If John Calipari Could Do It Over Again (BTI's Rants and Ramblings)

The first six years of the John Calipari tenure could go down as the best stretch of basketball in school history. Not only the memorable games but the amazing talent that rolled through Lexington can not be matched. Obviously, the wins were tremendous, one national title and 4 Final Fours were accomplished, and dominance in the SEC was returned to Kentucky. But since 2016, the program has shifted in and out of relevance as conference foes have caught up, tremendous NCAA Tournament opportunities have slipped by, and recruiting has dipped from the first 6 years. It culminated in a losing season followed by the biggest NCAA Tournament upset in school history. It’s safe to say Cal’s tenure has not been at a lower point.

I’m not sure that he is this type of guy, willing to admit mistakes so easily, but I think there are three things that Coach Cal could/would/should have changed if he could have gone back and done it all again. And if these three things had changed, we’d all be much happier now, even with a St. Peters loss.

1. RECOGNIZING GOOD FORTUNE IN RECRUITING

Of all of the ways that people might think John Calipari has slipped in the past 5 to 7 years, to me, it all boils down to recruiting. Cal has brought in a significantly higher number of disappointing recruits than he did in the first half of his tenure. But maybe even more importantly, the star recruits of his classes have tended to underperform. Look at the star recruit in each of his first 6 years:

2010: John Wall
2011: Brandon Knight
2012: Anthony Davis
2013: Nerlens Noel
2014: Julius Randle
2015: Karl Anthony-Towns

Each of those guys was an absolute home run recruit for the program. You can not call a single guy on that list disappointing and that doesn’t even take into account the guys on the list like Demarcus Cousins, Eric Bledsoe, Terrence Jones, MKG, and on and on and on.

Now look at his top recruit (by Rivals.com ranking) since 2015:

2016: Skal Labissiere
2017: De’Aaron Fox
2018: Kevin Knox
2019: EJ Montgomery
2020: Tyrese Maxey
2021: BJ Boston
2022: TyTy Washington

The only home run recruit in that batch was Fox. Knox, Maxey, and Washington were all solid players for sure but nothing at the level as the recruits from 2010-2015. And then you had flops in Skal, Montgomery, and Boston. There were no flops in those first six years. So the recruiting dipped.

But my bigger point is that if Calipari could go back and do it again I think he would have framed the first six as a fortunate run of recruiting. The reality is that hitting that many home runs for that many years is unprecedented and required great fortune. Instead, Calipari framed it as “the gold standard.” What that did was set him up for great criticism due to his run in the last seven years. The reality is the recruiting successes and failures recently are more in line with what every program deals with. Instead, we hold those classes and players to an unfair standard. But we only do that because Cal said we should. I think framing those early classes as what they really were, incredibly blessed and lucky classes, would have saved him heartache now.

2. THE FINAL 6:35 OF THE 2015 FINAL FOUR AGAINST WISCONSIN

This is obviously the game that Calipari has to want back more than any. At the 6:35 mark of that game, Karl Towns scores a basket to put Kentucky up 60-56. The Cats then forced a miss from Wisconsin and their final offensive possessions went:

5:30 – Shot Clock Violation (UK 60, Wisky 56)
4:41 – Shot Clock Violation (UK 60, Wisky 56)
3:16- An. Harrison missed contested layup followed by shot clock violation (UK 60, Wisky 58)
2:02- An. Harrison missed floater with 3 on the shot clock (UK 60, Wisky 60)
1:25 – Lyles offensive foul (Wisky 63, UK 60)
0:56 – Aa. Harrison and one with 25 seconds on shot clock (Wisky 64, UK 63)
0:14 – Towns fouled, makes 1 of 2 (Wisky 66, UK 64)
0:07 – Aa. Harrison air ball (Wisky 68, UK 64)

Kentucky had three possessions with the lead and got a shot clock violation with all three. They had one possession with the game tied and had to force a shot at the end of the shot clock. And then when trailing they got aggressive and immediately got an and-one. Additionally, from the 5:30 mark until 14 seconds left, Karl Towns did not get a shot. Players have to make plays but it was clear that Calipari instructed taking the air out of the ball way too soon. And then when it was crunch time, Karl Towns did not get the ball. If Kentucky had simply continued to play the way that got them the lead, a 40-0 season was very likely and Cal’s legacy forever embedded. Two national titles. Greatest team in history. Everything that has come after would have been deadened.

3. THE WHOLE CALIPARI SCHTICK

There have always been the little sayings from John Calipari. Pooping ice cream. Gold standard. On and on and on. This isn’t something that he’s only done since 2016. But what John Calipari doesn’t seem to understand is the tolerance of the fans of these little quirks is connected to winning. But ultimately, what a lot of these things are doing is speaking down to fans. When John Calipari says during the 2012 season for people to not watch game film and break it down, he’s saying we don’t know basketball like him. It’s actually a bit of an insult (even if it’s true). But he went 38-2, so you can say that. But when you go 25-11 and make the same statement, fans will not react the same.

Point is, when things are going south and difficult seasons are occurring, the way you interact has to change. John Calipari has not been flexible enough on how he speaks to us. And while at many programs that doesn’t matter, at Kentucky it does. Fair or unfair, it is what it is.

Matt has talked about this often on the radio show but it seems that one of two things is occurring. Either John Calipari doesn’t have anybody in his world who is alerting him to this problem OR he is ignoring their advice. Either way, the schtick needs to be an absolute MINIMUM in 2022-23. Even if the season is going well, it doesn’t matter. All that matters next year is the NCAA Tournament finish. So the cockiness and quips and “funny” sayings need to take a one-year hiatus. And if he could have done it all over again, they would have taken a hiatus for several years around 2018.