OK kids. I have to admit that my school days are in the rear view mirror but a little history primer could help us see the correlation in today’s basketball lesson:
"The Lewis and Clark Expedition’s exploration of the American West from 1804 to 1806 was a seminal event in the history of the Pacific Northwest, a fact reflected in the region’s place names. Today four counties bear the explorers’ names, as do two towns, three rivers, several schools and universities, a wildlife refuge, and numerous other places along the route they blazed."
So how will Kentucky history see the Calipari exploration of the Northwest? Let’s take a trip in the fast forward machine (similar to a wayback machine, except we are moving forward in history) and see how the historians have noted the events:
The John Calipari exploration of the American West in 2010 was a seminal event in the history of the Kentucky Wildcats, a fact reflected in the schools eigth and ninth national title. Today, four names from Calipari’s Western excursions (Kanter, Jones, Payne, and Wiltjer) hang in the hallowed rafters the the cavernous 40,000 seat “New” Rupp Arena to lay testament to the battles won by these players ….
Ah OK, you get the picture. In short, during his time in Lexington, Calipari has boldly gone where no other UK coach has gone … the West coach and come back with Enes Kanter, Terrence Jones, Kyle Wiltjerm and one of the best recruiting assistants, Kenny Payne. Obviously there is gold in them that hills.
What makes Calipari’s dominance even more impressive is that Calipari has grabbed the top players in Oregon in back to back years. The most amazing aspect of Calipari’s success is the fact that Kyle Wiltjer committed to the Wildcats without ever seeing the Kentucky campus. And of course, the rival coaches scratch their heads and ask “How does Cal do it”. Critics will paint a picture of Calipari as a used car salesman with a penchant for finding the gray areas in the rule book. The Wiltjer family does not subscribe to that view of Cal at all:
"“A lot of time relationships are built with the assistant coaches,” said Carol Wiltjer, who along with her husband Greg spoke with the Wildcat head coach on over a half-dozen instances. “But Coach Calipari is good at taking the time to establish that relationship personally.“I think he is a straight-shooter. He tells it like it is. It might not be what you want to hear, but I would rather have that. He basically told us he needs to improve in these areas, and this is how we do that. His history with other players speaks for itself. That’s why players like him. He is also very accessible and I think that’s what differentiates him from other coaches.”“I think he made me feel very comfortable,” Kyle Wiltjer said. “He let me know what his program had to offer.”"
Building relationships is how Calipari is making his mark in the Northwest. However you can not mistake the impact that Calipari has made on everyone he seemingly has had contact with. The biggest factor in the recruitment of Wiltjer may actually have been Terrence Jones who sold Kyle on Calipari and helped lure him to the Bluegrass.
As of right now, it is still too early to judge the impact of Calipari’s Western excursion on the history of the Kentucky Wildcats, but you get a feeling that the Calipari mining the West for gold is just beginning and in the end, the only that that glitters will be national title hardware.
Keep following www.http://wildcatbluenation.com for the best in Kentucky basketball and football news, rumors, and opinions. By Kentucky fans for Kentucky fans