Kentucky - A cautionary tale...

[BPGhost]

For all of those posters who hold the beliefs (dreams?) that Payne can both recruit at a high level and, if successful, be able to take those high-level recruits and be successful - look no further than the program down the road. This is the blueprint that Payne is attempting to recreate here at UofL - the one that he learned from his "mentor" Fat Cal. A coach (who has been described as a 2000s marketing guy who runs a player Ponzi scheme) whose entire career has been to recruit at a high level and then underachieve with those recruits. The notable exception is 2012 when a generational college player - Anthony Davis - was bought and paid for and was able to drag Cal's fat ass over the hump.

A decade later, Fat Cal's (and Payne's) dribble-drive offense is a dinosaur and he is about to get run out of Lexington. In the last three seasons, the yuts are 45-30 & 23-16 in the sec, with a first-round loss to St. Peters(!) and that was in the best of those three years.

And let's face facts - at this point - Payne is a poor man's calipari. He's shown neither the ability to recruit, the ability to put anything close to a winning product on the floor with the players that he has or even really, to have the roster play hard game in and game out. Is this really the model of what we want at UofL?

I sure as hell don't...

 

[OldhamCard335]

Amen. Watched the UK v USC game last night and the UK team acts and performs just like our team. Ever wonder why the Fat Cal coaching tree is bare? This is why. Cal can’t coach and Kenny can’t coach. It’s not gonna get appreciably better. We might steal a game now and then, we might show slight improvement in some areas. But, I don’t see players hanging around for long and I see no reason that top players should want to come here.

Also, another poster mentioned the demeanor of our assistant coaches on the bench. I’ve noticed this and mentioned it before. I get the feeling they aren’t being heard. Like the players, why should they hang around for more of this? I truly believe this team is nearing a point of collapse.

If Payne gets another year then many people who predicted that we would get the death penalty were correct. The end result will be exactly the same.

 

[Thecycle27]

I think college basketball has shifted to the players with NIL and the Transfer portal. Coaching has to be a nightmare in this environment.

A successful coach has to bring in the right players and that fit his system. The coaches that do that are going to be fine. You have already judged Payne which is fine. I want to see how he builds next years roster. Does he find guys that fit his system? Does he maintain the guys he needs. Next summer we will know.

 

[Morgantown Card]

I wonder if the era of the "Legendary Coach" is over.

 

[jmac1029]

It’s a guards game now. We have no guards.

 

[BPGhost]

It’s a guards game now. We have no guards.

It’s a spacing and shooting game - from all 5 positions.

 

[BPGhost]

I think college basketball has shifted to the players with NIL and the Transfer portal. Coaching has to be a nightmare in this environment.

A successful coach has to bring in the right players and that fit his system. The coaches that do that are going to be fine. You have already judged Payne which is fine. I want to see how he builds next years roster. Does he find guys that fit his system? Does he maintain the guys he needs. Next summer we will know.

Good coaches are able to modify their system to fit the roster they have if need be. The style that Pitino played at uk was quite different than the style he needed to play in the BE. That’s why Fat Cal hasn’t won more - he’s unable and unwilling to do modify anything (including the smoke and mirrors “tweak” that he fools those rubes with every year) and, he’s always had enough talent to get away with not changing.

It’s - as was said by OldhamCard335 - why he has had ZERO assistants be able to make it as a HC. Payne is simply the latest in that pool of rejects.

 

[dac244]

I think college basketball has shifted to the players with NIL and the Transfer portal. Coaching has to be a nightmare in this environment.

A successful coach has to bring in the right players and that fit his system. The coaches that do that are going to be fine. You have already judged Payne which is fine. I want to see how he builds next years roster. Does he find guys that fit his system? Does he maintain the guys he needs. Next summer we will know.

I think if he had any coaching ability at all he would have won at least a couple more of those games. And thinking he is going to turn this debacle around through recruiting is just a pipe dream!