Is Kentucky Basketball on the naughty or nice list?
By Luke Bennett
No BAD Losses
It’s all about March for Kentucky. Everything before then is just learning lessons and stepping stones to the Big Dance. The best way to help your cause before March is to win the games you are supposed to, and should you lose, go down swinging.
Thus far, this is not the case for the 2019-2020 squad.
After securing a #1 ranking, the Wildcats had a run-of-the-mill non-conference game in front of an unexpecting, otherwise bored Rupp Arena. Evansville, manned by former UK National Champion Walter McCarty, was invited in town for what we thought would be nothing more than a bloodbath. Instead of exiting the court with a loss and a heartwarming homecoming for McCarty’s Purple Aces, Evansville left with $90,000 and a win.
Not only was this one of the worst losses in Calipari’s era at Kentucky (if not the worst since the turn of the Millenium) but the loss to Evansville was also a bracket-buster. The Purple Aces squad that upset the Wildcats in Rupp Arena doesn’t even break the top-200 in KenPom’s overall rankings. For almost any team in America, this would occupy the top spot in their ‘worst losses’ category, let alone a team that vies for a chance at a #1 seed and national championship year-in, year-out.
To make matters worse, the bleeding didn’t stop here.
Nearly a month, and an injury-plagued rebound later, the Wildcats further sullied their reputation. This time, the loss came in a place not too unfamiliar with crushing defeat: Las Vegas.
Kentucky met Utah in an obvious primer for the Cats’ biggest challenge of the year, a bout with currently #2-ranked Ohio State. Despite affirmations from the players and coaching staff of avoiding oversight as they did against Evansville, their performance showed otherwise.
At one point, the Wildcats were down 17 points to the Runnin’ Utes who (similarly to Evansville) don’t even crack the overall top-100. If it wasn’t for a late surge to close the gap into a three-point loss, this would’ve been even worse of a performance than that against Evansville. Hell, it’s not even a stretch to say the abysmal three-fourths of play against Utah was the worst thirty minutes a Calipari-led Kentucky team has pieced together, especially when they needed to do otherwise.
Just like that, two not-so-good, terrible, wretched, horrific, bad, bad, bad losses for this year’s Kentucky team.
And it doesn’t stop there.
While not a bad loss and a game that saw the Wildcats show some sliver of hustle and hope, the five-point defeat to the then #5 Ohio State, puts another tally in Wildcat’s fans “No Trespassing” loss column.
If you thought matters couldn’t get much worse in Lexington… think again.
This Saturday, the now #19 Wildcats faceoff against the #3 team in the country, Louisville. If there is one thing Kentucky fans hang their hat on, it’s consistent wins against their little brother down the road. Since Cal took over in 2009, the Wildcats have only lost to Louisville twice by a combined six points. The Cardinals have surrendered ten losses in that time by a combined 103 points, including a loss in the Final Four and Sweet Sixteen.
This series is a contentious one, but one that Kentucky has dominated in the Calipari era. However, Kentucky’s situation has never felt this desperate, nor have Cats fans felt like a serious underdog against their crosstown rival. This year’s Louisville squad is legit, and one to take seriously. A loss to Louisville is always sour, but a loss in this game could cement the fate of the Wildcats before conference play even begins.
If Kentucky continues to perform consistent with the rest of their non-conference slate, the loss category will hit four, and Cats fans would start wishing they asked for coal.