Kentucky Wildcats Basketball: The backlash of staying in school

When it comes to staying in school, it’s become “damned if you do and damned if you don’t” for some Kentucky Wildcats basketball players

When John Calipari arrived  in Lexington to coach the Kentucky Wildcats basketball team, it was a program in decline.  Billy Gillispie was a horrible hire and had the program on the verge of losing their crown as the winingest program to North Carolina.  Enter John Calipari, who turned the program around immediately and has restored the Wildcats to the pinnacle of being the best program in college basketball.

Being the head coach of the Kentucky Wildcats basketball program is a demanding job.  In retrospect, Gillispie had the resume but was crushed by the magnitude of the position.  Gillispie had turned two programs around and had four straight top 25 recruiting classes under his belt at UTEP and Texas A&M.  However, Gillespie was slowly consumed by the job, the same way a boa constrictor consumes its prey, and was spit out.

Mandatory Credit: Jamie Rhodes-USA TODAY Sports

Calipari instituted his “Players First” program to Lexington and it became apparent that his goal was to get players to the NBA and to fulfill their dreams.  Pundits and opposing fans across the country mocked Calipari but they quickly changed their tune when the NBA Draft became an annual three-hour recruiting tool for Kentucky Wildcats basketball.

The increased media scrutiny did not squeeze the life out of John Calipari but empowered and energized him.  The Kentucky Wildcats basketball program has been restored as the pinnacle of college hoops and the Wildcats have one National Title and three Final Fours in five seasons.  And are on pace for another title and maybe a perfect season.

More from Opinion

• Kentucky football: The good, the bad, and the ugly in win over Akron
• Kentucky Football: Athletic, experienced linebacker unit rock solid again
• Kentucky Football: Whose ready to step into vacant cornerback roles
• Kentucky Football: Who are the top 5 best running backs in school history?
• Kentucky basketball: John Calipari needs to change remembering how it began

John Calipari opened himself up to media scrutiny when he declared that Kentucky “was college basketball” and like a vampire he sucks the life out of the media’s barbs and becomes stronger and more energized.  There have been lapses.  Last year, Calipari made the mistake of daring to mention a perfect season and that blew up in his face.  Last year was an all out assault on Calipari’s character, tactics, and whether he was a one year wonder.  Cal had the last laugh and his team advanced to the NCAA Finals.

And this year, the media really can not say very much.  They started with the absurd motion that this team has too much talent and that there were be dissension on the team.  Then they mocked the platoon system.  And now that Kentucky is 13-0 and have won every game impressively, they have turned to tearing apart individual players because they may not be drafted in the NBA draft this year.

As underclassmen.

Yes, the same media people who lambasted the Kentucky Wildcats basketball program for being bad for college basketball for sending players to the NBA have now turned circle and are calling college players failures because they are not going to go pro early.