Bitterwhiteguy

The Pregamer guys & the guy who does the weekly football gambling post, that's about it. EDIT: I'm still going to write over at Substack, just at a slightly reduced cadence to help with the work/life balance.

Calipari's best recruiter just left for the Knicks and right now they have one of their worst recruiting classes since Cal took the UK job, that's why. Lucas' father has influence everywhere, he just lives in Houston. The list of recruits who come to his camps each year is ridiculous.

Welp

If he wants to take an off-court role for whatever reason (tired of recruiting, doesn't want to be a HC, etc.) then the move makes sense because a DBO-type gig at Kentucky probably pays better than almost any other school, and barring something major Calipari isn't going anywhere any time soon so there's stability. Maybe BBN just fired a money cannon into his house in exchange for him putting his coaching aspirations on hold for a few years, if so then go get that paper. But if he wants to be a HC in the next 3-4 years then this is a bad move; not only is he phasing himself out of the recruiting game since only ACs can go on the road, but he's taking himself out of a spot where it's pretty easy to land a mid-major HC gig in the next couple of years. Good luck to Jai with whatever he decides, it's just a significant change of direction for a guy who always seemed interested in making his way to the head gig.

Kentucky has no assistant coaching spots open (the staff listing doesn't show them hiring Flint yet) so he'd be taking a demotion - like to be the recruiting coordinator - to go there. I'm not sure why that would be a good move for Jai if he has designs on being a head coach someday. Why take a paycut and demotion when a similar gig is likely to be available a year from now?

Gallows humor is still humor

I watched him at a game in Frisco on Thanksgiving weekend where he hit four threes and threw down a between-the-legs dunk in transition...in the first ~5 minutes of the game.

The G League also has a degree program through Arizona State available for all players who have spent service time in the G League, and is available to them up to 5 years after they leave the G League. This isn't an either/or thing when it comes to getting a degree or playing pro ball, they can do both if they choose. There is a finite amount of basketball in that young man's body, and thus a finite amount of earning power on an already compressed schedule (6-12 years vs the 40+ the rest of us schlubs have). A year earning $300k + endorsement/shoe deals where he gets to practice as much as he wants with no artificial coaching time limits imposed upon him by the NCAA plus the NBA involved in building his brand means this can be an accelerated earning path that is enhanced by access to top-level facilities & coaching. It's frankly a no-brainer; if it were my kid, I'd tell him to skip college and go this route. He can earn his degree along the way or after he's done playing; you can get a degree at 45 a lot easier than you can dunk a basketball at 45.

There were reasons for Turner's unusual deployment. The short version is that the coaching staff didn't trust him to run the system because (from their view) he would go rogue whenever he felt like it, but because he was clearly the best player on the team they only had limited ways to try to rein him in. Him rarely starting was one of the methods they deployed. In short, the relationship was fraught throughout his brief Texas tenure.

This is probably my second-biggest Texas basketball what-if: what if they get past Arizona? They're probably at least in the E8 that year. #1 is 'what if CJ Miles doesn't go pro out of high school'. That E8 team + a NBA wing probably plays Florida for a NC.

This is not going to be better than the '10-'11 team. They were 21st nationally in offensive efficiency, shot nearly 38% from three, and turned the ball over less than 18% of possessions (28th nationally). Defensively they were even better, ranking 4th nationally in defensive efficiency. If a ref could count to five, they might have made a much deeper run in the tourney.

Texas was #1 in the country January 2010. Since then....

I would expect him to test the draft waters to at least get information/feedback from the NBA. Whether he comes back or not depends on who you're talking to at any given moment.

Nothing against Haarms, but you'll have some combination of Baker, Kai, Hepa, Brown*, & Hamm in the rotation next year, there's not really room. That's if Jericho doesn't come back, if he does then they'd not only need to push somebody out to find a scholarship but also fit Haarms into the rotation as well. Personally, I'd rather they use the Jericho spot (if available) on a sophomore/junior transfer who can shoot and handle the ball a bit; it'll help in '21 when there are a lot more graduating players to replace. Alan Griffin or Tyrese Martin are the type of players I'm thinking of here.

Not that it matters much, but the conference will list them as tied for 3rd (along with OU, Tec, WVU) in the regular season. It's like last year, when they listed Tech & KSU as tied for first; the seeding is for the conference tournament rather than the historical record.

He's done for the year, as is Febres. I believe Liddell is as well, but it's been awhile since I heard an update.

I did. I'm a terrible native Texan.

I'll be honest, I would buy a "come and take it" Texas NIT t-shirt with the snake wrapped around the NIT trophy.

Buddy, I've had to write about them, talk about them on a podcast & on the radio. You're getting no sympathy from me.

Grandma's already in hospice, you don't need to put a pillow over her face.

It's a fair point, every source has an agenda; sometimes it's difficult to figure out who is pushing a narrative vs reporting reality. I remember how annoyed I was by how the whole Saban thing played out and try to avoid falling into the same trap. It's part of the reason I generally hand the breaking news/insider stuff to others in the industry who either depend on it more financially and/or have the resources to better vet the information.

I do my best to not engage in the "believable bullshit" stuff, for two reasons: 1) This is not my day job, I do not have a literal or metaphorical vested interest in selling the idea of being an insider. 2) It doesn't do anybody any good to overstate/oversell things because it will bite you in the ass in the end. I already get bit in the ass enough by my normal everyday statements as it is, I don't need to kick things up a notch. The information I have is secondhand, but I've heard it enough places I'm willing to make reference to it publicly. I'm not guaranteeing an outcome (see the hedge), but I've heard what I've heard. Take it with the appropriately-sized grain of salt.

He recruited one in De'Aaron Fox, he just didn't land one. If he gets Fox, Andrew Jones ends up at Baylor or Arizona instead. Whether that's a net-positive to you or not, I don't know. There were so many positions to fill in that first off-season - 5 graduating seniors & 1 NBA early entry - that it was bound to have some holes. The fact that Shaka's first class/Barnes' last class was mostly a wash-out was a big problem as well. It's hard to come back from two classes which combined to have so many players who were either 1 & done (Allen), 4-year players who transferred/washed themselves out (Banks, Mack, Young), or transfers who didn't contribute as much as anticipated for whatever reason (Isom, maybe Osetkowski?).

I don't see a realistic way he stays unless I've overestimated CDC's grasp on the situation - or everybody has overestimated his fundraising abilities - but it's still possible he doesn't find a landing spot elsewhere and the money is still a sticking point. Maybe I just don't want to consider that CDC would run this thing back yet again expecting/hoping for different results. Things I've heard make me believe gears are already turning, but the 20% is a hedge against the unknown.

This is definitely getting mentioned on the podcast.