by Paul Jordan
Let’s face it. It was tough watching the Dookies win the National Title on Monday Night. It was tougher still living with the realization that the best team in college basketball did not win college basketball’s top prize. Despite a string of 10 loss seasons and the indignity of an NIT bid last season, Kentucky had one of the greatest single season turnarounds in basketball history, soaring to a 35-3 record and a top 5 finish.
Despite this, there is a small but vocal population of Kentucky fans that consider this past season a failure and are openly questioning the methods of John Calipari and venting on virtually every aspect of the season. Now that four players and probably five are on their way to NBA riches, these fans are calling this season a wasted season because it did not culminate in a Final Four appearance.
Keep in mind that Kentucky’s Final Four drought now sits at 12 seasons, but just one of those seasons can be put on Calipari. And while this year was full of promise and potential, it kind of insane to question Calipari’s methodology after just one season.
As we recall during the Big Blue Madness, Calipari told us that we are just beginning to ascend the mountain. Fittingly the season ended with a loss to the Mountaineers, but to call the ride in between a failure is bordering on absurd. I know that a lot of the complaints about Cal are with the “one and dones”. Some UK fans are now clamoring that Calipari put an end to the “one and done” madness and now recruit three and four year players that are going to grow with the program. Just a quick history lesson: Tubby Smith and Billy Gillispie got in the habit of recruiting three and four year players and the result was monikers like “Ten Loss Tubby” and a two season Gillispie era.
In the issue of fairness, John Calipari did not set out to recruit a team of “one and dones” this season. True, John Wall would have a one year college career no matter where he went, but PG was Kentucky’s biggest need and Calipari snagged the best player in the country? But DeMarcus Cousins was thought to be a two and done when he signed, and Daniel Orton and Eric Bledsoe being here for just one season? That was not part of the master plan.
Had this team not started 19-0 but instead started at say, the 12-4 pace most people expected, only Wall would have gotten the early one and done buzz. This team was expected to finish with possibly eight losses and maybe make the NCAA as a 2 seed. Instead, UK blazed their way to 35 wins, a SEC regular season AND Tournament championship and a firm grasp on the number two spot in the season. You can say that high number of one and dones were a direct result of Calipari’s coaching and the season they had, rather than planning for a season of one season wonders.
I admit, I tried to keep my expectations low this season. When Calipari was hired, I said that all I expected was for UK to make the Sweet Sixteen every year and be in a position to win the SEC title. Low expectations, yea, but its good to have a low standard. As the wins accumulated, I threw those out the window and considered West Virginia a mere speed bump on the way to number 8. But then reality struck. The best team does not always win the title. It’s not fair, but that is how sports is.
And yes, it is frustrating to watch Wall, Cousins, and company bolt to the NBA without a Final Four appearance, but you have to realize that John Calipari is not a one year wonder type of coach. Within the next month, Calipari will have a new top 5 recruiting class under his belt. You think that these kids are going to see five players going to the NBA Draft and not want to come to Kentucky?
Get used to it. As long as Calipari is here, we will have players leaving early for the NBA Draft. And while we will not win the national title every year, Calipari is good for at least two final fours in his time at Kentucky. And the recruits? They will come. No need to worry.
And in a month, the pain of the loss to West Virginia will have eased a bit …. and we will have a whole new roster of recruits to obsess over and root for to lead us to number eight.
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