He could have won several national championships at Memphis with zero pressure and been crowned a hero for doing so. The level of athletes in that program when you were at your peak was identical to what he puts on the floor now in Lexington. Was it pay? Prestige? Certainly he enjoyed equal access to under the table player money at both programs. I really think it's a travesty. It's like Marshall at WSU, Few at Gonzaga... elite coaches just outside the establishment ******* up the oligarchies.


T


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The NCAA was coming....

NCAA was coming was part of it but he was never turning down Kentucky. Its just so much easier to get recruits there without playing way past the gray areas.

Yes he got Derrick Rose at Memphis but the rest of his recruits(that enrolled) on that finalist team weren't necessarily top 10 players.

CDR was ranked 20-30
Robert Dozier was around 80th
Antonio Anderson was 40-50 ish

Highly rated recruits but nothing compared what hes loading up on at Kentucky.

The class he was putting together before he bolted was on par with recruiting at UK. Some of those kids actually left and went to Kentucky. If 1 and done was a thing, he would have had more classes like that at Memphis.

EGO

(04-24-2017 03:17 PM)GrayBeard Wrote:  The NCAA was coming....

A longer story than that but this sums it up.

It was about to be Hammer Time

$$$$$$
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(04-24-2017 04:17 PM)_C2_ Wrote:  $$$$$$
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Nope. Memphis was going to pay up.

And Kentucky could pay more. They were suffering through Billy Gillespie.

Calipari's leaving bought us "The Epics of Pastner". That's was a time of popcorn reading

(04-24-2017 04:19 PM)M1T4 Wrote:  Calipari's leaving bought us "The Epics of Pastner". That's was a time of popcorn reading

pastner-wanted-do-so-well-fan-base-memphis


T


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(04-24-2017 04:18 PM)_C2_ Wrote:  And Kentucky could pay more. They were suffering through Billy Gillespie.

Memphis' last offer exceeded what he got at Kentucky. He left because it was Kentucky, same reason that all but a handful of coaches would.

The reason is very simple. Kentucky is arguable the best job in college basketball. Any coach in the AAC would have underwent root canals without pain killer for the same opportunity.

(04-24-2017 06:45 PM)cotton1991 Wrote:  

(04-24-2017 04:18 PM)_C2_ Wrote:  And Kentucky could pay more. They were suffering through Billy Gillespie.

Memphis' last offer exceeded what he got at Kentucky. He left because it was Kentucky, same reason that all but a handful of coaches would.

I'm sure Kentucky could have matched. You guys are right about it being Kentucky, which at least proves he isn't a sellout, a complete one anyways.

(04-24-2017 06:59 PM)Tiger1983 Wrote:  The reason is very simple. Kentucky is arguable the best job in college basketball. Any coach in the AAC would have underwent root canals without pain killer for the same opportunity.

Arguably? It is, way better than any other job. Duke is gonna fall by the wayside when Krzyz--Alphabet Soup retires, Indiana hasn't been anything in a quarter century, same for UCLA for almost half a century, or at least they are really far from their peak. Even Kansas is a dwarf compared to Kentucky. Only North Carolina is in range, all factors considered.

(04-24-2017 04:17 PM)_C2_ Wrote:  $$$$$$
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Sorry but you really don't know what you're talking about here. Money played no role in Cal leaving Memphis. Note that we not only offered more than Kentucky but Cal had to forego the 10 million $$ bonus that would have been paid to him at the end of his contract with Memphis a mere two years later.

(04-24-2017 03:17 PM)GrayBeard Wrote:  The NCAA was coming....

this. I've head from 3 separate boosters that Cal was already talking to Arizona (Sean Miller ended up with it) before the UK job opened up.

Cal was gettin' out of Dodge before it hit the fan...just like he did at UMass.

if it wasn't Kentucky...it would have been Arizona.

(04-24-2017 04:18 PM)_C2_ Wrote:  And Kentucky could pay more. They were suffering through Billy Gillespie.

that's not true at all...Memphis offered more...Cal admitted that fact in his first UK press conference.