Bryce Hopkins' transfer is one crash UK basketball has had to endure recently. (Photo by Vicky Graff)
It has been weeks and I still am not over watching that Peacock shake its tail feathers in Indianapolis. It had no one to celebrate with. There were only a handful (literally) of fans. No cheerleaders, no band. The peacock alone at center court dancing. The image is engraved and will not vanish. The anger still exists.
The only comparison I can articulate is the movie “Speed.” The bus is loose. It is going to hit objects along the way. There are minor crashes (guardrails, lights, parked cars). However, one knows that if the bomb is not defused there will be a huge crash at the end. Minute by minute, hour by hour there are possibilities that bumps will occur. This is the state of Kentucky basketball right now. Minor crashes along the way and everyone bracing for the big explosion, unless of course it is defused .
CRASH #1: Mitch Barnhart writes letter to fans apologizing for the state of the program. Yes, Kentucky’s athletic director called Coach Cal out for the job he has done the past few years. This is not normal from Barnhart.
CRASH #2: Dontaie Allen transferring came as no surprise. It was expected. Refusing to go into a game is never a good look. The relationship of Cal and Allen was always in question. Cal never gave him a chance according to some but was Allen willing to put in the work? We can only speculate on the answers.
CRASH #3: Bryce Hopkins enters the transfer portal. This was not unexpected. Fans will not soon forget Cal’s quote after the LSU game, “He has made me have to play him more.” That equaled seven minutes for the rest of the season. Hopefully Hopkins will land with a team whose coach’s words can be taken seriously.
CRASH #4: Keion Brooks tests NBA waters. Most were under the impression Brooks would not return for his senior year. Although he hasn’t hired an agent it is likely he will not be in the Kentucky blue and white next year.
CRASH #5: Where there’s smoke there is fire. Rumors of the possibility of assistant coach Jai Lucas joining Duke’s coaching staff have been flying around this past week. Not a total crash yet but just the thought that it could happen is enough to cause concern.
There will be more crashes in the upcoming weeks (Shaedon Sharpe). However the big one is looming in the distance. The destruction of this one is not known. How will it be defused or can it be defused is the question. The answer of getting rid of Cal is not realistic unless everyone in the state of Kentucky chips in money for the $52 million payout.
It’s hard to get rid of the anger and frustration. Following recruiting is not enjoyable when Duke is getting 75 percent of the players Kentucky offers, I won’t even mention the possibility of DJ Wagner to Louisville.
This summer will be defused . Let’s just hope Keanu Reeves gets that bomb defused before the destruction is irreparable.
10 Responses
All of this unrest and Calipari couldn’t care less. He still gets his $9 million each year plus what he gets from his under the table deal with his draft picks, and if Barnhart did grow a pair, he walks away with $52 million. Look for Rupp Arena to be half empty or worse next season…that will get the national talking heads talking. Calipari’s next surprise will be Brooks staying in the draft or entering the transfer portal. If Oscar cares about his NBA career, he will enter the draft and that will leave us with a .500 team at best next season. Calipari will continue to blame the players and blame BBN for expecting too much and he will continue to crow about how many kids he got into the NBA. It will be years, if ever, before we catch and pass Kansas and North Carolina for most wins, and look for Duke to pass us in national titles won in the next 15 years. I will be watching more Cardinal and Hilltopper games next season and will never step inside Rupp Arena again until Calpari is gone.
Rupp Arena will be a better place without you. But plz stay gone
whodat you on here spewing your garbage, trying to stir up crap. You being a krooksheski Puke fan. Puke will NEVER catch the Cats in titles. You wish Kentucky would fade away. It’s NOT gonna happen. Puke is going to fade away. The rest of you Cal bashers are off the Wildcat Train. You can’t get back on as long as he’s here. It’s going to be a longgggggg lonely wait.
I "WISH" Kentucky would fade away??? A 9 – 16 season followed by a loss in the SEC tourney and a first round loss to a number 15 seed in the Big Dance…Jim, I realize that may be a lot for you to comprehend with your 3rd grade education, but that is the definition of a complete disappearing act. It’s all of the Calipari lovers like you that has allowed this to happen to the program that USED TO BE the winningest program in NCAA men’s basketball. If Oscar stays, we will still be a double digit loss team next season; if he leaves, we won’t make the .500 mark. That sounds like a disappearing act to MOST of BBN. Tubby Smith was run out of town for having consecutive double digit loss seasons, but he NEVER had a LOSING season. What makes Calipari immune to such dismal performances? Oh, that’s right… HE IS WHITE!!! And to think the country accused Rupp of being racist! The University itself is wearing that designation now and redneck SOBs like you seem to be proud of it. YES I am a Calipari HATER and YES I think it’s TIME FOR HIM TO GO! He has embarrassed the University of KY and BBN long enough as have people like you.
😭😭😭😭😭
Ms Cox’s article pretty much hit all the low spots and fine points as it relates to the state of UK basketball under Coach Cal, at this point in time anyway. So, I am personally declaring UK is now officially a football school, and why not, UK is a member of the SEC, one step below the NFL. By the way, football in the SEC rules! Many of us UK football diehards who have suffered through years of frustration and second fiddle status, for the sport we love, have waited a long time for the sound of that sentence to ring as true as it does right now.
Basketball, with Mr. NBA at the helm, has suddenly lost a lot of it’s luster and promise. However, there is always next year and a new roster full of NBA hopefuls that can see the basketball stars, quite possibly, rise from the ashes and right the ship with a vengeance, saving Coach from unemployment. Still it is hard for some of us simple minded fans to understand how a UK basketball team who beat, convincingly, two teams in the championship game, and annihilate the crowned national champion in Lawrence Kansas, can just flame out in the first round of the NCAA tourney to a team like Saint Peters. However, I watched that game, and UK was plain out coached. We had the best talent hand over fist. Can’t call it any other way BBN.
UK football is getting good press right now. I love it. Basketball is taking incoming fire, so sad, and many fans leaving the bandwagon of the once "gold standard." Ms Cox is right about this sad tale. I hope better days are ahead for old round ball, I really do.
Tina got on a roll but expressed what lot of average fans feel I think
Larry, you have said before that you think Calipari isn’t going anywhere and you are probably right about that. Surely, the man has to be aware of all of the criticism about the way he coaches. Do you think he will change the way he runs the program?
I think he is who he is
WOW.
So now if you are a supporter of the Basketball program and are not wanting Cal’s head on a spike you are a SOB with a 3rd grade education. I was raised to believe that resorting to name calling was the sign of low intelligence. Mom and dad were obviously correct on that one.
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