CA reporting Calipari to Kentucky

by Juco All-American on Mar 30, 2009 12:21 PM EDT

The Commercial Appeal is reporting that John Calipari is headed to the University of Kentucky.

So the question... is this bad for Ole Miss?

I got the idea for this poll from NAFOOM. A poster there (don't remember who) asked this same question a few days ago to minimal reponses.

I think that it would be very bad for our basketball program. We have recently benefited from Memphis' prominence nationally in recruiting. If they had gotten Memphis offers, I doubt that either Terrico or Reggie Buckner would have signed with us. It has been good to have memphis bringing in five star players left and right because that has allowed us to skim from their talent pool.

I hope that they sign another high profile coach who can wow recruits from around the nation. I don't want to close the pipeline that currently runs from the city of Memphis to Oxford.

So write this one down as one "cupper" who hopes Memphis can contnue hiring excellent recruiters.

Poll

Is Calipari leaving Memphis bad for Ole Miss?

Yes. Now, recruiting will suffer.

13 votes

Yes. Now, Kentucky will build an excellent program.

75 votes

No. Memphis losing him helps us.

103 votes

191 votes | Poll has closed

Tweet Comment 6 comments | 0 recs |

Do you like this story?

Comments

I dunno...

I think the only way this will affect Ole Miss basketball is if it makes Kentucky a nearly impossible game to win. But then again, I’ve never claimed to know much about sports politics / recruiting strategies, nevermind basketball in general.

-goose

by DYMongoose on Mar 30, 2009 1:27 PM EDT reply actions

C-USA is no more

I’m not exactly sure why you want Memphis to have a good recruiter? Memphis is now in a conference that has no competition whatsoever and little press coverage. They are actively trying to get into another conference (Big East) and losing their high profile coach and current top recruit (ESPN says top recruit could follow him to UK) will only diminish their prestige in the next few years. Seeing as the SEC will have ESPN primetime coverage til the end of time, I think this move could allow the Rebs to be the #1 basketball school around the Memphis area (Hawgs are in the OK area, don’t get your panties in a wad Gonzo). Not sure how this isn’t a good thing for the Rebs, considering we only play UK once a year and we recruit against Memphis perpetually for local talent.

by ColRebsLastBreath on Mar 30, 2009 2:09 PM EDT reply actions

No... we don't recruit against Memphis

Memphis recruits outside of Memphis. Sure, they committed Demarcus Cousins, but the battles we fight against Memphis are few and far between.

by Juco All-American on Mar 30, 2009 2:36 PM EDT up reply actions

Memphis' Roster This year

Has two Mid-South kids: One’s a fat forward who we wouldn’t want in AK’s offense. The other looks like a solid replacement for Patrick Spach.

I’m not kicking any cats, but this is moderately bad news for our recruiting efforts. One more fisherman in our already crowded pond.

by Bill Fremp on Mar 30, 2009 2:45 PM EDT reply actions

Juco and Fremp nailed it....

This is bad for our recruiting. With Cal in Memphis, the city’s talent was there for the taking. We never battled Memphis for local talent. That will now likely change. I don’t like it.

by FireBoone on Mar 30, 2009 2:58 PM EDT reply actions

Not so sure

I don’t think Calipari is leaving just yet. He’s probably got an amazing offer on the table and wants to see if Memphis is going to up his salary to greater than what Kentucky offered.

You let your players know what’s going on, so they can understand what’s going on and how the decision will be made.

All that being said, I would leave and go to Kentucky, because it’s one of the top jobs in the country no matter what.

If I predict it, there's an 50 percent chance it happens.

by One Man To Beat on Mar 30, 2009 3:12 PM EDT reply actions