John Calipari knows fans and players are hurting but he feels good about where program is going
Kentucky coach John Calipari knows what impact his team’s NCAA Tournament loss to No. 15 seed Saint Peter’s has had nationally but more importantly how it has impacted Big Blue Nation.
“The team is hurting, the staff is hurting, our fans are hurting,” Calipari said Monday night on his weekly radio show. “People are mad. I get it.
“Don’t attack these kids. Leave them alone. Attack me.”
Calipari knows “people are still angry” and admitted there was a time he was so angry he didn’t want to get out of bed.
However, the UK coach is now back at work. He has his entire staff with him Sunday at the New Jersey Tournament of Champion finals Sunday to watch DJ Wagner, the No.1 player in the 2023 recruiting class, and his teammate, 7-foot center Aaron Bradshaw, a top 25 player in the 2023 class. Calipari was also recruiting Monday and he to pre-record his radio show.
“I am feeling good about where we are going. It’s just hard to get by that last game,” Calipari said on his show. “Fans are mad but the players, me, and the coaches lived the season where we ended up fifth in the nation.
“Then to have it end the way it did. We are not happy. I am not trying to convince anybody upset not to be upset. I am just talking from the heart for me and these kids.”
He was also talking from the heart when he took exception to being asked about his team “regressing” at the end of the season.
“I don’t want to say regress. We had injuries. We never came back to be that team (they were before the injuries),” Calipari said. “Everything we were doing was trying to get back. We all thought when we got those guys (TyTy Washington and Sahvir Wheeler) back that we will be unbelievable. We held the fort down (without them).
“I have to really evaluate what happened the last four, five games. Defensively we went from 15th in the country to mid-30s. They looked anxious the last couple of games, really the last three. We never got to where we were. I don’t have all the answers yet.”
21 Responses
I love this team. I thought they’d cut the nets down. I feel bad for the players. We’ve had some interactions with most of the players and the assistant coaches this year and what a great group. I thank the Cats for a great year it was fun!
I think what makes it hurt even more is that this was such a good group of guys on and off the court
Larry we stopped by the dorm for the players on the way into town to watch the Florida game. They were getting into the vans to go eat and they got out to take pictures with my son.. Obviously they didn’t have to. And assistant coaches also mugged for the camera.. Just real Gentleman, all of them.
I can believe that Grant. This team was like that all year with fans
Calipari is making it clear that he has no intention of resigning. He is also clear in using any number of excuses that blame the players for his outdated, ineffective coaching performance. BBN is outraged over this and it is up to the University administration to do what is needed to put Kentucky basketball back on a forward moving track. This needs to be done by the end of the tournament. BBN is tired of Calipari’s shenanigans and excuses. He no longer represents the values of the University of Kentucky. It’s time for him to go.
He has not once blamed the players. Everyone knows your a fake. You’re just trying to cause division. The Cats can kick your teams A$$ anyday.
Jim, you need to go back and read the statements Calipari has made…oh, that’s the problem. You can’t read.
Cal, you’re head wasn’t in the game. That transfers to your players. I am proud of every one of them, and of the job you have done. But it was obvious that you just weren’t there. These poor guys were on their own
You are right! The entire sideline seemed blah. It was my first ever UK game and I expected charisma and then there was nothing. I was a little surprised. At times it seemed like a "let’s just get this over with" moment.
Was very lackadaisical a lot of the time
I have thought about this for a week, since the disappointment. I want to go back to TN game when we looked like crap, that goes back to the team out past curfew in the hotel, yes I know because there are Ky fans everywhere and they saw the players leave their rooms after the coaches checked on them. So if players didn’t care enough to get their rest if not for them but for the fans. Players are always thanking the fans but play like you are thanking the fans. It’s like the final game and even the TN game, nobody wanted to shoot the ball but poor Oscar gave the team 110% every single game. Wheeler tried to overcompensate for others that weren’t shooting until those last few possessions that instead of driving the lane he dribbled. Cal should have told the players to shoot like Grady and others, like when he told Oscar to pull down rebounds with 2 hands. Some players acted like they could have cared less. Hope it didn’t involve gambling point spreads.
I think what Coach needs to do now really is just shut up, the more he says now the worse he looks. Not many fans are blaming these players for the season’s screeching halt, what they needed from Calipari in tournament play, both SEC and NCAA is coaching, not yelling and screaming at players from the sidelines.
So Kansas, and soon UNC, being tied with UK for most wins and he says this program is headed in the right direction, hummm. Some fans are simply saying it might be time to consider a new coach with a group of hard nosed kids that want to play for UK for 3 four years, and win titles. Kids that will get in your grill and play tough in your face defense, i. e. Miami, Saint Peters, etc. etc. Many of these super stars Coach has recruited don’t hang around long enough to suit me, and when the chips are down can’t seem to "get er" done." So I suppose Coach’s plan is to sign a new group of super NBA hopefuls and start all over again next year. If that is the plan, UK is in good hands with Calipari. That said it don’t seem to be working as for as winning titles these days. I’m not mad at nobody but the devil.
This is all on Calipari. His pleadings to focus anger toward him and not the players is bogus because I have yet to read or hear a single fan comment about the players. It is all focused on Calipari, who is a fraud.
Get out of here Coach, and if not today, please by tomorrow morning.
I think we have another tubby Smith for a coach
Not so Joe. If Calipari was black, he would have been fired 2 years ago.
Triple C likes where the program is going because he keeps getting his 9 million plus each season.
After the 38-1 team lost to Wisconsin, which should have never happened, Kentucky has become known as an "also ran" team versus a contender. The teams that get national attention today are Gonzaga, Kansas, Duke, and Villanova. Baylor, Houston, UCLA, and Arizona are trending upward in the national spotlight. Kentucky’s days of being a legitimate contender for a national title were flushed down the toilet with last year’s 9 win team and this year’s failure to win the SEC regular season crown or the SEC tournament title to be followed by the humiliation at the hands of 15 seed St. Peters. Calipari no longer gets the best players for all the good that did him and he can’t coach up the honorable mention caliber players he does get. Getting Tsheibwe this season was the only reason this team wasn’t a single digit win team. In spite of the year that Oscar delivered, he could have been a 30/20 machine had he transferred to a school like Kansas or North Carolina. Calipari has a way of putting artificial limits on his players, i.e. Boogie Cousins, Bam Adebayo and Devin Booker to name a few, and messes with their heads to keep control of them. It’s time for him to move on to whatever and let Kentucky get back on the track of being the winningest program in the NCAA as well as catching and surpassing UCLA in national titles. Before that can happen, we have to re-establish ourselves as title contenders in our own conference. Now that Billy Clyde has sobered up, even he would be an upgrade to Calipari. Finding a replacement for Calipari may not have to go any further than a frank discussion with Shaneen Hollaway. The Peacocks are an 11 loss team, yet the way he has them playing together now would never shed light on that. Give Calipari his buyout and then begin the journey of restoring Kentucky back to its place of national prominence in the NCAA. Enough is enough! Besides, we don’t want to see Calipari throw his back out trying to drag his future teams across the finish line. This change should take place no later than April 15. It’s past time for this to be done.
BBN is not going to feel good about our basketball program until Calipari is GONE!
Speak for yourself.
I think Cal does talk to much..I tuned him out years ago.And contradicts himself quite a bit. " we’re young"" I like my team" :we’re doing high level stuff"..and my favorite to dislike " this place isn’t for everybody " .. No offense to Cal but you gotta quit saying that last one because right now UK is underwhelming, ordinary , and the R.O.R.is pretty poor.
He is a fraud.
This program has been in decline since the end of the 2015 season, and while this team kindled some hope for a contender, it was illusory and temporary.
Calipari has does not place the success of the UK program as his #1 priority even though that is his job.
The situation with this Sharpe kid is outrageous and insulting to the intelligence of many fans. Shame on Calipari for that entire situation.
Sharpe should have been shown the door in late January when it was clear to anyone with a brain what was happening, and Calipari must be held accountable for this outrage. Of course, he won’t be, which is even more outrageous than the Sharpe situation in the first place.
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