years class was no slouch either. I'm just saying theirs a good chance we don't make the NCAA tournament and we still currently have 3/4 guys projected in the first round. Say we don't make the tournament and everyone still leaves, we are left with an uber talented incoming class with no real upperclassman leadership.

I'm not saying the incoming freshman aren't good enough to win it all, I'm just saying all the pressure will fall squarely on the shoulders of 18/19 year old kids who will not be able to defer any of it to the upperclassman.

statewrestlingchamp wrote:

UKlaw82 wrote:

statewrestlingchamp wrote:

SBCatMan2 wrote: This has been mentioned over and over, and so this is not a new revelation.  But ...

As good as Cousins and Wall and Bledose and Knight and Davis and MKG were, the ultimate success of those teams depended largely upon Patterson and Harrelson and Liggins and Miller and the sophome versions of Jones and Lamb. 

The true difficulty of REALLY starting over from scratch every year is being demonstrated this year.

As good as next year's class will be -- and it may be the best freshman class in the history of the sport -- the team's success will be helped greatly if a couple of this year's guys come back, even if they do not start.

What happens if Poythress, Goodwin, Noel and WCS leave for the NBA draft? We are basically stuck in the same situation we are in this year, no real leader (I know we will have Wiltjer) and a crop of talented freshman coming in. What happens if these freshman fail to meet expectation but are still able to be drafted in the lottery? Back to square 1 in 2014 with no title to show for it.

As you stated, the success of Cal's previous teams were in large part due to Patterson/Harris, Liggins/Harrelson, and Miller, all of which Cal did not recruit. Obviously Lamb and Jones played a huge role in hanging #8 but Jones probably doesn't return if there is no threat of a lockout and to be honest we probably don't win it all without him sticking around.

This is no knock on Cal and his recruiting philosophy, because I wouldn't trade places with any other team, I'm just saying at which point do we start to have some solid basketball players stick around to become veteran leaders?

You say its not a knock but then you post like it is one.  Look, he went three years with kids who wanted to be coached and pushed,  and it worked well.  Now we have a group that is different and you want to say it will be like that in the future,  is that fair?  I will contend if this next group resembles this current group next year,  you have an argument but until it happens can we please stop with the sky is falling and act like we just won #8?

It's not a knock on Cal because it has worked out pretty much perfectly so far. No one can complain with the success Cal has had in his first 4 years. I was merely pointing out, what if this happens? What if we have a max exodus this year and next years group doesn't live up to expectations? I thought this was a message board, didn't realize I needed to constantly be in overzealous joy over winning #8 and not talk about the current and future potential for the cats.

I never acted like the sky is falling, like I said, I wouldn't trade places with any current team in the NCAA. I posed a simple question, asking what happens if this happens, and you get agitated that I'm not reveling in the fact we won #8.

statewrestlingchamp wrote:

SBCatMan2 wrote: This has been mentioned over and over, and so this is not a new revelation.  But ...

As good as Cousins and Wall and Bledose and Knight and Davis and MKG were, the ultimate success of those teams depended largely upon Patterson and Harrelson and Liggins and Miller and the sophome versions of Jones and Lamb. 

The true difficulty of REALLY starting over from scratch every year is being demonstrated this year.

As good as next year's class will be -- and it may be the best freshman class in the history of the sport -- the team's success will be helped greatly if a couple of this year's guys come back, even if they do not start.

What happens if Poythress, Goodwin, Noel and WCS leave for the NBA draft? We are basically stuck in the same situation we are in this year, no real leader (I know we will have Wiltjer) and a crop of talented freshman coming in. What happens if these freshman fail to meet expectation but are still able to be drafted in the lottery? Back to square 1 in 2014 with no title to show for it.

As you stated, the success of Cal's previous teams were in large part due to Patterson/Harris, Liggins/Harrelson, and Miller, all of which Cal did not recruit. Obviously Lamb and Jones played a huge role in hanging #8 but Jones probably doesn't return if there is no threat of a lockout and to be honest we probably don't win it all without him sticking around.

This is no knock on Cal and his recruiting philosophy, because I wouldn't trade places with any other team, I'm just saying at which point do we start to have some solid basketball players stick around to become veteran leaders?

statewrestlingchamp wrote:

UKlaw82 wrote:

statewrestlingchamp wrote:

SBCatMan2 wrote: This has been mentioned over and over, and so this is not a new revelation.  But ...

As good as Cousins and Wall and Bledose and Knight and Davis and MKG were, the ultimate success of those teams depended largely upon Patterson and Harrelson and Liggins and Miller and the sophome versions of Jones and Lamb. 

The true difficulty of REALLY starting over from scratch every year is being demonstrated this year.

As good as next year's class will be -- and it may be the best freshman class in the history of the sport -- the team's success will be helped greatly if a couple of this year's guys come back, even if they do not start.

What happens if Poythress, Goodwin, Noel and WCS leave for the NBA draft? We are basically stuck in the same situation we are in this year, no real leader (I know we will have Wiltjer) and a crop of talented freshman coming in. What happens if these freshman fail to meet expectation but are still able to be drafted in the lottery? Back to square 1 in 2014 with no title to show for it.

As you stated, the success of Cal's previous teams were in large part due to Patterson/Harris, Liggins/Harrelson, and Miller, all of which Cal did not recruit. Obviously Lamb and Jones played a huge role in hanging #8 but Jones probably doesn't return if there is no threat of a lockout and to be honest we probably don't win it all without him sticking around.

This is no knock on Cal and his recruiting philosophy, because I wouldn't trade places with any other team, I'm just saying at which point do we start to have some solid basketball players stick around to become veteran leaders?

You say its not a knock but then you post like it is one.  Look, he went three years with kids who wanted to be coached and pushed,  and it worked well.  Now we have a group that is different and you want to say it will be like that in the future,  is that fair?  I will contend if this next group resembles this current group next year,  you have an argument but until it happens can we please stop with the sky is falling and act like we just won #8?

It's not a knock on Cal because it has worked out pretty much perfectly so far. No one can complain with the success Cal has had in his first 4 years. I was merely pointing out, what if this happens? What if we have a max exodus this year and next years group doesn't live up to expectations? I thought this was a message board, didn't realize I needed to constantly be in overzealous joy over winning #8 and not talk about the current and future potential for the cats.

I never acted like the sky is falling, like I said, I wouldn't trade places with any current team in the NCAA. I posed a simple question, asking what happens if this happens, and you get agitated that I'm not reveling in the fact we won #8.

CatFansince73 wrote: Ryan Harrow's stats from last night in 32 minutes of play:  

12 points on 67% shooting, though he still only took one free throw; 5 rebounds; +4 on assists to turnovers.  That's more like it, but he has to produce like that every game.