How has John Calipari sustained success with Kentucky basketball?
Almost every Kentucky basketball fan has seen the slogan, “In Cal We Trust” at some point these last few years. It’s in reference to the fact that sometimes, especially with the younger players, John Calipari’s teams tend to struggle early in the season. Big Blue Nation, let’s face it; Calipari’s success since 2010 made all of BBN incredibly spoiled.
John Calipari’s first Kentucky basketball team was full of NBA players, including DeMarcus Cousins, John Wall, Eric Bledsoe and veteran Patrick Patterson. The 2009-10 season wasn’t pretty early, as Wall hit a buzzer-beater at home to defeat Miami (Ohio).
The only real opponent this team had was their own outside shooting, which doomed them in the Elite Eight against West Virginia. At that point in time, outside of Michigan’s “Fab 5”, no team that young had ever been that dominant. Many Kentucky basketball fans doubted this kind of youth, but BBN learned quickly – In Cal We Trust.
One of my personal favorite Calipari teams was the 2011 NCAA Tournament team. This team terrified the Bluegrass State. Never before had they seen such a mass exodus the previous year to the NBA. There’s no way that Calipari could have success the year after replacing Wall, Bledsoe, Cousins, etc. right?
The 2010-2011 Kentucky squad struggled right away, losing 6 games in SEC play and 9 games overall. They relied on a buzzer-beater by Brandon Knight to defeat Princeton in the 1st round of the NCAA Tournament, and another in the Sweet 16 against Ohio State. This team, which some of BBN had written off, made it to the Final Four and lost a heartbreaker to UConn. How did the Cats make it to the national championship that year? In Cal We Trust.
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In the 2011-2012 season, Calipari brought in another fantastic group of freshmen. Coach Cal started 3 freshmen every game, along with 2 sophomores. Could Calipari really take a team this young and inexperienced, and have more success than previous years? The Cats went undefeated in the SEC conference and won the National Championship. Calipari had taken the youngest team in the nation and won UK’s 8th national title. How did such a young, inexperienced team win the championship against such a veteran, experienced Kansas team? In Cal We Trust.
In 2013-2014, Calipari had his youngest team yet at Kentucky. For nearly the entire season, Calipari started at least 4 freshmen. Teams like UNC, Duke, Louisville, Florida, Wisconsin, and Michigan were favorites for a national title. Calipari took a team of essentially all freshmen and sophomores and made a deep tournament run.
Kentucky made it to the National Championship game, relying on several Aaron Harrison game-winning shots along the way. The Cats would lose another heart-breaker to Connecticut. How was Calipari able to get so many freshmen and sophomores to compete at a national championship level? In Cal We Trust.
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The 2014-2015 UK team is arguably the greatest Kentucky team in program history. Many critics thought this team was too young, too inexperienced and too selfish. Critics claimed that there were too many high-level players on this team, and not enough shots and playing time to satisfy everyone.
Calipari proved the critics wrong, winning their first 36 games of the season. Unfortunately for all of BBN, a very solid Wisconsin team defeated UK in the Final Four. How was Calipari able to get so many talented players to put their egos aside and sacrifice for the team? In Cal We Trust.
The 2014-2015 team had 7 players leave UK early for the NBA, the most in NCAA history. Surely there was no way that Calipari could actually replace such a mass exodus in such a short period of time, right? This 2015-2016 team won the SEC regular-season title, the SEC Tournament Championship and only lost 9 games all season. In Cal We Trust.
This 2017-2018 Kentucky basketball team has received a great deal of criticism all season long. Throughout the season, Calipari was widely criticized. Pundits and critics doubted his recruiting. His ability to get players to “buy in” was put into question. Coach Cal’s ability to effectively evaluate talent was ridiculed. Calipari’s team lost 4 consecutive SEC games, the most ever in Calipari’s UK tenure.
Doubting their ability to win and even thinking they were bound for the NIT, some of Big Blue Nation wrote this team off. But here we are, BBN, the Sweet Sixteen. There’s no such thing as a lock in March Madness, but the Cats are looking good to advance to the Final Four. How is it possible that Calipari took a team who lose 4 consecutive SEC games to now the Sweet Sixteen? In Cal We Trust.