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Kentucky Basketball: John Calipari Still Aiming For 40-0 Season

By Maxwell Ogden

Mar 13, 2016; Nashville, TN, USA; The Kentucky Wildcats head coach John Calipari addresses the crowd after winning the championship game against Texas A&M Aggies of the SEC tournament at Bridgestone Arena. Kentucky Wildcats won 82-77. Mandatory Credit: Jim Brown-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 13, 2016; Nashville, TN, USA; The Kentucky Wildcats head coach John Calipari addresses the crowd after winning the championship game against Texas A&M Aggies of the SEC tournament at Bridgestone Arena. Kentucky Wildcats won 82-77. Mandatory Credit: Jim Brown-USA TODAY Sports /
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Kentucky basketball head coach John Calipari has two goals that have yet to be achieved. One of the two: an undefeated season.

The path to perfection is one unwelcoming to the weak of heart. Perfection is only achieved by those who have been through the pain and struggle of imperfection.

Kentucky basketball head coach John Calipari has yet to achieve that goal, but he hasn’t given up on the pursuit of perfection.

The Kentucky Wildcats have been close to perfection in multiple seasons under Coach Cal. It’s fallen short of that vision being realized, but it’s come dangerously close.

According to Jon Hale of The Courier-Journal, Calipari still has ambitious goals that he’s yet to achieve.

"“It’s to win all 40 games sometime before I retire and then be able to go to an NBA All-Star Game and 12 of the players in the NBA All-Star Game have played for us,” Calipari said at a news conference previewing his charity softball game. “I don’t call that fantasy. Fantasy means it could never happen. But those would be two things before I don’t have to do anymore press conferences in front of you guys.”"

Both are legitimate possibilities.

Kentucky finished the 2009-10 season at 35-3 overall and 14-2 in the SEC. It shockingly lost in the Elite Eight, thus putting the championship dreams to rest.

That team, led by the likes of John Wall, DeMarcus Cousins, and Eric Bledsoe, remains one of the greatest in recent college basketball history.

Kentucky won the national championship in 2011-12. Led by the likes of Anthony Davis, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, and Terrence Jones, the Wildcats finished the season at 38-2 overall and 16-0 in the SEC.

It was in 2014-15 that Kentucky came closest to a perfect season, however, at 38-1 overall and 16-0 in the SEC.

As for the All-Stars, Kentucky is already producing quite a few. Cousins, Davis, and Wall were All-Stars in 2016, and the likes of Bledsoe, Enes Kanter, Brandon Knight, and Karl-Anthony Towns could join them as soon as 2017.

Throw in the likes of Devin Booker, Kidd-Gilchrist, Nerlens Noel, and Julius Randle, and the sky is already the limit.

must read: A five-star shooting guard has cut his list to five. Kentucky made the cut.

As Kentucky stars thrive in the NBA, just one question remains in college: can the 2016-17 Wildcats achieve the elusive goal of perfection?

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