PHILLY – At one point last week, Kentucky coach John Calipari walked in the main door of the gym at the Reebok All-American Camp just past where Villanova coach Jay Wright was holding a conversation.
“Hey, it’s the two coaches who might land Michael Gilchrist standing right next to each other,” a bystander observed.
Then a coach joked that maybe Calipari and Wright could share the 6-foot-7, 219-pound Gilchrist, with one coach taking him for the first half of the season and the other for the second.
That’s how talented 15-year-old Michael Gilchrist is.
The consensus top player in the nation in the Class of 2011 and the Gatorade New Jersey Player of the Year, many people consider him to be the best player in high school basketball right now. Period.
Cindy Richardson, Gilchrist’s mother, told a reporter that her son talks about Kentucky and Villanova all the time.
“Michael loves Villanova,” she told the Philly Inquirer. “It’s Kentucky, Villanova. Villanova, Kentucky.”
Gilchrist told a newspaper two years ago that he would go to Memphis when Calipari was the coach.
The other key factor is William Wesley, aka “Worldwide Wes,” who grew up across the street from Richardson in Camden, N.J., remains a close family friend and is also close to Calipari. Wesley is widely credited with helping Calipari land another former Camden native, guard Dajuan Wagner.
But Richardson says her son won’t automatically land at Kentucky.
“There are no dots,” she told SI.com in a great story by Seth Davis. “Wes’ relationship with John Calipari, that’s their relationship. Our relationship with coach Calipari is going to be the same relationship we want to extend to every other college coach. The difference is, coach Cal does his job. Coach Cal is actively recruiting Michael, but we want Michael to experience the same thing every other high school athlete has experienced. He has not decided on where he’s going to go.”
A slew of college coaches have reached out to Gilchrist since June when it was permitted by the NCAA, but at least some think it’s not even worthwhile.
“I should be fired if I waste one cent recruiting that kid,” one high-major coach told Gary Parrish of CBS Sports. “[Gilchrist] is going to play for [John Calipari]. It’s done. Trust me. He’s playing for Cal. If you recruit him, you’re wasting your time.”
Jay Wright, for one, doesn’t agree.
Too bad he can’t share the young man with Calipari.
Follow Adam Zagoria on Twitter.
(Photo courtesy SI.com)
Why is it a worthless stat? Because you don’t agree with it? Because it contradicts your argument? Because it proves how stupid your argument is?
…And obviously he’s not the best coach in the country over the course of the last 4 years, as the experts noted on that link I provided. He’s the 7th-best.
Note when I say the word “experts”, I provide a link to said experts.
Its totally logical that if a team ‘s play against top 50 RPI is weighted to playing a much higher percentage in the 1 to 25 RPI range then that team’s W/L record will suffer vs. a team playing top 50 RPI in a more evenly distributed manner. That’s simple . You can whine and cry and call it a stupid argument ….but in actuality its not an argument …its a FACT ….. As to the Forbes ratings … it was merely a statisical system weighted towards final 4 appearances and NC’s ….. the fact is …. Cal is the hottest coach in the country now because most of the top players want to play for him ….factoring in the fact that he is now in a BCS conference …..at a school with the tradition of Ky …he’ll dominate college basketball for the next 15 years .
A third grader could formulate a mathematical rating system to calculate who the “best ” coach is ….but that doesn’t make him an expert on basketball ……..An expert would factor in intangibles based upon his expert opinion . The Forbes rating system did no such thing .
Poll Results
Which coach is the nation’s best right now?
John Calipari 38% 2,653
Roy Williams 30% 2,061
Tom Izzo 13% 933
Bill Self 7% 456
Rick Pitino 5%
http://ncaabasketball.fanhouse.com/2009/06/03/college-basketballs-top-25-coaches/ ….Actually this link had Cal at 4 …..behind Roy …. Izzo ….and coach K ……but the poll by readers speaks for itself ……this is why you twerps need to realize the garbage you spew in here represents a distinct minority opinion .
Bill Self …7% ( snickers)
See this is just how stupid noodlenuts is. He gives a fan poll and wants us to believe it represents docrtine or truth. Nevermind he didn’t even think about the various caveats that go into to polling to act as if this was an objective poll is hillariou. I am not sure what is funnier, him quoting a “fan” poll as truth, or that he actually believes the poll represents consensus college basketball analysis.
That’s what you are schmuckus ….a fan …. and if you and 4 of your buddies in here claim Cal is not a top coach …then guess what genius ? ….that represents a non objective fan poll ….LOL ….so easy
Ah yes,
Now it all makes sense. A link to a poll of, what 6,500 or so voters, is concrete fact. This poll MUST represent the majority of College BB fans. Over 6,000 people voted in it! Unbelievable.
I’m still looking for a link that shows how Kansas is laughable. This link had nothing but great things to say about Self.
While it also took note of Cal’s shady tactics… (snickers)
Oh and to go with this again noodlenuts can’t do proper research.
Here is what he said
” As to the Forbes ratings … it was merely a statisical system weighted towards final 4 appearances and NC’s ….. ”
When the article gives the specific criteria for determing its rankings.
“To identify the country’s best college basketball coaches, we measured recruiting class rank, win-loss percentage, NCAA Tournament invites, Final Four trips and, the ultimate goal of every coach, a championship.”
Interesting: Recruiting class rank, and win-loss percentage, factor in.
Then the killer for noodlenuts arguement
“In compiling our rankings, we looked at all major college coaches in these five categories going back four years, the typical matriculation period for a college student (except, of course, certain superstar basketball players who jump to the NBA early).”
Wow over a four year period! It should be Noodlenuts boy Coach Cal right?
WRONG!
He was number 7 statistically!!!!
See when noodlenuts argues the point, essentially what he is doing is this. We here say, “hey, it is safe to say after doing the homework 2+2=4!” and then noodlenuts comes in and says. “Wait a minute! 2+2 doesn’t equal four, it equals five; everyone would agree, most “experts would say”, those guys who say its four they didn’t include the ‘intangibles’ like imaginary numbers, zero divided by infinite, etc.”
Its like Plato’s allegory of the cave. What noodlenuts see is half truths “images flickering on a dim cave wall from a fire” while we see the “real” things behind them.
Noodlenuts on a more serious note, I would consider working towards your GED. Seriously, and then taking some Community College courses, but make sure you ease in on it taking basic algebra and pre-comp. Once you finish your associates degree and quit your job at the comic book store………Then you can come on here and try to hang with the big boys.
The best part of his poll is how he again takes it at docrtine. He gives us one poll taking by a whopping 6000 people! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Oh and in classic noodlenuts skewed style here is how they scientifically quantified their list
“It’s tough to really hammer out a list with specific criteria and stick with it. For example, you could argue Roy Williams isn’t as good a coach as Self because he couldn’t win in Kansas while Self could. Then you could follow that up with Weber going to the Final Four at the helm for Illinois when Self couldn’t get past the Sweet 16 round for the Illini. Weber, though, went 16-19 in 2007-2008 and Huggins hasn’t had a losing record since 1985. All in all, there will always be reasons to say one coach is better than another.
This was simply meant to be a summer topic for arguing about college hoops while we wait out the offseason. You should also be able to find my early early early Final Four picks for 2010, though that’s a different topic for a different day.”
AHAHHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
“We gave a bit more weight to the last three metrics, especially Final Four appearances and championships “http://www.forbes.com/2009/02/24/ncaa-march-madness-lifestyle-sport_basketball.html
Schmuckus …you can post these long rambling gibberish type opinions all you want …but according to you …..its merely a non scientific poll ….LOL …I’ll take the opinion of 6,000 fans over one idiot any day …..next . The referee really needs to stop this ….I think Schmuckus is out on his feet …
I’m glad my article has done so much to screw pasta’s world up… It’s like warm fuzzies all over me. Mmmmm….
I seriously could not believe I found that article last night. How perfect, with the logical and mathematical approach to determining #1, and also the timespan of 4 years.
But screw it, it requires a logical thought process, so throw it out.
Any statistical evaluation can be weighted differently to get different results …..ie. if the criteria had also included 1. seeding accomplishments or 2. defensive stats …or 3. cumultive rpi …….. then obviously Cal would have done much better ….. but of course had this criteria been used you would have said it doesn’t count blah blah blah …… the bottom line is …a vast majority of the basketball public know Cal is the best coach right now ……as indicated by the fan house poll ….like I said …6500 voters is a much better sample than 4 KU fans …2 fat people …and 1 unemployed retard .
LOL <———————— I crack me up
So are you suggesting that stat be thrown out when debating who is the best coach?
Correct, various elements can be used in a fan poll, more importantly those variable are unkown, i.e. what regions the people who took the poll were located, or density of fan base, etc. The fact that we simply know who was polled, where, etc. and the fact that it can’t be answered makes it a worthless poll. But it takes someone smarter than a fifth grader to know that.
I crack me up?
You mean I crack myself up?
Did you read the note about you working towards your GED?
1. seeding accomplishments or 2. defensive stats …or 3. cumultive rpi …….. then obviously Cal would have done much better
Can you post a link to these claims?
Fanhouse looks like a pretty good cross section to me …..this was posted 6/09 …..it certainly wasn’t Memphis fans stuffing the ballot box …..Ky. fans? ….according to you idiots they are leary of Cal …… this poll is more indicitive of who the top coach is than a bunch of geeks feeding randomly picked data into a computer …..looks like I win again .
Pasta, can you find 1 person on this blog that agrees with you? Maybe the fact that nobody will back anything you say up is proof that you are always wrong and a complete moron.
So fan voting is more indicitive coaching ability than winning percentage, recruiting, tournament success, and titles?
You really are a moron.
” …… this poll is more indicitive of who the top coach is than a bunch of geeks feeding randomly picked data into a computer ”
pasta, do you really believe that fan voting is more indicitive of coaching ability than winning percentage, recruiting, tournament success, and titles?
Yes or No?
And don’t try to tip-toe an answer around this one either. Start with typing “yes” or “no” and then explain why.
Waiting…
I think pasta just entered “Oh, shit” mode
Slow down now. Calipari is not #1 in team defense, but his teams have been consistently good.
Over the last 5 years, according to defensive efficiency (which is a tempo-independent measure of how efficient a defense is), here’s Calipari vs. guys that are well known as the best defensive coaches:
Self: 5.8
2009: 7
2008: 1
2007: 1
2006: 2
2005: 18
K: 9.6
2009: 20
2008: 9
2007: 5
2006: 13
2005: 1
Calipari: 12.4
2009: 1
2008: 4
2007: 11
2006: 6
2005: 40
Howland: 21.4
2009: 44
2008: 3
2007: 2
2006: 3
2005: 55
There may be more higher than him, but probably not too many besides Self and K. This is in stark contrast to the general fan’s concept that Calipari has a great offense (his offensive numbers are generally middle-of-the-pack) and not much defense (good/very good defensive numbers). This could all also be effected by competition of course.
Especially fan voting on an obscure web site. At least rig a legitimate web poll.
“a bunch of geeks feeding randomly picked data into a computer”
pasta just called himself a geek
Yes ….. of course voting by fans is more important than randomly picked data fed into a computer ……. and keep in mind the more you bozos trash a poll by fans the more you trash your own opinion in here ….as I explained to the Schmuckus ….this computer stuff is like the BCS poll …a frigging joke …give me the opinion of a fan voting anyday …or a sportswriter ..or a coach ( taking victory lap ) ……
So opinion trumps fact?
I guess when your arguments have gotten so roundly destroyed by fact you cling to whatever you can to try and sleep at night.
The fans know what the W/L numbers are …they know the stats ….but they also know the intangibles about a coach ….his style of play …. the way his teams carry themselves …. and most importantly …..which coach has the momentum …..Its my guess this poll takes into account Cal going to Ky. with possibly the best recruiting class in history …..you guys have blinders on ….you start with the axiom Cal is not a good coach …then proceed to nitpick his record to augment your beliefs and biases . While doing so you ignore or downplay his obvious strengths ….. Its really a waste of time for a person of my intellect to even mess with you clowns ….
So this poll, voted on by average Joes, with no requirement other than personal opinion, is more accurate than a list created by analysts that rank coaches based on W/L%, recruiting, tourneys, and titles?
This is what you’re saying, correct?
I never said Cal is not a good coach… I said he’s inferior to Self, Williams, Coach K, Mike Anderson, etc…
Pastaboy is definetly doing a victory lap in his own little universe. Reality is over here noodlenuts! So the finding was based on randomly picked data? No random would be choosing pot-luck, like one study used assists, three throw perecentage, point differential, etc, and another uses turnovers, fgp%, and strength of schedule, etc. Some of the most obvious “stats” that define great coachs, recruitment classes, WP%, Final Four Appreances, and National Championships henceh why cal is #7!
Then he compares it to the BCS poll which isn’t a bad rating system its just horrible at determining who should play for a national championship.
If there are 500 facts to consider when rating a coach …..to say that 4 of those facts tells the entire story is not indicitive of a valid system to rate them .
HAHAHAHAHAHA Waste of your intellect? Was that a joke? What intellect?
Noodlenuts starts with the praxis that Cal is the best coach, in which we state our case that he is obviously not.
Not to mention that fans can be bias, and misinformed.
To take a page from your book:
It is widely accepted among the experts that Calipari is an inferior coach.
Coach K ? …..LOL ..he hasn’t gotten past the sweet 16 in what ? 15 years ? He’s a dinasaur
Except that you’ve yet to produce a fact that wasn’t
A. Completely fabricated
or B. Failed to account for playing YMCA teams 25 times a year.
It’d be one thing if you were here saying “Calipari isn’t as bad of a coach as everyone thinks”. That may be legitimate. But saying “Calipari is the best coach in the country” despite all the facts to the contrary… Well you can see why everyone is laughing at you.
I’m sure Kentucky preferred Calipari to Coach K.
Absolutely …..I could devise a computer ranking system that would make Tiger Woods the number 3 golfer in the world …..now would you believe that system or a fan vote?
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/185809-sound-familiar-infractions-may-follow-caliparis-exitagain
See “poll results” on left side of page
Neither because Tiger Woods wins things. Calipari doesn’t.
Prove it
I know they preferred his recruitng class …. Cal gets the top kids now …K doesn’t ..end of story
Mike Anderson? LOL …where was he on this list?
Calipari wins 73% of the time Fat Ben ….. how is winning 441 games and 12 conference titles not winning anything?
http://www.volnation.com/forum/tennessee-vols-basketball/73866-all-sec-b-ball-coaches-who.html
Good one!