The Kentucky Wildcats weren’t supposed to go out this early.
A team with multiple players who will be NBA-bound in June will always be considered favorites to make a deep run in the tournament. Moreover, John Calipari built his reputation as an elite coach who helps players get ready for the NBA while also playing a winning brand of basketball.
However, all of these illusions were crushed after the team suffered another early exit, this time at the hands of the Oakland Golden Grizzlies. The fact that they could not stop Jack Gohlke from doing whatever he wanted from deep will haunt the players and fans for years to come.
This defeat also questions the efficacy of Calipari’s system. The loss was so severe that the long-time head coach even admitted that there must be something off with how he’s running the Wildcats recently.
Kentucky Wildcats HC John Calipari admits that changes must be made after embarrassing loss
The press immediately hounded Calipari with questions on why his team failed to make it past the first round for the second time in three years. While multiple factors contributed to this defeat, Calipari openly admitted that he’s already looking forward and is rethinking his strategy when it comes to building his teams.
“I’ll look at other ways that we can do stuff, but, you know, there’s this thing here, it’s a different animal,” Calipari said, via ESPN’s Brooke Pryor. “We’ve been able to help so many kids and win so many games and Final Fours, national titles, and all this stuff, win league championships with young guys.”
The fact he acknowledged the young roster he built added more problems than solutions to their postseason struggles is huge for a coach who prided himself in producing NBA-ready one-and-done talent.
This season, there were eight freshmen on the roster. Reed Sheppard was the only rookie who was a solid contributor out of all the young guns he brought over, which bit them terribly when it came to big-game moments as they had to rely on seniors Antonio Reeves and Tre Mitchell to get things done.
It will be a tough rebuild for the Wildcats before the 2024-25 season begins, and we may not even be sure if he’s still holding his job by then after this debacle he’s found himself in.
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