Kentucky Wildcats Headlines: Is John Calipari the best coach in the game today?

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If you ask any Kentucky Wildcats fan, this is a resounding answer of “YES”. However basketball experts are a bit more divided as to who the best coach in college basketball is today. The folks at Athlon Sports got their panel of college basketball experts together and the this was the first question they posed to them. After all the votes were counted, Duke’s Mike Kryzewski edged out John Calipari by a count of 23-20.

"• The top two in our poll were overwhelming. Krzyzewski appeared on 23 of 26 ballots, and Calipari appeared on 20 of 26. Not that those two would be bad choices in any year, but we wonder if there might be a bit of recency bias in the response. (And since we said “in the game today,” that makes perfect sense). These top two coaches have been at the top of people’s minds this season in particular with Krzyzewski crossing the 1,000-win mark and Calipari leading an undefeated team."

Both Coach K and John Calipari are deserving and these two are by far at the top of their game. Each of the 26 respondents were asked “Who are the top three coaches” and I’d really like to know the three people who did not include Coach K or the six that did not mention John Calipari. I see that Goodman and Forde both voted. Who were the other four to exclude John Calipari?

Mandatory Credit: Mark Zerof-USA TODAY Sports

Speaking of Jeff Goodman, he gave the Kentucky Wildcats some rare praise in probably one of the strangest articles recently. Even though the top four seeds in this years NCAA Tournament have not been decided yet, Goodman lists Kentucky as a top four seed NEXT YEAR. And strongly hints that Aaron and Andrew Harrison could return.

"Kentucky Wildcats It doesn’t matter who stays and leaves anymore. John Calipari just flat-out reloads and has more talent than everyone else. Look for Willie Cauley-Stein andKarl-Anthony Towns to leave for the NBA draft. Devin Booker, Trey Lyles, Dakari Johnson and the Harrison twins all could join them. But my guess is that a couple of those guys (i.e., Johnson and Andrew and Aaron Harrison) will come back, and stay with Tyler Ulis, Alex Poythress and Marcus Lee. Calipari has three guys signed for next season in skilled forward Skal Labissiere, point guardIsaiah Briscoe and wing Charles Matthews."

It is the time of the year for annual honors and yesterday Willie Cauley-Stein was named a finalist for the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award for the nation’s top center. He was not the only member of the Kentucky Wildcats to be honored though. Marcus Lee was named to the SEC Community Service Team. It’s great to see Lee honored for his efforts.

"Lee has been extensively active in the Lexington community during his two years at UK. He is the treasurer of UK’s Student-Athlete Advisory Committee NCAA, having coordinated the athletics department’s blanket project where Kentucky student-athletes made blankets for UK Children’s Hospital patients. Lee was responsible for coordinating the project budget, which involved purchasing the material that was used to make the blankets. He has also been actively involved in UK’s backpack program with God’s Pantry, filling backpacks with food supplies and delivering them to local elementary schools. Lee visited Dick Gregory, who was seriously injured in a fall at Rupp Arena last season, in the intensive care unit. He volunteered to help out during the events inside the Joe Craft Center as part of National Student-Athlete Day. He also took part in the Samaritan’s Feet Project in addition to delivering food to Midnight Madness Campers."

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