Kentucky basketball: John Calipari needs to change remembering how it began

We aren’t going to talk about 2012-2013.

Yeah, I don’t really wanna think about 2012, it still haunts me. Losing on the road to a school whose gym seats less than my high school isn’t something I like to think about.

A trip to the NIT and immediate loss to gulp… Robert Morris was just gut-wrenching.

If you can recite that Archie Goodwin was the teams leading scorer you are better than most.

Kentucky was left baren again by departures to the NBA or by graduation that included Davis,  Kidd-Gilchrist, Jones, Lamb, Miller, and Teague.

The first of many haunting memories was that Calipari had not lost a game at Rupp Arena until December 1, 2012, when unranked Baylor came to Lexington and handled the Cats a 64-55 beating that ended a 55-game home winning streak.

A foreshadowing of things to come.

There was the three-year winning streak against Louisville that also ended in an 80-77 loss at the KFC Yum Center.

That season also was the unfortunate injury to Nerlens Noel during the Florida game when hustling back for a defensive play and ramming his knee into the goal support and then having his team carry him off the court at the O’Connell Center in tears with a torn ACL. The Wildcats would go 4-5 the rest of the way.

It kept getting worse as Kentucky dropped a jaw-dropping 64-48 loss to Vanderbilt in the opening round of the SEC Tournament and punching their express ticket to the NIT.

Here’s some footage of the atrocity, if you can stomach to watch it.

As usual, Cal speaks to reflect on the season that could have been with pre-season hype that turned into a debacle.

"“They’ll say, ‘Well, maybe you can’t do it with young guys.’ And I come back to: We did it last year, won a national title with young players. But that’ll be out there. So we’ll have something to prove,” he said. “If there’s any doubters, have at it. You can doubt all you want. This program’s in great shape.”"

There were many behind the scene questions, mysteries, and speculation that will be better off left tucked away in the hallows of memories long forgotten.