Calipari's letter to Nerlens Noel

Editors Note: This is the fictional letter that I picture John Calipari sent to recruit Nerlens Noel in the days leading up to his decision on where he will attend school.

Dear Mr. Noel,

As a life-long fan of basketball, and now as the current coach of the national champion Kentucky Wildcats, I write you this letter in an attempt to help you weigh your options in choosing which college you will attend in the fall. Wednesday April 11, 2012, you are going to announce to the world the school colors that you will wear for the next ten months or so. It is my intention to sway you to attend class(haha get it?) and get you ready for your long and successful career in the pros.

Now Nerlens, you and I both know that this decision comes down to Big Blue and the Orange. I don’t need to do much to sell you on us here at Kentucky. Were coming off a National Championship, we have some of the most rabid, enthusiastic fans in the world, and most importantly, by the end of this years’ draft we will have produced roughly TEN first round picks in the three years that I’ve been here. Were basically an assembly line in making young men like yourself life-long millionaires. Simply put, I barely even need to sell you on Kentucky at all.

This brings me to the Orange. Coach Boeheim certainly is one of the all time greats, and his statistics make it clear that he is one of the top ten coaches to ever coach in College Basketball. I just want you to consider a few concerns that I would have if you decided to go to the Orange…

First off, have you seen the ‘fans’ of Syracuse in their treatment of their former center Fab Melo? This kid, much like you entered their program with expectations that were through the roof. To his credit, he put in hard work and morphed into one of the best defensive players in the country, after a shaky freshman season. He was the most valuable player on a team that had its greatest regular season in school history. People loved Fab. So what happened? Well, as you may or may not know Fab was from Brazil, and English was his second language. Apparently Fab struggled with academics, and right before the NCAA tournament was ruled ineligible to play in the tournament. Literally no other detail was given besides those. And yet, what happened? Well, instead of taking it as a bad break that happened to a very good player on their favorite team, the city of Syracuse turned Fab into its own personal whipping boy. A public outpouring of racial slurs, derogatory comments about his intelligence, and even threats to his safety flooded the fan forums and social media. It’s gotten so bad, that even now when Fab posts something on Twitter, invariably his replies fill with seething, nasty hatred towards him from the SU fans. Keep in mind, nobody really knows what happened, but ask yourself, would you want to play for these ‘fans?.’

One of your good friends is Michael Carter Williams. Why don’t you ask him what happens when Coach Boeheim doesn’t think you are ready to play. Does he assimilate you in the flow slowly, as gradually your confidence builds, and by the end of the year you are ready for battle? Or does Jim get into petty personal battles that waste a year of eligibility for a player that is trying to grow and get better. Twice in three years, Boeheim refused to play talented young big men DeShonte Riley, and Rakheem Christmas any meaningful minutes throughout the season, and then rushed them into action in a pinch when they weren’t ready in the biggest games of the year. Would you want to play for a coach who kept your best friend-and probably most talented guard- on the bench all year to rot? Do you want to sit on the bench all year if you start slow, and then be rushed into an NCAA game and be made the scapegoat when you aren’t ready?

You may want to take a look at the track record that Syracuse players have in the pros. With the exception of Carmelo Anthony-who let’s be honest, even Isiah Thomas could have succeeded in coaching- you will see a long history of players who never reached their ceiling and, who aren’t really disciplined on either end of the floor. The zone that they play is an effective tool to throw your opponent off on this level, but it’s going to put you at least a year behind in the pros, where no team plays zone as its primary defensive set.

Nerlens, do you really want to play in a cold city, where the fans turn on its players, the coaches let petty fights and impatience with freshman effect playing time, and has a history of underachievement at the next level, or do you want to play for the school that has no downside. Hope to see you soon

Coach Cal


Speaking on behalf of the Syracuse fans, we have a lot of work to do. I'm guilty, I called Melo out the first day the story broke out of frustration. In retrospect and now it's a disgrace that a large group of trolls still spit venom towards Fab, and towards Kris Joseph publicly in forums and on Twitter. If you don’t think that top players talk amongst each other, and relate this stuff you are crazy. As much as I would love to see Nerlens Noel playing for Syracuse next year, he’s not going to. Put it this way, if I were him, I would take that fictional letter from Calipari, think that his points are valid, and play for Kentucky. Maybe as fans, we can stop giving rival coaches gold for their smear campaign against our favorite team, and show a little respect for things like maxing out limited potential (Joseph), or struggling with academics in your second language (Fab). Don’t think for a second a coach as wily as Calipari won’t use all that against Syracuse, and you know what??? he’d have valid points.