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Posted
by Joe Ross
May 19, 2009 at 2:48 p.m.
Wall's Choice of Kentucky Signals Paradigm Shift in Recruiting
Sometimes, change is slow. At other times it comes in like a flood.
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NBA Commissioner David Stern placed an age mandate on draft entrants a scant number of years ago with the expressed intent of ensuring NBA players reached a minimum maturation level before being thrown into the spotlight and making insane amounts of money. The hope was that youngsters would be better able to handle the pressures and freedoms that are afforded by an NBA lifestyle. Though his thought construct makes perfect sense to a rational mind, the success of the new order can be debated one way or the other and, in truth, the experiment is so young that it is hard to tell what effect the age mandate is currently having. Consider Michael Beasley's and Mario Chalmers' recent troubles at Miami. Beasley was a one-and-done prospect who only went to KSU because of the age restriction, while Chalmers was an upperclassman who was groomed in a tradition-rich program. Both fell into trouble in the NBA in their rookie seasons, and none of it seemed to have anything to do with age. Setting the NBA picture aside, the college ranks are now being flooded with marquis talent and giving college sports fans everywhere a reason to "ooh" and "ahh" over phenoms which are pushing some programs to new heights. Even Kentucky.
Consider how the once-powerhouse program was in grave danger of becoming a cellar dwellar and irrelevant to any conversations having to do with consistency among top-tier programs or which teams could threaten to win a national championship. Now I don't care what you think about John Calipari one way or the other. Personally I think the hes very akin to a snake oil salesman who is so slimy I feel like I need a shower any time I hear him speak. But you can't deny the man is an opportunist who makes programs better wherever he goes, and the reason is obvious: he recruits better than any coach in the history of the game. Schmoozer that he is, Id be only a little surprised if I learned he sent a weekly "Thank You" card directly to the Stern's office for making these players (who would no more have seen an en cee double ay court than a black man would voluntarily show up at a Klan Rally) available to the college ranks. With an iron fist or perhaps a middle finger, Calipari's challenge to every other team in America is this. You build your programs and develop your talent over 2 to 4 years. Ill take the best recruits in the nation every year and pit them against you and we'll see who comes out on top. His model would have proven successful in the year Kansas won it all were he either a coach that emphasized free throws in practice or were he capable of salting away a game when he had it safely in his hand (a simple Memphis foul would have won the game in the final 10 seconds).
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Though he didnt win it all in 07-08, there are lessons to be learned about what great recruits can do for a program. Rose helped to push Memphis to new heights but one can, in fact, look outside of Calipari's exploits for evidence of this fact. Mayo and USC. Durant and Texas. The aforementioned Beasley at KSU. Kansas and Kentucky are the frontrunners to win the National Title in the upcoming year, and it might just come down to a scenario where the theory is again put to the test about which is more beneficial: developed talent or a plethora of prized one-and-done recruits on the roster. (I digress, but much of Kansas' success will ride on how much the Morris twins and Tyshawn Taylor can rise to the occasion.) Ignoring experience and looking through the prism of pure talent level, right now the only team that compares favorably against Kansas up and down the roster is Kentucky. Here's something to ponder. If Calipari continues to recruit like this, will Kentucky experience a run like UCLA did in the 60s despite the fact that John is no Wizard of Westwood? To be sure, his success in recruiting top recruits will continue year-in, year-out after young talent will witness Calipari's establishing a pipeline to the NBA. A positive-feedback loop is in the making. The more top-talent he gains, the more get sent to the NBA. The more that get sent to the NBA, the more top talent will enter through the revolving door. Calipari will become synonmous with a golden goose to those recruits, and they will climb a Kentucky beanstalk to get to him. Ladies and gentlemen, this is past the point of debate. It's ALREADY happening.
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How will other coaches respond? Unfortunately, you sometimes have to change with the times if you want to be competitive for championships. Failing to do so will make a stark contrast between the haves and the have-nots, and I see the powerhouse programs only getting richer. Kansas won the year before last. North Carolina won last year. Either Kansas or Kentucky is in line to do it again. The challenge to Self and Company is how to respond to this recruiting warfare that is being waged. Self is perhaps the best recruiter that Ive seen during my years as a Kansas fan, but I have never seen something on the order of the coup Calipari conducted on the recruiting trail this year. And all in a matter of weeks. I will endure a smattering of boos and hisses for my suggesting that adding Lance Stephenson to the roster would be almost necessary, relegating Morningstar to pay his own way for a season. Unfortunately, you sometimes have to do some distasteful things to change with the times if you want to be competitive for championships.
Comments
BoulderHawk (anonymous) says…
There is only one ball.
I like our team before X. He and is brother are just icing on the cake.
plasticJHawk (Jonathan Allison) says…
Don't downplay how good UNC could be again next year. They have a really good class coming in. Texas has a couple of huge recruits lined up. This is no two-horse race.
I think you are right though, the recruiting landscape is changing. Calipari was the best recuiter in the country when he was at Memphis and he will be way better than that at Kentucky.
Prepare yourselves for the recuiting arms race that is coming. It won't be pretty.
FreddyD (Fred Davis) says…
Whoa, Whoa Whoa... Lets not start getting crazy about Calipari like the guy is suddenly going to take every good recruit and sprinkle whoever is left over... All Calipari is doing is taking his show to Kentucky where there will be more hype, but does he really gain a recruiting advantage? I mean it's not as though he was barely getting by with the recruiting classes he had at Memphis... And what kids did he bring in this year that went to UK because it was UK? Wall was going to Memphis before Caipari left, so this isn't a huge surprise...
As a KU fan, I'm not worried, and honestly, I don't think this changes a whole lot other than we're talking about Kentucky, which has always been one of the elite of college hoops, and it's in the SEC, so he'll get a lot more pub and TV time there than when he was at Memphis...
Also - did you really suggest that this guy is going to have a UCLA like impact on college basketball? Seriously? Calipari is a great recruiter and a good game coach who makes his fair share of mistakes as you mentioned - but he's already developed an NBA pipeline and everybody already knows what Calipari is about, so him going to Kentucky does not make the guy invincible... Cal will probably win a title in Lexington, maybe two, but a lot can change year-to-year in college hoops...
Finally, KU has Bill Self, who can recruit just as well as Calipari, which people are sort of overlooking in all of this... I mean, Wall had the chance to come to KU and run the guard spot like Russ Rob/Chalmers/Sherron did in '08, but Wall told Self he didn't see how that would work with him playing that way with Tyshawn and Sherron... Hmm... Are you kidding me? If you say so John, I guess Bill Self just got lucky that year running that three guard lineup and never mind the guards he's put into the NBA - Deron Williams, Dee Brown, Luther Head, Chalmers and Sherron next year... Let's not get all Chicken Little here and give Cal and Kentucky the next ten National Titles... Last I checked, our coach is up 1-0. KU will be fine.
jross1972 (Joe Ross) says…
plasticJHawk...
Ive never before heard it put that way, "recruiting arms race", but thats exactly whats coming.
jross1972 (Joe Ross) says…
Freddy,
I dont disagree with you on a lot of things. But what Calipari WAS and what he is becoming are two different things. He never had a recruiting class like this at Memphis. Never. He's at a big name program now which is also a selling point he didnt have at Memphis (and you see the job he did there).
And I do not apologize for the likening of what can happen in Kentucky with what happened at UCLA. I think it WILL happen if other coaches dont change their recruiting tactics to recruit even more aggressively. Memphis was a no-name when Calipari got there and he was threatening to go to Final Fours constantly. Now he's got a legitimate name behind him and the best recruiting class ever...period.
Yes, he's developed an NBA pipeline. But lets not act as if that pipeline is static. No. Its growing. Again I think Calipari is a sleezeball, but the man is single-handedly changing recruiting (um...with the help of World Wide Wes, I suppose).
crmsnblu (anonymous) says…
i can't believe these kids want to play for cal because he can get them to the NBA. john wall will be pro next year even if he plays for hutchison juco this year. there's another reason they all file in behind the motor oil.... regardless mello is the only one and done i can remember to win a title(unfortunately against kansas), otherwise experience wins titles. cal can and probably get close a lot but untill he gets some kids to stick around he'll be collecting a lot of runner up trophies.
jross1972 (Joe Ross) says…
actually, crmsnblu, i dont believe the NBA is all of it. but i do think its MOST of it (if youve heard of world wide wes, you know what kind of puppet strings he pulls). some of it has to do with the fact that calipari is more of a "buddy" to his players than other reputable coaches. some of it has to do with the fact that if youve got any character flaws whatsoever, caliparis program is a place you can fit in. he embraces those kinds of players with open arms. im also quite sure there is some under-the-table kickbacks going on with coach cal. he's a slimeball. but heres the fact. if you take that all away without the promise of the NBA, kids wouldnt go there.
mojayhawk (anonymous) says…
How often do you see "slimeball" with Cal, and uh, world wide wes? There is waaaaay more to this than meets the eye.
You never, have never, nor WILL ever hear "slimeball" in the same sentence as Coach Self! I'll take integrity every time. It's what we got when we hired Coach. Some day, the dirt will come out, and it will be ugly. OJ Mayo is just the first. Don't think the NCAA isn't watching!
Thanks Coach Self for your integrity, your class, and your unbelievable talent for recruiting and coaching. My son could play for you any day!
Go Hawks!
Ontherocks (anonymous) says…
Yes, Coach Self sits at the pinnacle of coaching integrity, where he grants the title of Director of Basketball Operations to Lonnie Chalmers.
Get this through your skulls, every elite program is operating in the gray area of recruiting, where it isn't illegal, but it sure isn't totally in the spirit of the rules. Your beloved Coach Self taught Billy Gillispie how to recruit 8th graders, pay fathers of recruits for speaking engagements, or hire them for fluff jobs. Further, I don't begrudge either one of them, nor does it make them lesser coaches.
There is no paradigm shift occurring, Calipari's '09 class is a combination of his skills and UK's name making a splash. Cal isn't reinventing the recruiting wheel, he's just beating others at the game this year. Next year, it will be someone else.
Lastly, "Integrity" is a word in college basketball that really shouldn't be thrown around lightly. "What's dirtier: college basketball or politics?" Pat Knight said. "Let's put it this way. None of us are going to run for office."
jross1972 (Joe Ross) says…
Cal has been beating people in recruiting the last three years. Tyreke Evans, Derek Rose, and others came before John Wall. The best three year period in recruiting goes to John Calipari hands down.
Name someone better. I dare ya.
Ontherocks (anonymous) says…
That's funny, Rivals ranked KU ahead of Memphis in '08, and again in '05. Yet there was no declared paradigm shift. Memphis had the #10 class in '07, so 9 other coaches might disagree with you. This Kentucky class is an aberration, nothing more.
Let's call a spade a spade, Calipari moves to an elite program and fans and bloggers descend to call him a slimeball for doing everything that every other elite coach is doing, yours included. Spreading FUD is what this post is about. It is possible you fear what the outcome of a greater recruiter and great name will be, after all Self + KU has shown what that can yield.
What you don't get to do is proclaim the moral high ground without being called out on the fallacies of your argument. There have been no recruiting violations for any of his teams, and the NCAA openly stated they have never had an issue with Cal or his associates prior to being hired by UK, according to their AD. Again, when it's your team it's all good but when another program is on your heels, the claws come out and objectivity about your own program goes out the window.
Regarding your WWWes comment and the puppet strings he pulls, cite a source of any wrongdoing in 25+ years that he's been involved in basketball, I dare ya.
dagger108 (anonymous) says…
"Memphis was a no-name when Calipari got there and he was threatening to go to Final Fours constantly."
Threatening to go means a lot of elite 8 finishes yes? And this year it was only a sweet 16. Has Memphis made it to the FF more than once ('08)?
"Yes, he's developed an NBA pipeline."
How many players have gone from his program? Obviously, Rose & CDR are headliners, but have they had a lot more than that? Does he really have more of a pipeline than KU, UNC, Duke, ...
I think if we get past the persuasive phrases and start dealing with facts, we're going to find out that Cal only really has a perception and "promise" of future excellence.
What is rather funny to me is recalling all the articles that were writen when Billy G first went to UK and got a couple recruits. That was alledgedly the end of recruiting life for Coach Self now that his protigee (SP?) was at a major program. I'm not saying that BG & JC are the same, just that this is a lot more hype and speculation than reality.
Maybe Upon Further Review will deal with the reality of the situation, vs. a bunch of lip-flapping.