Originally Posted by
smootness
Cal has openly told players that if they consider themselves 4-year guys, don't come to Kentucky. He has built that system around being able to go get any recruit he wants, and to do that, he has to promise them playing time and 'shine' and then continue to deliver.
Guys sticking around for 3-4 years hurts that system. He then has to either reduce minutes for guys as they get older, which hurts his ability to deliver on promises to them, or he has less ability to promise and then deliver on playing time for new recruits.
If both Harrison's stay, then he either has to start them bench them. If he starts them, Isaiah Briscoe and Ulis/Booker don't get as much time, and they either stick around and make it harder to keep recruiting, or the next top guy sees that if he goes to UK, he may sit because they have elite talents ahead of them.
If he benches them, the next top guy sees that if he doesn't light the world on fire right away, he will eventually be thrown aside and passed over for the next big thing.
Calipari wants his guys to be one and done, or to stick around for 2 years at the most, especially the guys in the top 5-10. The occasional Cauley-Stein is ok, especially since he wasn't a top 10 or even top 20 guy.
He absolutely expected the Harrison's to be one-and-done. Sticking around for a second year was fine. Sticking around for 3 would start to really complicate things.