“The team had won a total of just two NCAA tournament games in the previous four seasons, and over the last two, it had lost twenty-seven games. That’s not supposed to happen in Lexington. There was nowhere to go but up.”
That is a direct quote from John Calipari’s book, Player’s First, which he published in April 2014, talking about the state of the Kentucky basketball program that he inherited in 2009, following Tubby Smith and Billy Gillespie. Nearly a decade later, those numbers are eerily similar.
Over the last four seasons, Kentucky has just one NCAA Tournament win, including two first-round losses to double-digit seeds. Over the last two, the Wildcats have lost 22 games. As Calipari said, that’s not supposed to happen at Kentucky.
Through that span, people have blamed the lack of success on things like play style, recruiting strategies, and/or being slow to NIL amongst other things. But this was supposed to be the team.
A team “built for March,” Calipari said. A team that featured two of the best upperclassmen in the country. The no. 1 freshman class, which included three top 10 prospects and multiple projected NBA Draft picks. The stereotypical Calipari team, that featured elite freshmen and athleticism, playing in a revamped offense
While it created one of the most likable and exciting teams in recent Kentucky basketball history, it wasn’t enough for a single postseason win. The rosters have changed, the assistants have changed, but there has been one constant, John Calipari.
This is coming from a fan-turned-media member, soon to be 26 years old, who wrote voluntary school reports on Kentucky basketball. Whose first Kentucky basketball memories were towards the end of Tubby Smith’s career. Who cried at how bad Kentucky was during Billy Gillespie’s two seasons. Whose favorite birthday present on April, 1st 2009 was John Calipari being hired, as I learned on a school computer on ESPN. Whose Cal has treated nicely in every interaction and setting.
Now, I have watched a team with multiple NBA players finish with the worst record in modern Kentucky basketball history. A team with the National Player of the Year, get beat by a 15-seed. Now a team with two top 10 picks and All-American lose to a 14 seed, almost single-handedly to a player that was playing Division III just two seasons ago.
“When we get it right, you notice we’re No. 1 in the country. We’re No. 1 seeds and we’re playing in Final Fours,” Calipari said in his Kentucky introductory press conference. Things don’t just feel “right” anymore.
Kentucky hasn’t been a 1-seed nor participated in a Final Four since 2015, nor been in reach of one since 2019. With each move Calipari makes, the Big Blue Nation becomes more and more divided.
John Calipari is a great man. He has done a lot, not just for Kentucky basketball, bringing four Final Fours and a national title, but also for this state and its people, raising millions and helping thousands of families. That said, Kentucky basketball is not meeting expectations, even by his own standards.
“I cannot tell you how hard the decision was because of what I left behind,” Calipari said of his decision to leave Memphis for Kentucky in 2009.
Kentucky basketball is bigger than any coach. Walking off the court in Pittsburgh, following Calipari and the team to the locker room after the loss to Oakland, flooded with memories of the last 15 seasons, it feels like it’s time to make a hard decision.
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