Kentucky had way too many mistakes, including this turnover by Olivier Sarr, in the loss to Alabama. (Vicky Graff Photo)
I don’t know about you but I hear a lot of this type speech these days — “that’s on me,” “my bad,” “I’ll have to do better next time” — or variations of those same comments all the time. We seem to live in a society now where accountability and correcting problems through effort and extra work has gone out the window.
We saw it again in UK’s massive blowout loss to Alabama. Phrases like this quote from Devin Askew, Kentucky’s point guard, after UK’s historic loss at Rupp Arena. Askew said, “I take a lot of this game on me. I put the game on me. I didn’t show up to play today to the best of my ability. I let my team down and I put this one on me. We just gotta come to play including myself. My mindset wasn’t that, it just didn’t click for us today and that’s on me. That’s on me.“
Or how about Coach John Calipari’s answer after the team lost to U of L earlier in the season to fall to 1-6. Calipari said to a question about why the team continued to lose games, “I would like to smack myself in the mouth. We should have played games up front that we had a chance to win. Four, five of them, then play four or five of the others. Not eight hard games and we still got Texas left, who is like 10th in the country,” Calipari said, “Think about it. Now am I doing that to me or to these kids? It was to these kids. It was just dumb. But we’re in it with all these teams, and we’re good enough to beat them. We haven’t figured out how to finish off a game yet. That’s on me. I’ll keep working with them. Maybe we’ll look at that as an opportunity and go from there.”
There it is again. “That’s on me.: So what does that mean? Sounds like it means we should have played an easier schedule so we could win. It sure doesn’t seem to mean, “I am accountable and these players are accountable and we have decided to quit playing for ourselves and our own egos and instead will put in extra work in our off-hours to ensure that we start winning games, no matter who the opponent is.”
It also doesn’t seem to mean, “I will be open to look at different ways that we play offense and defense to put our team in the best position to win. It doesn’t matter if it doesn’t prepare these kids to be the best version of themselves they can be and it doesn’t matter if it doesn’t prepare them for the NBA. What matters is that this team starts playing as a team and we start winning games. That’s my job as the coach and the job of each player as a member of this team.”
Now, I know, it’s a lot easier as a coach to say, “That’s on me,” and get up and walk out of the room. It’s a lot easier to think as a player, “Why should I do all those things when I’m going to the NBA at the end of the season anyway?” And the results of the “That’s on me” thinking are pretty evident in this UK basketball team’s current record.
When a team is halfway through its season and the players cannot stop their opponent from driving past them to the basket it’s obvious that the teacher hasn’t taught and the students haven’t learned. Or maybe it’s more of something like what Calipari said after the Alabama loss.
“We were late to everything. We were backing away from players ,… They’re afraid. I’m going to get beat on the dribble and look bad, I’ll back away, give them a 3,” Calipari said.
In other words, “I’m not prepared properly to be able to do this and I don’t want to be embarrassed by getting beat off the dribble so I’ll just play halfway. We may lose but at least I won’t look like I can’t stop my man from driving.” That’s the world that this team seems to live in, take the easy way out. It’s a “player’s first, it’s all about me” mentality.
I think West Virginia coach Bob Huggins echoes this same thinking when discussing the transfer of his star center Oscar Tshwiebe to UK next season. Huggins said, “I think it’s the world we live in. It’s better to steal than it is to work and earn things. It’s take the easy way out.”
In other words use the “That’s on me” statement and then walk away and do nothing to correct the deficiencies. No changes, no extra work and certainly no one paying the price by maybe losing some playing time on the floor.
As Huggins said earlier, “it’s the world we live in”. At least it’s the world UK basketball lives in right now and it’s not a pretty one. But if you don’t like it, that’s OK. “That’s on me.” Hope that makes you feel better.
— Keith Peel, Contributing Writer
