Is John Calipari a good coach or just a corrupt recruiter?

BJ wrote:

Sorta like Thad Matta except Thad's not a cheater.

It's only cheating if you're caught, right? Ohio State doesn't get the caliber of players we've seen in recent years (Oden, Turner) without violating rules. It's true regardless of whether you want to believe it.

hotsauceinmybag wrote:

BJ wrote:

Sorta like Thad Matta except Thad's not a cheater.

It's only cheating if you're caught, right? Ohio State doesn't get the caliber of players we've seen in recent years (Oden, Turner) without violating rules. It's true regardless of whether you want to believe it.

You are SADLY mistaken about Matta. While Turner was highly rated out of high school, he was never projected to be player of the year or be a one and done guy. He was splitting time with Diebler their freshman year. While Diebler had incredible numbers in high school because of the style of play, he was definitely going to be in college 4 years.

Matta really doesn't even like the one and done players. I thought he screwed his team the two years they had Koufos and Mullins by not playing them much because he knew they were leaving. He did the same thing to Daequan Cook. If Matta was about getting those one and done guys and cheating, he would be riding them the whole year like he did Oden when he got healthy. Mullins was actually offered a scholarship before his freshman year in high school. At that timem, Matta never dreamed he would be a one and done player. Those guys actually might have stayed another year if Matta played them.

When Matta finally started playing Koufos in the NIT, they rolled right through it. They could have easily been in the NCAA that year if they weren't so intent on making Koufos a back to the basket post up center and let him do what he was best at.

Last year, Mullin only played about 18 minutes a game. When he played more than 20 minutes he was shooting over 70% from the field. If he got 35 minutes a game, he would have avg about 20 points and 8 rebounds. Matta chose to play Lauderdale more though to get ready for this year.

Playing for the future is not a sign of a cheating coach.

Your right, but it was a dui that put Huggy bear over the edge at cin.

Calipari is 1-8 vs Huggins. Huggins, with inferior players, out-coaches Calipari every time because Huggs is a superior coach.

Now, THAT is the end of the thread.

letthemgo wrote:

Your right, but it was a dui that put Huggy bear over the edge at cin.

No shit, Sherlock.

Nice logic. Matta has been at Butler, Xavier, and OSU with no scandals and no "vacating" of anything. If he's cheating at OSU we would've found out by now (see Randy Ayers and Jim O'Brien for prior examples). Thad is a GREAT recruiter, and that's how he gets that caliber of player. And Turner wasn't even the best player on his HS team (Demetri McCamey was), and he sucked as a freshman at OSU, so don't use him as an example for anything. See Bill Walker's reply above for more details, but you are very mistaken.

hotsauceinmybag wrote:

BJ wrote:

Sorta like Thad Matta except Thad's not a cheater.

It's only cheating if you're caught, right? Ohio State doesn't get the caliber of players we've seen in recent years (Oden, Turner) without violating rules. It's true regardless of whether you want to believe it.

You don't find success at OSU without bending rules. It's been happening there since before you were born. You're probably naive enough to think that the football Buckeyes are squeaky clean, too. Just what the hell do you think "great recruiter" is a euphemism for? Sorry, it's just the culture there. This isn't xc, there's real money at stake. Maybe Matta was clean at Butler and Xavier (doubt it, probably just that nobody cared to look) but you're fooling yourself if you think any program assembles Elite Eight type teams by following every rule to the letter. Just doesn't happen today, Pollyanna. There's only one Big 10 team that stands a good chance of being on the up and up, and that's Northwestern.