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Coach John Calipari promised on his weekly radio show Monday and again Wednesday in a joint appearance with UK athletics director Mitch Barnhart on BBN Tonight that he wanted to have an older, tougher team next season that got back to playing defense the way his past teams have.
However, that plan took a major hit on Thursday when sophomore Adou Thiero, Kentucky’s “toughest” player last season and probably its best defender, announced plans to transfer.
Thiero played in 25 games last season and made 19 starts while averaging 7.2 points and 5.0 rebounds per game. He had 16 points and 13 rebounds against Kansas. However, he missed seven straight games from Dec. 21 through Jan. 27 after apparently injuring his back in a win over Louisville — UK officially called the injury “general soreness.”
He did start 11 of UK’s final 14 games but in the 80-76 NCAA Tournament loss to Oakland he played less than seven minutes despite UK being desperate for a defensive stopper, especially in the second half.
Calipari said after the game and on his weekly radio show that UK was not tough enough in the game but yet he left his “toughest” player on the bench for most of the game.
Thiero has already been projected as a late first-round draft pick in the 2025 NBA Draft in one mock draft, a big move for a relatively unknown three-star recruit out of Pennsylvania. He had a late growth spurt in high school and has continued to grow to become UK’s most versatile defender and overall most explosive athlete.
Calipari praised Thiero’s improvement late in the season and certainly made UK fans believe he would be back for the 2024-25 season.
“He’s not even what he was a year ago and what he is now. And I still think he’s going to be 6-9. He’s probably 6-7, maybe a little bit bigger now. By the time next year rolls around, he’ll be 6-9.”
Maybe he will be 6-9. But apparently he won’t be at Kentucky. Now he could opt to return to UK like Antonio Reeves did last offseason after putting his name in the transfer portal. Thiero might not find the fit he wants at another school or UK could come up with more NIL dollars to entice him to return.
However, even though his father played for John Calipari, it seems unlikely Thiero would be back since he put his name into the transfer portal, especially if the coach had just met with him as Calipari indicated he would be doing with players.
Thiero figured not only to be a physical presence for UK next season but also a team leader on what again will be a young team. Calipari can still add older players via the transfer portal but Thiero has two years in the system.
For a fan base and a program ready for a reset after another disappointing March, having Thiero announce his decision to transfer less than 24 hours after the Calipari-Barnhart lovefest that was supposed to make BBN feel better about next season is a big, big blow.
39 Responses
We had Edwards missing wide open dunks while Thiero only played 7 minutes in the Oakland game.
I don’t blame him for leaving.
Coach King CALcified runs off another good ballplayer.
I don’t blame him, a coach that doesn’t care about his players he would stay, Duh.
Thiero was clearly better than Edwards. There is no comparison. He’s stronger faster and plays with a higher motor. I thought Thiero would be the best player on the team next year. I don’t blame him for leaving. He is exactly who we needed vs oakland. I didn’t realize he only played 7 minutes wow. I don’t blame him for transferring I blame calapari. We have to small forwards coming in next year and we still don’t know if goofy (edwards) is coming back. I wish Edwards would have transferred and Thiero was coming back. It is what it is. I think next year will be the same as this year. Didn’t tubby leave be cause the fan base wanted him too. I remember everyone calling him 10 loss tubby. At least we played past the first weekend in the tournament. Tubby was a much better coach than calapari has been since the 38-1 team. This really puzzles me.
One more thing. You know calapari loves freshman. With 2 small forwards coming in he probably knew he would only play 15-20 minutes a game next year. I would have done the same thing if I was playing for Calapari. Go get your 30-35 minutes a game somewhere else young man. You deserve it.
I hope he goes to Tennessee.
Thiero was tired of Calipari’s bullshit of playing pets before producers. He will go to another team, play 30 minutes a game, and be their star. That could have been the case at UK, but Calipari had to give too many minutes to players who weren’t producing!
This is only the start of the portal exit…who knows who will be next. All Cal does is F the players and F the BBN with his total ineptitude. He has got to be the only coach out there whose teams peak in the preseason. Cal is Dead Man Walking.
Same ones whining when Cal took Thiero. A 0 star son of a former player. Whiners called him a charity case. He became a 3 star when he signed with Ky. Never played the AAU circuit. Really has improved, but Cal can’t develop players. I’d say he’s tired of playing for a bunch of whiney so-called fans that think they are entitled. Ones that don’t care the Cats played hard every game and done their best. They are here because of Cal. A fan is there win or lose. A real fan is not a crybaby narcissist that thinks they are entitled to more than a teams best effort.
Oh yea, they gave their best effort alright—in BOTH TOURNAMENTS they gave their best effort—so did the coach–you’re right, Jimmy, they’re awesome–no wins in either tournament, and one postseason win in 5 years–yep, that’s the GOLD STANDARD of effort alright…….it’s fans like you that put CAL ahead of UK, and like him, believe that he is bigger than the program. Fans like you deserve the very results of the past 5 years, and don’t worry, your KING for a coach will continue to deliver the same kind of results next year. When the WOMENS basketball program rises up within the next year or two under the new coach who cares about winning and all the right things, and becomes the new flagship basketball program at this university, don’t come over there bandwagoning on the womens because your KING is still unable to win anything of significance–stay over there with your GOLD STANDARD KING who is helping families and changing lives–maybe you can even go with him to the Green Room in JUNE and join him up at the podium when he gets up there with his boys and says "see? THIS is what it’s all about at KY. I have 5 more guys that I have made millionaires and changed their family’s life. It’s about these kids first and foremost. Greatest night in the history of KY BBALL". Anybody care to place a wager on who wins an SEC/NCAA tournament game first–John Calipari or Kenny Brooks???
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Well, there’s Jimmy Jimmy’s cowardly ass! We put a pic of your ass on a milk carton because you ran off and hid like a schoolboy sissy! I miss hearing you squeal! Just know that you are on the endangered species list…Calipari kissass! There’s only about a hundred of you left! Even 79 finally realized what a FRAUD Calipari is! Whoever can’t get drafted will hit the portal leaving the FRAUD with another bunch of entitled NBA wannabes. I TOLD YOU WE WOULD BE ANOTHER DOUBLE DIGIT LOSS TEAM WITH NO CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT OR NCAA TOURNEY WINS AND I WAS RIGHT. YOU WERE WRONG! SQUEAL CALIPARI KISSASS SQUEAL!!!
Kiss my ass Barry. You crybaby bitch!
Jimmy! Jimmy!! I can’t tell your ass from your face, but if I ever get my hands on you, I will stomp on both of them! Punk queers like you who run their big mouth and hide every time you get bitchslapped aren’t any good for being anything other than an asskisser! SQUEAL JIMMY SQUEAL!!! I heard Calipari just took a shit, he is looking for you to lick him clean!
Anytime Barry. Pack your lunch!
Cal is still here. Just like I said he would be.
And DRAG-QUEEN CAL’S RESULTS are still here too—just like WE said they would be!!! It’s a GD shame u have such a cool name!!!!
HAHA–NOT ANYMORE, FOOL!!!!!
LMAO!!!!!!! GO BE A HOG!!!!!!!!
He had his moments, but he sure wasn’t the best player as some are saying on here.
That’s just great – the only player willing to do the “dirty work” – gone.
He was the foundation and keystone of next years team. Cals long suit is recruiting – he better get busy with Theo !!!!!!!!!
Secondly, it was disconcerting but understandable play on Theo’s part. He gets to examine offers from other schools and create NIL leverage @ UK.
Plus he’ll have an idea where he will be slotted within the NBA draft for NIL comparison.
He sees Karter Knox coming and knows what another year at Kentucky will be like.
Several good players coming in.
Wouldn’t say good.
Just more in basketball purgatory.
Didn’t Adou hurt his shoulder early in Oakland game and had to go to dressing room. Perhaps that is why he didn’t play more that game? 🤔
He could have made 2 wide open dunks with one arm.
But Cal is committed to playing "NBA to be first…one and done"…the attention that brings us, and the talent it has brought. We can’t change that! How could we get the talent we seem to need to even be competitive without it."
We haven’t done all that great with the talent he’s bringing in.
He don’t even develop them anymore.
The coach of Kentucky basketball may wish he has taken the $33 million and left as it looks his team is bailing out on him. He could live forever on the bail out and never worked a day in his life again.
Any player would be crazy to not put in for the transfer portal even if they are planning to stay. It could lead to more NIL money. It’s all about the bucks now sports fans.
Great point Scott
I dont think adou will be the last
Big men don’t get developed. They get credit for rebounds and blocks at UK. 7-footers should easily average and be counted on for 10+ points a game with some motion to setup posting…especially when you can spread the floor with 3 point shooters. Relying on low percentage lob plays at the end of games is not reliable.
It is very interesting to watch many other teams with good big men that can bang and score inside and then we get stuck with 3 trees that can’t do either.
I know I’m not first to say it, but the NIL, the transfer portal, and now unions will be the destruction of college sports as we know it.
GOSPEL, Shane……..and as much as I can’t stand CAL, all of what u talked about is playing just as big a part in KY’s problems as he is–but what makes It so much worse for KY is the one who happens to be the coach is the first in line encouraging all of these things. He is more worried about what his players are getting paid and their NBA draft statuses than he is coaching basketball games. That’s all I want for KY again–i just want a coach who WANTS to COACH FOR KY AND WIN FOR KY!!! I mean, all these other coaches have the NIL and transfer portal to deal with–yet there are plenty of them winning at a good percentage and advancing in the tournament. Look at Nate Oats and BAMA. look at UCONN. DUKE is back in the Elite 8 again. Tennessee. All those coaches have all these same things to deal with but I would bet my life they all spend more time working on trying to win bball games for their respective schools than CAL does. I realize a lot of u might not be women’s bball fans–but I use our new women’s coach, Kenny Brooks, as a perfect example. He is already saying the right things and embracing BBN and the state of KY, and talking about having the desire to WIN FOR KY, and win IN THE SEC. remember, how long again since CAL even won a reg season conf championship? The women’s side has all this same stuff to deal with too! I’m telling u all, Kenny Brooks is going to have CAL looking even more embarrassing than he already looks today after these disgusting last 4 years when he takes that women’s program and turns it into a consistent winner in the SEC within two years. As a coach, you can still try to help your players succeed in their personal and professional capacities if u so choose, even help to try to get then drafted high, but that doesn’t mean u put those needs OVER what u are hired to do at the school u are coaching at: which is WIN!!! that’s what fans are disgusted with CAL about and why we want him gone, and what the CAL-lovers still don’t understand–its because CAL puts his own agendas and the success of each of his individual players OVER winning games for the University of Kentucky, and over working his ass off to coach a bball team, and helping to motivate and develop his players throughout the season to have them fully prepared for tournament time in March. Even in this day and age with all the new factors in play with college athletics, this approach is STILL UNACCEPTABLE. No other school in the country puts up with it, and WOULDNT. and it’s a damn shame this school does. But we know who we have to thank for that! The Dynamic Duo went on TV the other night and basically told all the fans where we can stick it when it comes to his prized CAL and all our opinions about him. That "TV interview" was to calm down and quiet down all the online "noise and clutter" that the KING always reminds us he never listens to……Mitch Barnhart is the most thin-skinned A.D. in the country, and has absolutely no gnards at all, at least not where his big prized fish is concerned. This tournament loss this year is the one that should have gotten the door shown to him–it was completely justifiable after 4 long rotten years–and don’t forget, a LARGE portion, (probably majority of), the entire nation agreed as well, and believed that it was time and it was the right move. I called him UNTOUCHABLE CAL all year long, and Mitch proved me 100% correct on that with his introspective, deeply thought-out, TV interview. KY had a basketball team nicknamed THE UNTOUCHABLES, now they have a coach who can be called UNTOUCHABLE CAL–THE KING OF THE COMMONWEALTH!!!! and he will tell u so too!!!!!
I think most of you didn’t read the full article, it’s states he hasn’t rule out coming back for a third year. I think he wants to see what he got for the NBA draft or what school may give more NIL money. That’s one area that UK needs to work on because there some behind the scene that some players weren’t getting notified about potential deals and it’s my understanding that’s was one area Barnhart express to Cal during there meeting.
Thiero already brought toughness and more experience to this past team than the cadre of NBA-bound freshmen that the fraud ushers through this program every year. How did that work out for this team and Thiero?
Not so well.
Why would anyone expect Thiero, and a host of former players who have been shunned and shuttled to the far end of the bench so the fraud can showcase his newest crop of PETS (Players Expected To Skip "off to the NBA Draft)
Thiero was not regarded as valuable as the fraud’s PETS in 2023, and nothing changed when he returned for 2024. What thinking person would sign up for a third year of the fraud’s lies and favoritism?
I remain a huge Thiero fan and anticipate his being a star on whatever team he plays for next season.
Consider the following facts about the 2023-24 UK players.
1) Reed Sheppard’s offensive efficiency was 1.54 points per possession used in 955 minutes. Reed consumed 11.8% of the team’s possessions to score his 411 points.
2) Adou Thiero’s offensive efficiency was 1.49 ppp in 536 minutes. Adou consumed 5.3% of the team’s possessions to score 181 points
3) DJ Wagner’s (Ball Hog #1) offensive efficiency was 0.94 ppp in 748 minutes. Ball Hog consumed 13.4% of the team’s possessions to score his 287 points. No other UK scholarship player was less efficient on this team.
4) Jordan Burks’ offensive efficiency was 1.64 ppp in 142 minutes. Jordan consumed 1.0% of the team’s total possessions to score 37 points.
It is no wonder that Adou Thiero would conclude his future requires a new basketball coach. Jordan Burks should reach that conclusion without having to return to a 2nd year of humiliation at the expense of the FRAUD"S NEXT SET OF PETS (Players Expected To Skip "Off to the NBA Draft) in 2025.
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