Kentucky Wildcats Basketball: How Do You Like Me Now?

I am a firm believer in the Karma Fairy. I am not a Buddist, nor do I care to be one. But the phrase, “What goes around, comes around” is definitely on my list of things that I hold a firm grasp to. So when the list of apologies starts coming down to John Calipari, everyone needs to remember every nasty, backhanded, evil, twisted, sarcastic thing they ever said about him over the last few years. I am not going to start making a list, or calling out all those who need to take a knee and beg for forgiveness, because this website has a limit on it’s capacity. And to be honest, not all sides are convinced yet, there are still Calipari detractors out there, but they are thinning out rapidly. ESPN still has the pundits who are not believers, but they earn their money from the back and forth of the fans to keep their internet hits up high, and their TV ratings are undoubtedly higher when the Kentucky fanbase is tuning in. So, will John Calipari stand up and say “I told you so”?, no. Not his style. He loves playing the underdog. And truthfully it suits him. Calipari has made his living from understating his position. He is the master of playing the wounded duck. But not this year. This year, this team, this time, is the exception to the rule. They ARE underdogs. They didn’t get Enes Kanter, so they can’t be competing for a National Championship. They couldn’t even win the SEC Regular Season Championship, right? Florida is a 2 seed. We are just a four. The list goes on and on for reasons that these Cats couldn’t do what they have already done, and cannot do what they are about to do. Paul Jordan, our fearless leader, used the term “awe” when describing this team and he is 100% accurate. Being an amateur blogger, and not one of the members of the media who actually got to witness first hand all the games this year and all of the changes this team has gone through, my first reaction is that there has never been a team like this one in all my years (over 40) of watching Kentucky Basketball. I have never seen this kind of growth in a team from the start to the finish of a season. I heard one of the CBS announcers say that this Kentucky team was built for the tournament. Then when I repeated that, my wife pointed out to me right away that this team was not built.It was patched together when five guys left for the NBA last year, including Daniel Orton who no one thought should go. Then it was patched together even more when Enes Kanter was declared “permanently ineligible”. And patched together even more when Eloy Vargas struggled at the first of the year. A six man rotation in the SEC these days is like putting a gun to your head. Unless you are John Calipari. I see the media and their “sudden belovedness” with John Calipari and our rag-tag group of sensational freshmen, and yeoman upperclassmen, and I think to myself, “you people have spent years telling John Calipari he could not do things this way and get himself a championship”. Even the immortal Dick Vitale confessed that he told Calipari that he couldn’t do it. Well guess what folks, he is doing it. And this team is doing it, and they are doing it against the very best that the country has to offer in competition all year long. They have, one by one, avenged every misstep along the way, and the dominoes have fallen again and again and again. So if the kids do a little chest thumping along the way, it’s understandable. And if you hear a little Toby Keith being whistled by John Calipari as he walks by, think nothing of it. Because he has earned it. And he is doing it they way HE wants to do it. And that makes it just that much sweeter in the end.

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