The off topic thread

You guys act like the game was a mismatch which it was not by a long shot. We were down 2, TWO, one possession with 4+ minutes to go, right in the game! Right in the game in a season where we had come back in numerous games in which we had played poorly for long stretches. Where our best players, many, many times Luis, ramped it up big time at money time, which is exactly where the game was.
Pitino lost that game plain and simple or at the very least pi$$ed away any chance of winning with one of the worst coaching moves of all time. You guys can plant HOF in front of his name all you want, but like Jack Williams said about Luis, being BE POY and 2nd team AA doesn’t shield him from criticism and neither does HOF in front of Pitino’s name.
And as Panther shared, you guys falling over yourselves to keep the Luis criticism alive thread after thread kinda motivated me to jump back in and remind the board what really happened.
And before we get a ton of posts about how poorly Luis played, he certainly did, but you guys know why Zuby was exhorting Luis to get it together, because he was well aware he was our best chance to win, something Pitino completely lost sight of as the ensuing 4 minutes proved.
In Arkansas game we got the Pitino from Celtics city/ Bill Simmons show. Watched the Pitino episode and complaints about him as Celts coach matched what happened in Arkansas game.
 
That is fair

I'll speak for myself, I think Kadary Richmond and Zuby were more important to our teams overall success than RJ. Is my intention to downplay RJ by saying that? I mean personally, I don't think that is the case. He was immensely important to what we did last season. But I personally valued what Zuby and Kadary brought to the team a ton.

But yes I totally understand how comparing their impact can be seen as downplaying RJ, so I will take note of that in future discussions about him


Obviously the BE Coaches didn’t think that way, Jack . . I think they made the right choice for BE POY and BET MVP.
 
As momma mjmaherjr used to say. Look who is calling the kettle black

First thanks for quoting my post with a post so long Kranmars is having a heart attack for lack of spacing

Second I was at the freaking Arkansas game with others here I sat with SJU85 and IDRAFT 10 feet away from each other and I thought we were going to win. Personally I thought we we going to win before the game and I thought we were going to win and come back during the game

But when selection Sunday matched us up with them I thought it was going to be a very tough matchup. Should I not have because I don’t have the Logen wisdom ? During the Kansas Arkansas game I was telling posters here I'd rather be playing Kansas.

Personally I thought we got screwed because Kadary got taken out of the Game with fouls but we all know that theory is BS because the almighty Logen thinks you never criticize refs and the fact that Kadary had played the least minutes roughly in a game all season had nothing to do with anything because he said so

RJ ? I’m one of the guys freaking defending him here. But why let a good long no space rant post facts

Much easier to criticize rightly or wrongly one of the best college coaches of all time and lay blame on him because the only one who knows anything is the guy who puts holes in Sheetrock in basements throwing beer cans ( no wait let me change my story to red cups because redfans won't know how to use the search feature to find my original post because now they will really believe I'm always right) against the wall in his moms basement during a St. John’s game when things don’t go his way

My guess is you had to call a contractor after the Arkansas game 😀

( mjmaherjr saving the world 1 beer can and 5 cent deposit at a time )
Funny how you guys can express your opinions, no problem, but mine make me “almighty”. If you want to consider Pitino above criticism, fine, I don’t, I have enough confidence in my knowledge to form and express my own opinions, meanwhile, half you guys completely turned on Luis simply because Pitino did: sorry but I don’t play that. IMO, Luis EARNED the right to be on that court and I applaud him for taking and staying on the high road through all of Pitino’s completely classless post game nonsense towards him. Luis was the real man in that exchange, Pitino was what he always has been, a blame deflecting narcissist.
And as far as coaching I have never called Pitino anything but what he has earned, a truly great one, but perfect or above criticism, give me a break, that person no longer walks the face of the earth.
 
I hope that RJ either finds an NBA connection that gives him a way to the League, or returns to a college with a huge NIL at a place where he’ll be valued and allowed to shine.

Either way, he is a talented young man of high character, and I fully appreciate everything he did for the team and the revival of the program.

I wish him nothing but success, but I think it’s time we move on from this topic. Let’s give this all some time and see how things play out.
 
Never mind Mullin and Berry RJ didn’t come close to Sealy or Mark Jackson.
I've heard from someone very close to the bench that there was tremendous tension on the bench all game. Something clearly was going on.

RJ had a bad game. He didn't lose squat for us because his teammates mostly didn't pick him up. In our case hindsight isn't even 20/20. Pitino made a decision that for whatever reason that RJ wasn't going to get it done and he had seen enough. My armchair view is win with your best and lose with your best. But I know I don't know jack shoot.

But whoaaaaa! Mullin and Berry don't come close to Sealy and Jackson?? In what? Posturepedics? Jackson isn't even close to being the best Jackson.
 
I've heard from someone very close to the bench that there was tremendous tension on the bench all game. Something clearly was going on.

RJ had a bad game. He didn't lose squat for us because his teammates mostly didn't pick him up. In our case hindsight isn't even 20/20. Pitino made a decision that for whatever reason that RJ wasn't going to get it done and he had seen enough. My armchair view is win with your best and lose with your best. But I know I don't know jack shoot.

But whoaaaaa! Mullin and Berry don't come close to Sealy and Jackson?? In what? Posturepedics? Jackson isn't even close to being the best Jackson.
Add a comma after Berry “never mind Mullin and Berry, RJ didn’t come close to Sealy or Mark Jackson”
 
Maybe it's the tone?

Just spitballing here.

And yes, I am apparently guilty also. Maybe we just don't hear ourselves - or can't be bothered sugarcoating things.
Being honest, no maybe about it.

For me it is definitely all about your last observation; so to all offended by the tone and frankness of my posts, I am offering nothing but my opinions, frank and unfiltered. If they come across arrogantly, I get it. Certainly not meant to be arrogant, but I am a very confident person by nature; it is the way I carry myself pretty much 100% of the time, in person or in print. I realize it can be offensive because I have been told that more times than I can count.

I camethisclose to getting fired in the late 90s for interrupting a member of Lindsay Graham’s staff during a presentation I was giving. He started commenting on a point in which I had tried to say “left” and he got “right” and when I realized he was going down a rabbit hole, I stopped him and clarified which drove my boss absolutely apoplectic. He threatened me all through dinner because evidently the staffers title protected him from being subject to such disrespect. Luckily, there was no blowback and we won the contract but the experience spurred me to realize I was much better off “self-managing” and went into business for myself.

But I learned at a pretty young age that was the way I was most comfortable in my own skin, and as Ricky Nelson sang in “Garden Party”:
“You see, you can’t please everyone
So you got to please yourself”

That approach has made me some great friends throughout my life, people who appreciated knowing I would always be there and always tell them straight up what I thought and provide me in kind but conversely probably turned off at least an equal amount of people that could have been.

But to end on a quote from that great philosopher Popeye:
“I yam what I yam and that’s all what I yam”
 
Obviously the BE Coaches didn’t think that way, Jack . . I think they made the right choice for BE POY and BET MVP.

I'm with Jack #1 Zuby, #2 KR, #3 RJ, needed all three but first two were most important to winning, even if RJ was usually going to have the most impressive stat line and thus earning those plaudits.

Re RJ and NBA. I just don't understand why anyone would draft him? He doesn't shoot it well enough, he doesn't dribble it well enough, he's not strong enough or big enough. He's a good but not great defender. What he excelled at, as most are saying, is utilizing his athleticism which at the BE level was borderline elite. In the NBA at his size he's JAG. Athletic freaks who can jump over him are a dime a dozen.
 
I've heard from someone very close to the bench that there was tremendous tension on the bench all game. Something clearly was going on.
I'm not from the RJ lost the game camp. I put that exclusively down to 16 minutes for KR. You're not going to win that game without twice that, especially at crunch time. I also don't know anybody, anybody.

But it was plainly apparent that there was more to it than just RJ's having a bad game so he'll sit the rest of the way. And I am sure some of it was Pitino arrogance but I'm equally sure it was not entirely Pitino arrogance. So hearing there was some bad juju doesn't surprise me.

If pressed to make up an excuse based on RJ's disconnected performance I would have guessed he was off his meds. I have often felt that sometimes something just doesn't seem right with his focus. But then you watch the interviews and he's a great kid, says all the right things, super well spoken and respectful. The entire situation baffles me.
 
Being honest, no maybe about it.

For me it is definitely all about your last observation; so to all offended by the tone and frankness of my posts, I am offering nothing but my opinions, frank and unfiltered. If they come across arrogantly, I get it. Certainly not meant to be arrogant, but I am a very confident person by nature; it is the way I carry myself pretty much 100% of the time, in person or in print. I realize it can be offensive because I have been told that more times than I can count.

I camethisclose to getting fired in the late 90s for interrupting a member of Lindsay Graham’s staff during a presentation I was giving. He started commenting on a point in which I had tried to say “left” and he got “right” and when I realized he was going down a rabbit hole, I stopped him and clarified which drove my boss absolutely apoplectic. He threatened me all through dinner because evidently the staffers title protected him from being subject to such disrespect. Luckily, there was no blowback and we won the contract but the experience spurred me to realize I was much better off “self-managing” and went into business for myself.

But I learned at a pretty young age that was the way I was most comfortable in my own skin, and as Ricky Nelson sang in “Garden Party”:
“You see, you can’t please everyone
So you got to please yourself”

That approach has made me some great friends throughout my life, people who appreciated knowing I would always be there and always tell them straight up what I thought and provide me in kind but conversely probably turned off at least an equal amount of people that could have been.

But to end on a quote from that great philosopher Popeye:
“I yam what I yam and that’s all what I yam”

This reads like a serial killer autobiography. Jesus Christ man. Take an edible or something.
 
I've heard from someone very close to the bench that there was tremendous tension on the bench all game. Something clearly was going on.

RJ had a bad game. He didn't lose squat for us because his teammates mostly didn't pick him up. In our case hindsight isn't even 20/20. Pitino made a decision that for whatever reason that RJ wasn't going to get it done and he had seen enough. My armchair view is win with your best and lose with your best. But I know I don't know jack shoot.

But whoaaaaa! Mullin and Berry don't come close to Sealy and Jackson?? In what? Posturepedics? Jackson isn't even close to being the best Jackson.
Sorry if my post was not clear , my bad posting when I am tired. There were posters comparing RJ to Mullin and Berry , who many will agree are our 2 best players thé last 44 years. So I say no way at all, no comparison.
Then I should have said thé next best 2 probably during that time period were Sealy and Jackson , who were both AA but not first team AA like Mullin and Berry, who were also Wooden Award winners.
And again imho RJ did not come close to Sealy and Jackson.
Again sorry for the confusion.
 
I've heard from someone very close to the bench that there was tremendous tension on the bench all game. Something clearly was going on.

RJ had a bad game. He didn't lose squat for us because his teammates mostly didn't pick him up. In our case hindsight isn't even 20/20. Pitino made a decision that for whatever reason that RJ wasn't going to get it done and he had seen enough. My armchair view is win with your best and lose with your best. But I know I don't know jack shoot.

But whoaaaaa! Mullin and Berry don't come close to Sealy and Jackson?? In what? Posturepedics? Jackson isn't even close to being the best Jackson.
Lets just say something was going on the whole week in practice that definitely didn't help matters. MAybe a couple difference of opinions between the players.
 
Funny how you guys can express your opinions, no problem, but mine make me “almighty”. If you want to consider Pitino above criticism, fine, I don’t, I have enough confidence in my knowledge to form and express my own opinions, meanwhile, half you guys completely turned on Luis simply because Pitino did: sorry but I don’t play that. IMO, Luis EARNED the right to be on that court and I applaud him for taking and staying on the high road through all of Pitino’s completely classless post game nonsense towards him. Luis was the real man in that exchange, Pitino was what he always has been, a blame deflecting narcissist.
And as far as coaching I have never called Pitino anything but what he has earned, a truly great one, but perfect or above criticism, give me a break, that person no longer walks the face of the earth.
I never turned on RJ. You literally don’t have ability to read my posts. I give you credit for the verbose wordage if that’s a term

But demerits for not using proper spacing
 
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Sorry if my post was not clear , my bad posting when I am tired. There were posters comparing RJ to Mullin and Berry , who many will agree are our 2 best players thé last 44 years. So I say no way at all, no comparison.
Then I should have said thé next best 2 probably during that time period were Sealy and Jackson , who were both AA but not first team AA like Mullin and Berry, who were also Wooden Award winners.
And again imho RJ did not come close to Sealy and Jackson.
Again sorry for the confusion.
Thanks for the clarification. I believe this team's record speaks for itself - an ensemble cast that won 31 games without a sure fire NBA 1ST round pick.

To be fair, I don't think if you replace RJ with any of those 4, we do much better than 31 wins, but maybe with Mullin or Berry we get to at least the sweet 16.

RJ was more of a disrupter on offense. He draws a crowd, is such a superior athlete that he often cleaned up his own messes, and he freed Zuby up a lot for ORs.

Sealy was just so smooth, and a more refined player than RJ. RJ can do things Sealy could not, and in some ways was more dominant. Sealy was more polished and overall a more complete player.

Berry was Berry, but was not big on playing defense. One big reason he slipped to mid 1st round. Not sure if he'd fit into last year's defense first team.

Jackson being a PG, not fair to compare.

Mullin could have led this team to a FF.

Oh. NBA draft that's right. Your 4 guys were NBA 1st round picks. (I'd have considered Artest in your group) RJ will likely not hear his name if he stays in the draft till at best early mid 2nd round.

Pick this discussion up in a year if RJ has a senior year and revisit.
 
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