The Kentucky Wildcats had another tough March Madness as they made another early exit from the NCAA Tournament. They fell to Oakland on Thursday 80 – 76, their second first round exit in the last three years.
The Wildcats haven’t made it past the second round in five years, and only have one NCAA Tournament win in that time. Kentucky fans have begun to turn on coach John Calipari, and calls for his job have become very loud.
The buyout of his contract is exorbitant, and unlikely to take place this season, so he’ll probably be back. Some fans might be upset by that, but he can do some things that will turn things around, if he’s willing to make changes to his philosophies.
Looking at this year’s tournament field, the best teams are the ones that don’t have a lot of Freshmen playing big minutes. North Carolina has just one Freshman starting. Houston had minimal play from Freshmen in their tournament game. Connecticut has one starting. Tennessee is dominated by Seniors. And the list goes on.
Calipari is very proud of the fact that Kentucky places a lot of players in the NBA. It’s certainly an achievement to take pride in. However, in today’s college basketball world, it doesn’t win championships.
If Coach Cal wants to bring Final Four appearances back to Big Blue Nation, he has to adapt. He will need to keep players around, and will need to use the transfer portal to bring in players with experience who can help them win games.
On Thursday night, it was painfully obvious that the Kentucky Freshmen just weren’t ready for the moment. Antonio Reeves and Tre Mitchell, who are the veterans, played well, but the young players struggled.
College basketball has changed with NIL, and if Calipari wants to win in March, he needs to change with it. If he can’t, then Kentucky fans will be calling for his job again very soon.