The Real Reason uk lost to WVU

[sgdevil]

First post, I apologize in advance if I'm stepping on any toes by posting a new thread. I thought my fellow Duke fans would like to know the real reason for uk's loss to WVU. It's because of Duke so says cal. "Do you know how badly we wanted Duke? Calipari said. I think that's why we played so badly against West Virginia. We wanted Duke so badly we couldn't see straight.http://espn.go.com/blog/collegebasketballnation/post/_/id/15764/calipari-duke-a-factor-in-elite-eight-loss

[ricks68]

Check out the comments on the article. Even a Kentucky fan came down on Calimari. Sheesh!

ricks

[moonpie23]

really cal? REALLY?

you WANTED the team that DESTROYED the team that put UK away when it mattered the most?

When everything about you, your program, and your cheating ways was on the freakin line, you and your team crapped the bed to WVU and you want the team that CRUSHED THEM?


ease off the sauce there, cal.......you didn't really want duke.


http://ui32.gamespot.com/479/702headbanginstick_4.gif

[pratt '04]

First post, I apologize in advance if I'm stepping on any toes by posting a new thread. I thought my fellow Duke fans would like to know the real reason for uk's loss to WVU. It's because of Duke so says cal. "Do you know how badly we wanted Duke? Calipari said. I think that's why we played so badly against West Virginia. We wanted Duke so badly we couldn't see straight.http://espn.go.com/blog/collegebasketballnation/post/_/id/15764/calipari-duke-a-factor-in-elite-eight-loss

Didn't we play Baylor the day after Kentucky lost to WVU? So Kentucky was looking ahead to a Duke team that wasn't even in the Final Four yet? Right.

[Bob Green]

Calipari suggested Kentucky lost to West Virginia in the Elite Eight last season in part because the Wildcats were looking ahead to Duke in the Final Four.

The classic mistake in any sports competition is to look past your opponent to the next game. Keeping your team focused upon the task at hand is the responsibility of the coach so Coach Calipari is admitting his own failure as a leader.

[roywhite]

Didn't we play Baylor the day after Kentucky lost to WVU? So Kentucky was looking ahead to a Duke team that wasn't even in the Final Four yet? Right.

Yep, that's right.

Kentucky had a chance to go to the Final Four (their first since 1998.....what an incredible drought for such a legendary program, eh?) and they couldn't concentrate because they were thinking about a possible opponent they might play a week later?

Bwahahahahaha. Good one, Cal. That makes you a fibber for making up such a story, or a lousy coach if you couldn't get your team to focus on a regional championship game.

[Newton_14]

First post, I apologize in advance if I'm stepping on any toes by posting a new thread. I thought my fellow Duke fans would like to know the real reason for uk's loss to WVU. It's because of Duke so says cal. "Do you know how badly we wanted Duke? Calipari said. I think that's why we played so badly against West Virginia. We wanted Duke so badly we couldn't see straight.http://espn.go.com/blog/collegebasketballnation/post/_/id/15764/calipari-duke-a-factor-in-elite-eight-loss

No apologies needed! Welcome to the board and an excellent first post it was!

This is too funny. Nice job there Cal of trying to take the focus off the present state of your program by pulling the ol Duke hate rabbit out of the hat! Classic bait and switch.

Like another post mentioned, you "wanted Duke" who had not even punched their ticket to the FF yet, and if truth be told, you likely gave zero shot of beating Baylor anyway. Yeah right. Good one Cal. Your younguns were on the big stage and they could not handle the pressure.

I still marvel at the fact that WVU did not make a single 2 point bucket in that first half against UK. They only hit 3's and free throw's. That is hard to do and still outscore the opponent. Meanwhile, UK could only hit 2 point buckets and could not buy a 3 nor a free throw.. Weird

[chrisheery]

I said it all year to anyone who would listen that I thought we would handle Kentucky easily if we played them. They only knew how to play one way and teams were stupid enough to let them play that way most of the time. They got lucky in a few games and squeaked by teams that had significantly less talent than they did. If we had played them, it would have been very similar to what happened to WVU. Neutralize their best asset (speed) with organization, and exploit their weakness (make them shoot over the top) while dominating the glass.

Wall is a stud, no question, but I have to believe that Coach K finds Calipari just as embarrassing to the sport he has dedicated his life to as we do. He would have done everything he could have his team ready for anything Cal would throw at them. As we have seen in the past, when Coach K has time to prepare and a team that will listen, he rarely loses.

[left_hook_lacey]

The classic mistake in any sports competition is to look past your opponent to the next game. Keeping your team focused upon the task at hand is the responsibility of the coach so Coach Calipari is admitting his own failure as a leader.

I agree 100% with this. It's sort of a cliche'd excuse becuase we hear it so much, but I believe 100% that players and even coaches can look past opponents. Having played all through school and some junior college ball, I can tell you that I've been bitten a couple times as a player because I was ready for the next "big" game.

Given the implications of any 3rd or 4th round game in the NCAA tournament, and the fact that Duke/Kentucky is arguably the biggest marquee matchup that could happen in today's NCAA tournament(excpet DUKE-UNC obviously), I can easily see how Kentucky could've looked past WVU. Not taking anything away from WVU, because they always seem to win one more game than they're supposed to in the dance, but WVU defenitely did not see the Kentucky team that we saw all season. I'd also like to add, that I think Cal and the Kentucky players saw an opportunity to beat Duke on the National stage in a year when Duke was supposed to be "down" and had no depth, unatheletic and all that..( Of course, we new better...;)

So while it sounds like he's passing the buck, and using an excuse from the old cliche' bag, I actually agree with Bob in that I think Cal is actually owning up for not having the team ready to play a very game WVU team.

Maybe that's why we're getting all this rain of biblical proportions here in North Carolina, perhaps hell is preparing to freeze over because Cal brought his ego down a peg. :confused:

Just so there's no confusion as to my thoughts of Cal, I loathe the man with every fiber of my being. And with the recent actions of Kentucky as a Unversity, that school is right behind him on my loathe list.

[brevity]

The classic mistake in any sports competition is to look past your opponent to the next game. Keeping your team focused upon the task at hand is the responsibility of the coach so Coach Calipari is admitting his own failure as a leader.

I hope some coach or player, in any sport, follows up the cliché "We're just going to take it one game at a time" with "because John Calipari didn't."

By the way, a Baylor-Kentucky game (in a hypothetical loser bracket or alternate universe, of course) would have been something to see. That one could go either way.

[CameronBornAndBred]

The one thing we were fearful of is that we'd go on a shooting slump, which was the question about our team from Day 1. But we made shots, we willed shots in. And that game, we went 0 for 20 and I kept saying, 'We're going to be alright, and their eyes are like, no we're not.'"


And that right there is why you will very, very rarely have a team full of freshmen win it all, because no matter how talented they are, they don't have the experience required to pull it off.

[killerleft]

Coach K should use Calipari's words against him.

The top players want to be challenged, am I right? Then K could say, "Do you want to play for a team that will only put forth great effort against Duke? Or would you like to play for a team that has to prepare for that great effort from everybody we play?".

Everybody wants to beat us. There's a reason for that. Everybody wants a shot at the year-in-year-out top dawg!!!!!

[miramar]

That happens to me all the time. I want to win the lottery so badly that I always end up losing.

If I just act nonchalant next Saturday then my next post will be from the Hotel George V in Paris. If you're in the neighborhood, I'll be the one with the champagne bottle in one hand the the Bentley keys in the other.

[Billy Dat]

I don't know...I think this is a fairly flattering comment from Cal. Beating Duke in the Final Four would make any Kentucky team instant legends. They knew playing us, and beating us, would give them a shot at being an all time Kentucky team in the eyes of the fans. It is also a very public admission that our program is very much in their heads. I appreciate that level of candor. K would never give another program that kind of endorsement - he'd admit respecting an opponent, but never any kind of mental influence.

[nmduke2001]

This story warms my heart. Any day we can be held responsible for a Kentucky loss is a good day.

[thenameisbond]

This story warms my heart. Any day we can be held responsible for a Kentucky loss is a good day.

+1

This is also why Calislimi can't carry K's gym bag. K's teams know that you should NEVER, EVER look past the opponent you are playing.

[Scorp4me]

I doubt I'm the only one who felt we had a better chance against UK than WVU. I just felt that while UK was obviously more talented, they lacked the experience to handle adversity. I felt Duke could apply that adversity, but instead WVU beat us to the punch. I thought WVU matched up against us better. I thought if UK beat us it'd be bad, but they had less chance of winning. While WVU would be a close game, but had a better chance of winning. What did I know, boy was I wrong as we destroyed WVU in what was perhaps one of our most complete games of the year.

[devildeac]

This story warms my heart. Any day we can be held responsible for a Kentucky loss is a good day.

And Laettner wasn't even involved with this one.

[roywhite]

And Laettner wasn't even involved with this one.

We're still stomping on their chest.

Love it.

[moonpie23]

pretty quiet over on CATSPAUSE (http://kentucky.rivals.com/showmsg.asp?fid=1383&tid=147976745&mid=147976745&sid=888&style=2) about cal's statement... a few scratching around in the litterbox saying how badly they would have beaten duke...


i especially like this one...
"That's because everyone knew Duke would advance thanks to the NCAA selection committee lining up a bunch of chump teams for you to play against."


i guess he means chump teams like the team that sent them home...

[BD80]

This story warms my heart. Any day we can be held responsible for a Kentucky loss is a good day.


And Laettner wasn't even involved with this one.

Laettner is ALWAYS involved when KY loses. He is that deeply ensconced in their psyche.


...
"That's because everyone knew Duke would advance thanks to the NCAA selection committee lining up a bunch of chump teams for you to play against." ...

But UK was supposed to be in that line, so they are saying ... oh, never mind.

[Lord Ash]

The classic mistake in any sports competition is to look past your opponent to the next game. Keeping your team focused upon the task at hand is the responsibility of the coach so Coach Calipari is admitting his own failure as a leader.

This. Especially with such a young team, keeping them focused on the task at hand and not on a possible future game is of vital importance. I didn't see the quote as being an excuse; I saw it as Cal just being frank about where his team was, mentally, and where he should have done a better job coaching.

[Kedsy]

I doubt I'm the only one who felt we had a better chance against UK than WVU. I just felt that while UK was obviously more talented, they lacked the experience to handle adversity. I felt Duke could apply that adversity, but instead WVU beat us to the punch. I thought WVU matched up against us better. I thought if UK beat us it'd be bad, but they had less chance of winning. While WVU would be a close game, but had a better chance of winning. What did I know, boy was I wrong as we destroyed WVU in what was perhaps one of our most complete games of the year.

You're not the only one. At the beginning of the tourney I picked West Virginia to beat Kentucky, but I was hoping Kentucky would win because I thought we had a better chance against them than West Virginia. Although obviously I was wrong about the difficulty I thought we would have with the Mountaineers.

[soccerstud2210]

This. Especially with such a young team, keeping them focused on the task at hand and not on a possible future game is of vital importance. I didn't see the quote as being an excuse; I saw it as Cal just being frank about where his team was, mentally, and where he should have done a better job coaching.

exactly, thus proving that he is NOT one of the top coaches in the game. he is simply one of the BEST recruiters. KY can have their best recruiter, I'll take arguably the BEST coach in the game any day of the week and twice on sunday. :D

[PADukeMom]

Sounds to me like Cal has some trophy envy. Talk about not being able to let something go. It's been almost 6 months already.

[OldPhiKap]

For the record, Duke planned to lose against Baylor. We just beat them out of spite, though, when KY went out.

[Travis]

Criticizing Calipari for a lame excuse is the wrong way to look at his quote.

Calipari has just admitted that Duke beat his team featuring 5 first round picks in the NCAA Tournament WITHOUT even playing them.

Now that is dominance!

We were better than even I realized. What a brilliant coaching job. Coach K (perhaps using Jedi-like mind powers) got in UK's collective heads and took them out of everything they wanted to do, including beat the team they were currently playing, and UK's Coach admits it.

Classic!
Travis

[CLW]

Criticizing Calipari for a lame excuse is the wrong way to look at his quote.

Calipari has just admitted that Duke beat his team featuring 5 first round picks in the NCAA Tournament WITHOUT even playing them.

Now that is dominance!

We were better than even I realized. What a brilliant coaching job. Coach K (perhaps using Jedi-like mind powers) got in UK's collective heads and took them out of everything they wanted to do, including beat the team they were currently playing, and UK's Coach admits it.

Classic!
Travis

I agree 100%

I mean how great/powerful of a team do you have when you can beat an alleged title contender from 1633 miles away? (Mapquest Syracuse to Houston)

The mental bugaboo Kentucky fans and now apparently their Coach/Team have about Duke is fantastic!

Personally, I think it was the Zoubeard. :cool:

[nmduke2001]

He should look on the bright side; in four years he will only have to forfeit an elite eight appearance.

[RWD]

Are we the first team to have beaten seven teams in a single NCAA tourney?

RWD

[striker219]

Are we the first team to have beaten seven teams in a single NCAA tourney?

RWD

If yes, I have a follow up question. When this happens...


...he will only have to forfeit an elite eight appearance.

...what will that do to our seven win record?

[dukejim1]

http://www.al.com/sports/index.ssf/2010/09/calipari_speaks_in_birmingham.html

http://www.al.com/sports/index.ssf/2010/09/calipari_speaks_in_birmingham.html

More to the speech, I'm sure everyone there including the SEC Commissioner were hanging on every Calipari word on how to deal with the agent/runner problem in sports. I wonder if World Wide Wes or Clifton attended.

[Duvall]

http://www.al.com/sports/index.ssf/2010/09/calipari_speaks_in_birmingham.html

http://www.al.com/sports/index.ssf/2010/09/calipari_speaks_in_birmingham.html

More to the speech, I'm sure everyone there including the SEC Commissioner were hanging on every Calipari word on how to deal with the agent/runner problem in sports. I wonder if World Wide Wes or Clifton attended.

Man, who needs comedy when you have the SEC?

[roywhite]

http://www.al.com/sports/index.ssf/2010/09/calipari_speaks_in_birmingham.html

http://www.al.com/sports/index.ssf/2010/09/calipari_speaks_in_birmingham.html

More to the speech, I'm sure everyone there including the SEC Commissioner were hanging on every Calipari word on how to deal with the agent/runner problem in sports. I wonder if World Wide Wes or Clifton attended.

Well, somebody had to pay for the lunch.

Classic Cal:


Like, we're the color of the month. Every kid wants to come to us right now? Why is that? Because we had five guys drafted in the first round and they all think they can go in the first round if they come to Kentucky.

[brevity]

Criticizing Calipari for a lame excuse is the wrong way to look at his quote.

Calipari has just admitted that Duke beat his team featuring 5 first round picks in the NCAA Tournament WITHOUT even playing them.

Now that is dominance!

We were better than even I realized. What a brilliant coaching job. Coach K (perhaps using Jedi-like mind powers) got in UK's collective heads and took them out of everything they wanted to do, including beat the team they were currently playing, and UK's Coach admits it.

Fascinating theory. Imagine this exchange on Selection Sunday...

Fan: Ugh, either Kentucky OR West Virginia in the semis. Any way we can just beat them both?
Coach K: Yes, actually. Do this I can.

[-bdbd]

Wall is a stud, no question, but I have to believe that Coach K finds Calipari just as embarrassing to the sport he has dedicated his life to as we do. He would have done everything he could have his team ready for anything Cal would throw at them. As we have seen in the past, when Coach K has time to prepare and a team that will listen, he rarely loses.


Wasn't it about a year ago the Bobby Knight, Coach K's mentor (!), really lit into Calipari and how KY was running their program? So, I find it VERY unlikely that K has much regard for Calipari and his "methods."

When seeing that Calipari quote my first thought was: "Well, if the KY players were all looking past their current opponent to a potential matchup a week away, then it sounds like a certain Head Coach wasn't doing his job very well..." Pretty self-damning of Calipari to say of his game preparation.

Not to be contrarian, but I think most experts would have picked KY over Duke in such a match-up. Most pools I was in had them as the favorite - or second-favorite - National Champ prediction. For all of the flaws pointed out above, that was a damn talented team - 5 first round selections (?) - that Claimari managed to squander. I sure hope recruits can see past the "I put the most players into the NBA" pitch, and see how he WASTED all of that talent he had at his disposal.

-BD "I can't even imagine K having a couple of HIS FF's vacated a la Calipari" BD