14 Reasons Why Cal Needs To Go | Opinion√

Opinion piece:

Let’s face it.  Sometimes there needs to be a change.  We’ve all heard it before; “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” – Albert Einstein

Cal Is A Great Ambassador For UK Basketball, For Sure…

Cal is a good guy. I’m pretty sure we can all agree on that. He does great things for the Lexington community and the state of Kentucky and he’s involved with many charitable organizations throughout the state. He’s truly an asset to the state of Kentucky.

It’s also evident that he nurtures and mentors these athletes in a good way. He truly cares about each of their futures on and off the court. No argument there. 

And, no big scandals during his tenure. So, that’s a bonus.

But, is UK a farm team/babysitter for the NBA or a tradition of incredible basketball?  I’ll let you answer that for yourself.  

Something To Think About…

The reason why UK fans, and UofL fans for that matter, are so passionate about their team is because sports fans in the state of Kentucky don’t have a professional sports team to support. Sports at the University of Kentucky and the University of Louisville are important to each fan base and the entire state of Kentucky. Arguably, they are the only two major teams within the state. Equally, both teams are important for Kentucky businesses as well. Although the fanbases for each team are diabolically opposed to one another, they both bring in millions of dollars throughout the year for local businesses in and around Kentucky.

We aren’t the city of Los Angeles where they have a plethora of college and professional sports teams to root for. So UK and UofL sports matter to Kentuckians.  As far as major sports, it’s all we got…..UK and UofL ARE our pro teams. That’s why the struggles of the past 5 years for both teams is so frustrating for everyone.

The Scoop…

I know what I’m about to say may be unpopular with some fans. It’s my opinion. But true basketball fans, not just UK fans, ones that REALLY know the game and that have watched enough games over the past few years, will know that what I’m saying is the truth.

Why UK Basketball Needs A Fresh Start….

1. The Offense is Outdated:  Well, I call it an offense but really it is more “ring around the rosey”  or a “Harlem Globetrotters weave” from 30 feet out while running the shot clock down to 8 seconds. Then the guys panic and take a bad shot, if they get one off at all. Okay, I know. It’s called the Dribble Drive. But I like to think of it as more “dribble drive me crazy while I’m watching it” offense. The high pick and roll on the perimeter only works when you have a superior and explosive point guard that also isn’t afraid to get in the paint and bang with the big guys down low.  Cal doesn’t have that this year and hasn’t had that type of player since Derrick Rose at Memphis and UK hasn’t had it since DeAaron Fox in 2016-2017. It is outdated. 
   
   Sure, it has its place when you have the right personnel but none of these teams in the past few years have had an elite, high IQ point guard that is fearless, can slash and with a basketball IQ that can dump the ball off to the rotating big man at the right time or go to the hole on their own.  Cason Wallace has the body to bang inside and is the closest we’ve seen in a while, but still not it. He’s a well rounded, methodical player, which is good too. Anyone at the next level that gets him has a long term, solid point guard. Wheeler isn’t consistently a big enough offensive threat to really pull it off either. Thiero could be that guy next year. There is something special about him. He’s big bodied, long and, if he can improve his handles, he might be the drive-in-the-lane-banger-down-low-guard UK needs. His speed isn’t elite but, with better handles, he could be hard for opposing teams to handle next year.
   
   One could argue that currently the team doesn’t have the personnel to run that Dribble Drive, and that’s true. But trying the same ole thing, game after game, with the wrong personnel, just isn’t working either and hasn’t worked for years now. Until Derrick Rose calls and wants to enroll at UK, this current “weave” offensive strategy is over. 
   
2. Poor Use of Allocated Timeouts: One can’t knowingly recruit young guys that have no college experience and expect them to know what to do at pivotal points in the game.  It’s likely their first time on the big stage. Timeouts aren’t to rest, wipe a brow and decide where to have dinner after the game. They are to strategize. Not calling a time out to either calm nerves of the players when the game is going sideways or to set up a play down the stretch is some of the worst coaching I’ve ever seen.  It’s frustrating to watch.
   
   It’s not an occasional occurrence either. Timeouts are rarely adequately used. There are four timeouts per half and four TV timeouts (under 16:00, under 12:00, under 8:00 and under 4:00) that are automatically enforced. So that’s 8 timeouts per half.  Timeout management under 4 minutes is even worse. Seems like a bad move to just let them “play through it to prep for the big moment in the tournament”.  Doesn’t seem like a winning strategy.
   
   You can teach in practice all you want during the week but the opportunities to teach in game by calling a timeout when a timeout is needed are opportunities that shouldn’t be missed. It doesn’t seem like those opportunities are being taken advantage of. If they are taught in the huddle and they properly execute, then, if the are successful in the execution, they build in-game confidence and team cohesiveness. It seems like there is some reluctancy to use timeouts effectively and opportunities are missed to get wins that would bring the team together. I don’t know. Maybe I’m wrong here.
   
3. Terrible Execution of Dead-Ball In-Bounds Plays: At this point UK should have a half-dozen under basket plays they try each game based on the scouting report. And, I don’t care what year the guys are, at some point in their career they probably are familiar with 3 of those plays before they came to UK. 
   
   The out of bounds plays appear to be “let’s cross our fingers and just get the ball in”.  It’s hard to watch.  Dead ball, under basket out of bounds plays are situations where you have a few seconds to regroup, think for a second, assess the situation on the court and call a play to exploit the opposing teams players on the court.  Who is on the court?  Oh, that little guy?  Let’s run ABC #1, force a switch with some picks and see if we can quickly get a mismatch on the little guy down low and get an easy bucket.  Who is on the court?  Oh, the big man with 4 fouls?  Let’s run XYZ #2, go at him and get a foul on him and maybe a bucket.  Then the big man is out of the game and we go to the line for an And-1.  And those are two examples of strategies built around out of bounds plays.  Fact is, they rarely ever run a well executed out of bounds play under the basket.  Not working? Almost a 5 second call? Guess what? I have a novel idea; call a timeout.
   
4. How Bout Some FULL COURT Presses. Give the opposing team some different defensive looks. Mix it up. Keep them on their toes. Try some full-court zone trapping. The “soft-ball-man-to-man-escorts” or what I call “slow dancing at the prom” the opposing team’s guard up the court to milk the shot clock on defense seems tired. His teams aren’t putting hard pressure on the opposing team. Pitino pressured full court. Denny Crum did too. It’s great basketball to watch, keeps the opposing team off balance, takes time off the clock, sometimes forces turnovers and is disruptive.  Plus, fans love it!
   
   When it works it leads to chaos on the court by forcing turnovers and getting easy buckets.  More importantly, it demoralizes the opposing team because now they have to worry about all 94 feet of the court and not just half of it. Each player on this team runs like a cheetah and they should be pressing from the time they get on the team bus headed to the arena until they get into the locker room after the game. If pressing in the game doesn’t work consistently then pull back. But at least give the opposing team different looks occasionally. Which leads me to this….
   
5. Different Defensive Looks. Jim Boeheim has made a career of the 2-3 zone.  Enough with the man-to-man the whole game.  Flash some different looks in the half court defense.  How bout a 2-3 zone? Or a 1-3-1 half-court trap?  Scoring is cool but defense wins games.
   
   UK has one of the best defensive players we’ve seen in years with Wallace and one of the fastest kids we’ve seen since Fox with Wheeler.  It seems like with the right personnel they’d be running some zone full-court or half-court traps and picking pockets. These different looks are disruptive to the opposing teams plan. So do that; be disruptive. It swings momentum quickly during a game. And, fans love it.
   
6. Inside Out Offense: Play more “InsideOut”.  If you don’t know what that is it is dumping the ball down low, waiting on a double team to come and then kicking it out to a shooter on the perimeter or looking for a weak side cutter.  UK has some good three point shooters but they aren’t capable of getting their own shot. Spreading the court and standing there waiting on the ball doesn’t work.  They are spot up shooters which means they need to be set up to score. They need to be set up for success. 
   
   Running them off pics isn’t working either. They just aren’t capable of shaking defenders like a Steph Curry or Reggie Miller. Honestly, having that skill is rare. But if you know they are struggling to get open looks then why not InsideOut? They need some space on the perimeter to be set up for shots. InsideOut creates that space. If there is a double team when they dump down “INSIDE” then one of the shooters will be open “OUT“ on the perimeter to drain a three, or at least get a good look. That’s what these guys do……They are spot up shooters……..
   
   UK has the reigning player of the year with Oscar and Oscar rarely gets the ball down low “INSIDE”.  Game after game Oscar keeps calling for the ball. He’s ran the court. He posts up. He’s earned it. Give him the ball.
   
   So, is that a coaching mistake? Seems like it. If the coach can’t get players to make their reigning POY option #1 and get the ball to him then those players need to ride some pine for the game. Every time they come down the floor option #1 should be “look for Oscar down low”.  There are 10 other players in warmups on the bench watching from the sidelines. Surely someone can come off the bench to do this if one of the rotation players can’t get it done. But, honestly, all these guys on this team can execute this. Scratching my head….
   
7. A Mouse In The House or Mismatches: Hey, if there is a “mouse in the house” (little man gets caught in a switch and ends up guarding a big man) then the big man needs to immediately head to the paint and post that guy up and the ball needs to go to him. INSTANT BUCKET!!! These guys are Cats and if there is a mouse in the house they should be eating the mouse every time. There are numerous times throughout every game that a mismatch develops from a pick and roll and it’s not exploited.
   
8. The Enforcer: Lance Ware’s role should be the enforcer. Yeah, he may be an offensive liability at times, true. But not everyone has to be an elite scorer to be an asset to the team. You just gotta play to their strengths. His strengths are his passion, rebounding, shot blocking ability, he runs the floor well and he is a bit like Dennis Rodman, which is good. UK needs a guy like that. Rodman made a career out of rebounding and being “that guy”.
   
   UK has that enforcer but it seems no one has told him that’s who he is.  Any time he get’s put in a game he needs to be told, “Look, you’ve got 5 fouls to give. When I pull you out of the game 5 minutes from now you better have 3 fouls on you. If you leave a little blood on the floor, don’t worry.  Ball boys will take care of it.” and then put him in the game.  Okay, I’m joking. But you get it.
   
9. Onyenso Development: Onyenso needs (or needed) more playing time.  He showed glimmers of greatness early on.  He’s a gazelle on the court, blocks shots and looks like he has the beast mentality in him somewhere. Work on a turnaround jumper or a soft hook in the offseason with him and it’s game over next year. If the Big O doesn’t run for the transfer portal at the end of the year he’s gonna be a beast next year at KY if someone works with him. 
   
   IF the Cats get into the tournament this year, as soon as Oscar gets in foul trouble, the game is over.  Grab some chicken wings at the concession stand on your way out of the stadium and head for the parking lot  There is no one to back him up. The other bigs haven’t gotten enough solid minutes with the current rotation to mesh well for an extended period of time with the lineup that’s working now. 
   
   Yeah, Onyenso may not be quite ready. But there were times early in the season to give him long stretches of minutes to build his confidence. With 7-10 minutes a game (and more during blowouts) he would have been able to comfortably play an important role deep into the post season. But, maybe there is something else going on behind the scenes that us fans aren’t aware of that has resulted in less playing time. Hard to say.
   
10. Strange Substitution Patterns.  A player will get on a roll and make some good plays.  Maybe block shot, score a couple buckets, a steal or two, take a charge and will have a nice little run for about 3-5 minutes. You can even feel the momentum for that player when watching.  Then, out of nowhere, he’s subbed out as if to say “good job”.  Huh?  No kid doing well on the court wants to come out when they are playing well and having a good time.  Sub when kids are making consistent mistakes. Don’t sub out when they are on a roll. 
    
11. “Kentucky Has The Best Recruiting”?  Do they really?  Because recruiting is also about figuring out who fits with who. If they are getting all this great talent, then why aren’t these teams making deeper runs into the post season on a more consistent basis?  Because it seems like they aren’t logically assembling them in advance based on their skill sets to form a cohesive unit. I’m not making it up. Just look at the track record. Data don’t lie. The teams haven’t meshed well. And, that’s a recruiting issue.
    
    Seems like a couple other things that should factor into the decision other than stats at the high school level and how many stars they have.  The coaching staff should ask; Can I coach this kid up and get him to do what the team needs based on my existing roster and the additional players coming in? Does he fit with my strategy for next season based on the personnel that I have for next year?  It feels like the plan is to fill the recruiting pipeline up with 5 star recruits because someone thinks that is what BBN wants.  Well, the joke has been on us. Sometimes the best player for a roster has 3 stars, or no stars.
    
12. Embrace The Team’s Speed.  This is part of section 6 above but really more about the fast break on a missed or hit shot by the opposing team. When possession switches, get the ball to a guard, push the ball, get a big man in the paint and have a look. It’s that easy.  Put the defense on their heels by pushing the ball up court quickly, not recklessly, but quickly and methodically with a plan for the big man.  If he’s not there, pull back.
    
13. No Back Cutting or Back Door Plays?  This is elementary level strategy at its best. It’s one of the first things a player learns in organized basketball.  Why is it not encouraged more?  I get it, the college game mimics the pro game in how they spread the court and stand in the corner.  But those days are over at the college level. The game is starting to revert back (a little bit) to old school style of ball where it is a little more bump and grind and X’s and O’s. If they are just gonna stand in the corner then why not hand them a hot dog to eat while they wait?  These kids know the move but it seems like it’s not being implemented enough.
    
    Back cuts on the perimeter will keep a man-to-man defense honest 100% OF THE TIME. Not some of the time. But, 100% of the time. Catch the defense being lazy or even overplaying a spot-up shooter on the wing and you’ll get a few easy buckets with some back cuts.  Then guess what?  The defense starts to worry about the back cuts, drops back in to protect the cutters in the paint and then the 3 point line opens up.  I’m not a smart man, but I know what love is.  It’s a back cut with a bucket.
    
14. Clock Management at the End of Games.  Taking a foot off the gas at the wrong time. Yeah, this is a tricky one, of course. How to close out a close game is probably the most difficult in-game decision of the entire game itself. But, it seems like Kentucky is playing to “NOT LOSE” instead of playing to “WIN”.  I’ve said this for years and I just heard a commentator in a UK game recently mention it as well. So, it’s obvious to anyone that knows basketball; You gotta keep the pressure on when you got them down.
    
    A late game dunk or a 3 pointer takes the opposing team out of the game emotionally. Then, shave minutes off the clock when the opposing team has lost their will.  If there is 5 minutes to go don’t stall and do “the weave”.  It ruins the flow of the game, the strategy and gets players out of a winning mindset. Stalling tells the players “Oh, we just got to hang on for a couple more minutes“. That doesn’t instill confidence in your players. It does create lots of drama for the viewing audience but it’s hard to watch for a basketball enthusiast.
    
    It’s also the reason coaches get out-coached down the stretch; they stop their team from executing by going into stall mode. You can’t leave it up to talent down the stretch to navigate closing out a game when you have inexperienced first and second year players. They just don’t have the late game closing experience to handle that pressure on that big of a stage. So what do you do? Keep them with what has been working and that put you in the lead in the first place. Keep executing. Closing games ONLY comes with experience. So if you’ve got momentum going then keep it going until 00:00 on the clock.

Keep Cal Around….

Maybe he pulls off a deep tourney run this year. That could happen and he’s done it before. But, regardless, don’t run him off. Move him to AD. There is a lot of upside if he sticks around as AD. He’s a good ambassador for Kentucky, well liked and has roots here now. Plus, he IS a HOF coach. No one can take that from him.

So Should That Time Come, Who Should Step In?

You can’t get by just on talent alone in college basketball. You have to have a great X’s and O’s guy. A strategist. But what about the recruiting? Unless there is some wonky scandal somewhere down the line, which isn’t likely, Kentucky will still attract elite, high level players based on tradition, regardless of who is coaching. And, if Cal transitions to AD, he’ll still have influence.

How about Brad Stevens, Jay Wright, Billy Donovan, Rick Pitino, or anyone from the Gregg Popovich coaching lineage. All of these coaches are great X’s and O’s guys and have big enough britches to handle the pressures of BBN.

My personal preference? Bring Pitino back. That would be the greatest homecoming in college basketball history and a return to exciting college basketball. But that is not likely. Jay Wright is the obvious, steady-handed choice to reinstate UK basketball to it’s prime-time status moving forward.

Meanwhile, down the I-64….

60 miles west of Lexington the Louisville Cardinals are running the same offense as UK and currently setting the record for worst season ever. Any idea? It’s a tough year for major college sports in the state of Kentucky.

Go Bellarmine and Murray State!