Canada spanks USA U-19 team (coached by Calipari) 99-87

[NSDukeFan]

I believe cool cal had a hand in selecting the team that shot so poorly. He placed his recruiting efforts (by selecting guys he's targeting and guys already committed to uk) above his DUTY to forward the cause of USA basketball.

The criticism is mild considering he put his own interests ahead of his country's.

It wasn't about the team winning, it was giving these kids the chance to go to Egypt. It's all about the kids.

[moonpie23]

meh...lehigh, mercer, etc...

[sagegrouse]

meh...lehigh, mercer, etc...

I agree, Moonpie. Stay classy, guys. He's a Hall of Fame coach and his teams really get after it on the defensive end.

[DukeTrinity11]

I agree, Moonpie. Stay classy, guys. He's a Hall of Fame coach and his teams really get after it on the defensive end.

We can criticize here because BBN considers Calipari as a legitimate threat to overtake K as the GOAT so Cal can't really afford these kind of bad losses.

Coach K has...

5 National Championships
12 Final 4s
26 ACC Titles (Regular Season + Tournament)
3 Olympic Gold Medals (Beijing, London and Rio de Janeiro)

Calipari has...

1 National Championship
4 Final 4s
10 SEC Titles (Regular Season + Tournament)

I definitely think Cal is a top 5 current coach but if you aspire to be the best, you will be held to a higher standard.

[OldPhiKap]

It wasn't about the team winning, it was giving these kids the chance to go to Egypt. It's all about the kids.

I thought it was all about that bass.

[Indoor66]

We can criticize here because BBN considers Calipari as a legitimate threat to overtake K as the GOAT so Cal can't really afford these kind of bad losses.

Coach K has...

5 National Championships
12 Final 4s
26 ACC Titles (Regular Season + Tournament)
3 Olympic Gold Medals (Beijing, London and Rio de Janeiro)

Calipari has...

1 National Championship
4 Final 4s
10 SEC Titles (Regular Season + Tournament)

I definitely think Cal is a top 5 current coach but if you aspire to be the best, you will be held to a higher standard.

But haven't two of the Final Fours been vacated?

[brevity]

But haven't two of the Final Fours been vacated?

Yes.

1996*, 2008*, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2015

Officially, he has only reached the Final Four with Kentucky.

[Indoor66]

Yes.

1996*, 2008*, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2015

Officially, he has only reached the Final Four with Kentucky.

And part of that vacating is that those events are now not permitted to be included in his record, so he has four final fours.

[dball]

We can criticize here because BBN considers Calipari as a legitimate threat to overtake K as the GOAT so Cal can't really afford these kind of bad losses.

Coach K has...

3 Olympic Gold Medals (Beijing, London and Rio de Janeiro)

Coach K led those three teams and assisted on two other gold medal squads(1984 and 1992). Coaches don't actually get medals though.

[Troublemaker]

I think all the criticism of Caliparai is over the top. He is obnoxious but obviously a great coach. Coach can't help it if the players miss 18 free throws and shoot poorly.

That's not obvious to me at all. He's a great recruiter. He's a mediocre coach. Even UK fans admit his X's and O's suck. He does 2 things well: recruit and manage egos. Those are important assets for NCAA basketball, but not very useful in a Team USA setting. It's a joke that he thought he should have been the senior national team's coach over Popovich.

I'm not necessarily disagreeing with you Kaze since you did make the distinction between NCAA and FIBA ball, but Calipari is a great college basketball coach. The results -- consistently deep tournament runs -- speak for themselves. Now, perhaps he attains those results merely by being a great recruiter (although it's possible that is overplayed by opposing fans like us), but so be it. Recruiting is part of the job; in college sports, the coaches are their own GMs, and if being an A+ recruiter by itself can produce deep tournament runs, I'd gladly accept that from my coach. If Coach K's eventual replacement has as much success as Calipari has had at UK, I'll be thrilled. (Of course, I reserve the right to change my mind if the NCAA comes for Calipari and UK's banners one day).

That said, I disagree with AtlDuke72 that the criticism of Calipari over this game has been over the top. USA Basketball has produced a tried-and-true formula of pressuring opponents into turnovers, and for some reason, Calipari went away from that despite Canada missing its starting point guard.

[brevity]

Calipari has...

1 National Championship
4 Final 4s
10 SEC Titles (Regular Season + Tournament)

But haven't two of the Final Fours been vacated?

Yes.

1996*, 2008*, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2015

Officially, he has only reached the Final Four with Kentucky.

And part of that vacating is that those events are now not permitted to be included in his record, so he has four final fours.

So brave of you to claim the moral high ground when the moral high ground was stipulated. DukeTrinity11 already did the required math.

[Olympic Fan]

I believe cool cal had a hand in selecting the team that shot so poorly. He placed his recruiting efforts (by selecting guys he's targeting and guys already committed to uk) above his DUTY to forward the cause of USA basketball.

The criticism is mild considering he put his own interests ahead of his country's.

Well, he had a hand in picking the team, but not total control.

And while he did include a couple of Kentucky kids (Diallo) and targets (Reddish), one of his prime targets -- Bol Bol -- was cut.

Not sure why Bagley, Williamson and Garland were not at the trials.

[moonpie23]

my point is, no one wins everything...even the best coaches...at some point, it's how the players actually execute.

I've got no love for cal, or roy, but, they all lose sometimes...

[bluenorth]

#1 player in the class of 2019. The always accurate 247 crystal ball is 100% to Duke at this point.

Barrett's father, Rowan, played for St. John's back in the day. BTW, has Duke had a Canadian on the roster since Greg Newton?

[JNort]

That's not obvious to me at all. He's a great recruiter. He's a mediocre coach. Even UK fans admit his X's and O's suck. He does 2 things well: recruit and manage egos. Those are important assets for NCAA basketball, but not very useful in a Team USA setting. It's a joke that he thought he should have been the senior national team's coach over Popovich.

Agreed. Great recruiter but as for actual coaching he is terrible

[CrazyNotCrazie]

Barrett's father, Rowan, played for St. John's back in the day. BTW, has Duke had a Canadian on the roster since Greg Newton?

Just did a little google research on Barrett. His dad did play for St. John's in the early-mid 90's (makes me feel really old) - he overlapped there with Roshown McLeod and Felipe Lopez. Then he played pro internationally for a while, and is now assistant GM and Executive VP of Canada Basketball, working for Steve Nash. Barrett's mom was a sprinter at St. John's so I'm sure Mullin is trying to recruit him to help revitalize the program. He now plays for Monteverde Academy in Florida and turned 17 on June 14 so age-wise he could easily reclassify to 2018 as he will be 18 next summer. His HS coach Kevin Boyle was Kyrie's coach (he previously worked at St. Pat's in NJ) but Boyle has sent players to most every top program, so that doesn't necessarily count for much.

[flyingdutchdevil]

Agreed. Great recruiter but as for actual coaching he is terrible

How do you define in-game coaching? W-L record? Success in the tournament?

I'm just curious, because Cal has been incredibly successful at UK in terms of winning.

[OldPhiKap]

Cal is a very good coach IMO. I would put him above Roy, and probably on par with Pitino.

But I still wish that John Chaney had whooped his butt.

I'm fine with Cal bashing and all, but I don't see that the loss in this game was due to poor coaching decisions. JMHO (where I stole Sage's H).

[flyingdutchdevil]

Cal is a very good coach IMO. I would put him above Roy, and probably on par with Pitino.

But I still wish that John Chaney had whooped his butt.

I'm fine with Cal bashing and all, but I don't see that the loss in this game was due to poor coaching decisions. JMHO (where I stole Sage's H).

I wholeheartedly agree. I don't get the assertion that Cal is a poor in-game coach. If he is, then one can easily make the assertion that so is Coach K.

[Troublemaker]

How do you define in-game coaching? W-L record? Success in the tournament?

I'm just curious, because Cal has been incredibly successful at UK in terms of winning.

Agreed. You can't be a bad coach if these are your results the past 12 years:

Cal is a very good coach IMO. I would put him above Roy, and probably on par with Pitino.

But I still wish that John Chaney had whooped his butt.

I'm fine with Cal bashing and all, but I don't see that the loss in this game was due to poor coaching decisions. JMHO (where I stole Sage's H).

That said, Cal was horrible in the Canada game. The announcers were practically begging him to put on an aggressive press for 40 minutes against a team missing its point guard. If Calipari had pressed and trapped to get the ball out of Barrett's hands and make him work to get it back, USA would've won, imo.