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Fueled by declining fearless returns over the past three seasons, the seat under John Calipari’s waist is burning hotter than at any point in his college-era head coaching career. This isn’t just for people who aren’t used to losing. This is a man who is not used to being unloved. The school has always longed to stick with Calipari and never wants to see him leave. When Kentucky signed Calipari to a lifetime contract in 2019, it was because no one wanted him to leave Lexington.
Now the Big Blue Nation is looking for a pitchfork and the anger is directed at Calipari. The man once considered the sage of college basketball — the coach who figured out how to make the one-off system work — tracks more toward the sport’s Jimbo Fisher. do. That means Calipari recruited 63 Top 50 players, coached 14 All-Americans, 10 SEC Rookie of the Year, 6 SEC Player of the Year and 45 NBA Draft picks during his tenure. produced. Still, he has one national championship to prove it.
This season has been a blast, with a roster featuring a returning National Player of the Year, three 5-star recruits, two 4-star recruits, and four highly-desired transfers to the Southeastern 8-4, 0-1 in the conference. His 14-point loss at Missouri on Wednesday. Like Fisher’s Texas A&M, most concerns center on Kentucky’s aggressive style, or lack thereof.
To be fair, New Year is not yet here. There’s plenty of time for Kentucky to correct itself or for Calipari to discover yet another “tweak” to save the season. He may want to tweak).
Still, numbers are numbers and they haven’t improved. Two seasons ago, the Wildcats finished 9–16 with a roster that included six of his players ranked as top 50 recruits. With National Player of the Year (Oskar Zibwe) on the roster last year and a first-round pick (TyTy Washington), they lost to the 15th-seeded St. He Peters in the first round. I was.
This year’s redemption season kicked off with Kentucky ranked 4th in the nation (1st in the KenPom) and Calipari giving a shoutout to his team’s strong summer performance in the Bahamas.
Since then, the Wildcats have been kicked out by Tom Izzo, overtaken by Gonzaga, punctured by UCLA and crushed by Missouri this week. In the latest NET rankings, Kentucky has slipped to his No. 40 spot, where he is 0-3 in Quad 1 matches. This is his best win against a 0-4 Michigan team in a first quarter game.
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All of this poses a very simple question. What do you get? athletic We posed that question to the people who studied Kentucky the most this season: six coaches who have played or will play for Kentucky this season. There are many branches to explore, but the overall theme is pretty simple. We talked about this the other day. “I’m not really sure what Cal wants,” said one coach, who, like other coaches, requested anonymity during the interview. You’ve won the recruiting war, now it’s a transfer portal, it’s like getting the best player and hoping it works out, but that’s not how it works.Identity Crisis seems to be happening
Back in his Memphis heyday, Calipari earned accolades for his adaptation to the dribble drive attack. He looked like a revolutionary, leaving the ball in the hands of smart guards, allowing for offense and creation.Derrick Rose’s dribbling put the Tigers close to Mario Chalmers’ three-pointer national title. But in Kentucky, Calipari became a little more traditional, relying on a true power forward and Big, who played the game the way the position dictated.・It went well with Davis.
But along the way, the game has evolved and college basketball has always kept pace with the NBA. Even college coaches who were less controllable traded a premium for shooting, spacing and spreading the floor to give away a bit of mistakes and player decision-making.
Since Kentucky won, only one National Championship team in Louisville in 2013 fell below 36% from the arc. Kentucky has shot above 36% this year and his only two times in 2016. “It has to be the same — he ran for the New Jersey Nets.” It’s predictable how another coach would describe it. We are running it,” adds another. “But stud he works when he’s a player. Tyler Hero he’s a floppy when he’s taking action, it’s a bucket. Without him it’s a little different.”
Calipari purposely went out and searched the transfer portal for shooters (Illinois’ Antonio Reeves and Iowa’s CJ Fredrick). Still, there was no significant bounce in the overall attack. “That’s because a good three-pointer doesn’t matter how many shooters he has if he doesn’t have a good attack to get open shots,” the coach says.
Another coach specifically pointed to the Wildcats’ lack of pace and precision, “jogging” the cut. ? Otherwise, it’s pretty straightforward,” he says.
Oscar Tshiebwe is still putting up big numbers, but this year’s internationals have been asked to take charge of the UK. (Jay Biggerstaff/USA Today)
As a result, Kentucky scouting is not only less difficult, but keeping up with the Wildcats is much easier than it should be. On paper, Shabazz Napier and his UConn won’t beat the Wildcats in his 2014 national title match, nor will Frank Kaminski and Wisconsin stop the undefeated Cats in the Final Four. Luke May had no business dropping 17 in the Elite 8 in 2017. “How did St. Peter defeat them?”
The answer is that it’s easier to be with a team that doesn’t know who or what it is. “You know people always say that you can keep playing games with Virginia because of her style of play?” says one coach. “That’s why they can lose to the 16[seed]and still win the national championship. But with Tony[Bennett]he’s going to stick to defense. With Cal, there are no offensive schemes, so you can always go for it.No sense of purpose.They don’t know who they are.”
Some of that, Coach believes, is a by-product of portals. Tshiebwe (West He Virginia), Reeves, Fredrick, Sahvir Wheeler (Georgia) and Jacob Toppin (Rhode Island) are all on the move. Granted, all but Reeves are at least two years into his tenure at Kentucky (Fredrick moved on in his 2021 but missed the following season due to injury). “Some players don’t know what they’re doing,” said one coach. “And there are no leaders you have raised. That’s part of it. Not all of it, but definitely some.”
Aggressive intervention may help. Calipari didn’t invent the dribble drive. He got it from his high school coach, Vance Wahlberg, and made it his own. Coaches think he might need a voice that whispers in his ear. His two of his assistants count as Calipari’s disciples. Bruiser Flint said he started working on the staff of UMass in 1989 and Orlando Antigua he joined in 2008 at Memphis. Chin Coleman is in his fourth year as a Major D1 Assistant. Most coaches agree that they are not the kind of people who would disagree with Calipari or have a lot of dissenting opinions: “If his coordinator, the new guy, or his NBA player is going to be ,” says one coach. “As long as he hears”
For at least the last two seasons, its identity has been clear. That is, to pass the ball to Tshiebwe. “Tzibwe is an oak tree,” says one coach. Another scouted over and over again at Tshiebwe and he laughed as he lamented watching the players fail to stop the big shot despite doing everything right. “What can we do?” he says. “Just shout, ‘Go harder.'”
But Kentucky’s solution to aggressive behemoths is also part of Kentucky’s problem. His Tshiebwe as a bailout isn’t really a crime, but it’s the Wildcats’ most effective plan. “He can’t do it alone,” says one coach. Unsurprisingly, the team is collapsing more and more defenders around his Tshiebwe, but the rest of the lineup has not lived up to the demands.
The coach questions if some are enough. Wheeler’s lack of scoring prowess (9.1 per game) and his outside shots haven’t been threatening enough to keep the defense honest, and Reeves, at least in some people’s opinion, has a lot of shots. Too much (he averages more shots per game than Tzibwe). They wonder if others are in the right position. “Washington and[Kellen]Grady were able to open up the floor and create lanes for the players last year,” said one coach. “But Toppin isn’t as talented as a man. He’s a decent player, but not the kind of stretch-four player that this position needs right now.”
It all comes down to Tshiebwe or Bast plan. “Tzibwe is a bucket, but look (Wednesday). Missouri also had a guy (Kobe Brown) who was a bucket,” says one coach. needs to have a good attack, needs connection, needs pace, a lot of the time you think he has the ball and you’re standing around and watching him move, they want the ball Not cutting.What do they do when he has the ball?Are they just waiting and watching?Because there are people in the SEC who can deny Tshiebwe.”
Five players were averaging double digits and 14.7 points or less per game when Davis won the Player of the Year and national titles. Doron Lamb’s ability to knock down his 3s kept the defense honest on the perimeter, and Marquis Teague’s wealth of offensive-directing knowledge kept everyone happy. Calipari has repeatedly flipped the lineup this season. Ware appeared in just his 14th game against UCLA, while he played 30 minutes against Missouri. Conversely, Chris Livingston scored 14 points in 25 minutes against the Bruins and just 12 points against Missouri.
Navigating playtime, especially with the lure of a transfer portal, is a nuance for everyone. Keeping your players happy and still loyal may be harder than ever. Reeves, for example, may be taking as many shots as Tzibwe, but he takes five fewer than he did when he was the center of the offense in Illinois. “I don’t like the word culture,” says one coach. “Very vague. Use a program. Your program is who you are academically and what is expected of you. Your program is how you behave socially.” It basically means you have a plan, and for a guy like Cal, having a lot of moving pieces means planning. It is very difficult.”
The big question here: can it be fixed? “Of course you can,” says one coach. But it may not be as easy as it used to be. The rest of the SEC caught up with Kentucky. Maybe Calipari took too long to turn around. The Wildcats, who once won his four consecutive SEC Tournament titles, have not won a single title since 2018.
Although they failed to qualify for the 2021 NCAA Tournament, six other SEC teams received bids. With that, some of the mystique has faded. There’s no doubt they’re still stepping into the frenzied road atmosphere, as evidenced in Missouri three days after Christmas, but the unbeatable and inevitable air fades when you usually see Kentucky uniforms. “People aren’t afraid of them,” says one coach. “I think they play hard for the most part. is.”
(Top photo: Ed Zurga/Getty Images)
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