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Kentucky Wildcats John Calipari Opens Up About Wisconsin Game

By Brian True

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It’s now been three weeks since the heartbreaking loss to the Wisconsin Badgers in the Final Four of the 2015 NCAA Tournament. Everyone that is apart of the Big Blue Nation, as well as everyone in the country, was shocked that the then 38-0 Kentucky Wildcats lost that game. No one thought it was possible with only two games to go before perfection was reached, and it was most certainly not going to come in the national semi-final game. However, there everyone was, in absolute shock. The blue-collar Wisconsin Badgers had knocked off the undefeated Kentucky Wildcats. And the man that lead them there, head coach John Calipari, was in more shock than anyone.

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However, he would not show it. He went about the media circus, masterfully handling the questions like only John Calipari could. Insisting that he in no way expected a 40-0 season, even just two games away from a goal he had for his entire coaching career. But, this was not the case. Even John Calipari himself was in shock. Even he was expecting a 40-0 season at that point in the season. And until yesterday, he had not acknowledged it. But yesterday, in an interview with the Associated Press, John Calipari opened up about the Final Four loss. 

"“You know, it never entered my mind that we were going to lose,” Calipari told The Associated Press as he walked out of the high school gym. “When we were up four with 5 minutes to go, I thought it was over. Even when Wisconsin made that run, I thought we’d figure it out.“We never, in my time at Kentucky, we just don’t lose that game,” he added.“When we beat Kansas and UCLA, I thought we had a chance (at a perfect season),” he said. “When we had the overtime games against Ole Miss and Texas A&M, I thought maybe not. But then we started playing really well.”“I asked them if they talked about 40-0, and they said they talked about it all the time,” Calipari said. “Here, I was trying to take 40-0 off the table for them, and all the time, they were talking about it.”"

There you have it folks. Even John Calipari thought that 40-0 was in the bag. That history would be made by the 2014-2015 Kentucky Wildcats. That this team would have gone wire-to-wire as the number one team in the nation. However, that all came crashing down in the worst possible way. Only two wins away from getting that ultimate goal. A 40-0 season and a ninth National Championship. However, none of that happened. And even the most charismatic, realistic person in the Big Blue Nation now admits that it was disappointing and completely unexpected.

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