John Calipari never quit believing in his team Tuesday even when it was 11 points down against Georgia. (Vicky Graff Photo)
Even when Kentucky lost to South Carolina, coach John Calipari said he still believed in his team.
Kentucky was back at Rupp Arena again Tuesday and once again it trailed Georgia by 11 points in the first half and was down 42-34 at intermission before dominating the second half to win by 14 points.
“I asked them at half, when are you going to believe me, how good we can be?” Calipari said on his postgame radio show. “You should believe more than I believe. I’m still telling you I believe in this team.”
He repeated that message to the players after the game.
“After the game, I said, ‘When are you going to start believing what I’m telling you, because I believe in these guys. I really do,’” Calipari said during his postgame press conference.
The Kentucky coach sort of had a similar message for fans who had reason to doubt the Cats after that home loss to South Carolina — team that lost 85-42 to Tennessee and 94-53 to Texas A&M in home games before and after its win in Rupp Arena
“I know some people jumped off the bandwagon (after the South Carolina loss). I know,” the UK coach said. “When you jump back on, you gotta jump in the very back and hold onto the rail.
“This team can do this if they choose to do it.”
Gotta jump in the very back? Because fans wondered how UK could lose at home to South Carolina and had failed to secure a Quadrant 1 win before beating Tennessee did not mean they were any less passionate about the Cats.
Then the team can “do this if they choose to do it.” Why would a team choose not to play well and win? Not sure I follow Calipari’s thinking on this one.
The players want to win. Make no mistake about that.
“This one feels good. Coming out of our last home game – it was a loss, coming back and getting the win. Had two tough games against Tennessee and Georgia. Just coming out with wins and stacking them up,” freshman guard Cason Wallace said.
“We were just ready to go fight again. We knew it was going to be another war and we’ve been talking about stacking wins and that’s what we’re doing right now.
12 Responses
His arrogance must not allow him to realize that no one controls the "mythical" band wagon. Never have and never will.
Everyone is allowed their own opinions and desires as who to cheer for and whom not to cheer for, when, where, and how to follow.
That’s true but he has more to do with the team then fair weather fans do. They are still complaining after the UT and UG wins. Some aren’t happy unless they can berate a bunch of young men and late teenagers. It’s sad as Ian Jackson said it was pitiful how some UK fans mouth off on kids
When did Jackson say that Danny. I did not see that
There are all kinds of fans. Fans who back their team no matter what. Fans that only like their team when it’s hot and kick them when their not. Fans that can’t handle loses. Fans that understand loses come with the territory. Some fans are adult about it. Some fans act like parents at a t-ball game when their kids losing.
Amen Jim!
How dare this man who cares not one whit for this program even think of such a thing? He needs to be thrown off the wagon.
Just Cal being Cal
I agree totally with this statement. Cal has been patronizing the knowledgeable members of the Big Blue Nation for years in an effort to deflect the criticism for his lack of regard for the program.
I’m a fan win or lose. I believe in the team and Coach Cal. I don’t understand the fair weather fans only fans when they win they aren’t true fans. Also these are young men are under so much pressure. There is so much expected when you play for Kentucky. As fans we should lift them up encourage them not put them done
Kind of the good and bad of UK basketball here Barbara
Ok, for the record, the complaint that most of BBN has goes back over 5 years and is not just about this team. Calipari is an arrogant ass. If it weren’t for Wheeler getting hurt, he never would have changed the lineup that made the difference in the past 2 wins. Calipari can still wreck this season by putting Wheeler back in the starting lineup and I think he is likely to do just that. We have a tough home game with A&M, a tough road game at Vandy, and then Kansas at Rupp. We could be looking at 3 more losses in a row if we don’t play great in each game. February could produce 4 more losses if the team takes a step back like so many of his teams do. Then we finish at Arkansas, so the Calipari lovers better not start crowing too soon. Calipari can be his own worst enemy when he gets swaggy. I would love to see us win out, but being realistic, we could easily end up with double digit losses. That’s why we play the games. This team can get redemption on the court if they don’t get Caliparied.
This program has been Caliparied for over a decade, and this will not be the first group of fine players that seems as if they don’t know what to do while on the court, and that confusion, indecision, and ineptness increase geometrically with the strength of the opponent.
It is not about whether Wheeler plays or not. It is about Calipari picking his favorites and if not on this "good" list, you get relegated to the end of the bench with promises that you really should be playing more, blah blah blah.
UK basketball has been successful over the decades because the program, the uniform meant something special to a huge majority of the players. Many of the players dreamed of wearing the UK blue and white their entire lives, and when their time arrived they gave extra effort that translated into success for their team and sustained success for the program.
Calipari and his string of NBA future millionaires are not concerned about the program. Win or Lose, they get what they chase. Losses are not even bumps in their road.
This needs to end so the program can be restored. The longer it takes to rid ourselves of this arrogance, the less likely it will become that the program will ever be restored.
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