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Your grandmother’s sister’s brother-in-law’s son knows how terrible the Kentucky Wildcats have been to start their 2020-2021 season.
After winning their first game against Morehead State by a whopping score of 81-45, the Wildcats are a shocking 0-6 since then.
They’ve lost to the likes of Richmond, Kansas, Georgia Tech, Notre Dame, North Carolina and Louisville. While a few of these schools have faired pretty well this season, there’s absolutely no excuse for Kentucky to come up winless against these teams.
The team’s most recent loss came on Saturday against the Louisville Cardinals, being edged out in a final score of 62-59. After his team missed back-to-back baskets that would have at least extended the game, Kentucky head coach John Calipari found himself talking about the team’s schedule after the loss.
Calipari said that this is the stupidest schedule he’s ever put together.
“You have to play games you can win to build confidence. This was the stupidest schedule I’ve ever put together, and I’d like to smack myself in the mouth,” Calipari said after the game. “Listen – we should’ve played games up front that we had a chance to win. Four, five of them, then play four or five of the others. Not eight hard games, and we still have Texas left, who’s like tenth in the country. Think about it. Now, am I doing that to me or to these kids? It was to these kids. It was just dumb.”
Usually, opponents that have to play the Wildcats are complaining about the high-level of talent they have to face or what a recruiting edge Calipari has at Kentucky. Instead, the Wildcats head coach is complaining about having to play the teams he scheduled.
Calipari has been more than successful at Kentucky. He’s brought the program a national championship banner and multiple Final Four appearances. He’s out-done every coach in the country since coming to Lexington.
But this can’t be defended. This is a blatant excuse for not playing up to par. Calipari chooses to ride the one-and-done train instead of recruiting players who would like to stay at the university for multiple years and encourage a long development. He chooses to suit up multiple new faces every year and go into a season without hardly any continuity.
Calipari has been this way for over a decade now. It’s brought the Kentucky program a ton of success and memories to cherish. But not this year. This year the Wildcats are off to their worst start in over a century. And it’s not because of their schedule. It’s because the players have little to no chemistry, and their head coach hasn’t lived up to expectations.
Can the Wildcats rebound? Absolutely.
However, their near future doesn’t look bright. As league play begins, their recent struggles give no indication that they’ll improve their play.
But as we’ve seen in the past, don’t ever count out John Calipari.