Articles by Category
In a disappointing season that seemed to deliver one disaster after another, the ending is equally embarrassing as UK loses to Robert Morris 59-57 in the first round of the NIT. I am not going to do the normal grades tonight because with the exception of Polson and Goodwin this team quit tonight. The team gets a grade of F and Polson and Goodwin combined get an A for showing something the rest of the team could not discover all season: Heart.
This team was not a vintage UK team and had some built in deficiencies such as its lack of perimeter shooting and inside scoring ability. However, those deficiencies did not cause the season to collapse the way that it did. For the first time in the Calipari era, UK put a team on the floor that seemed to care more about the NBA and their own games rather than winning. There were some moments where this team seemed to grasp what it took to win, check out the Missouri and Florida games. But, there were many more games when the team got punched in the mouth early and slumped back into their corner because they lacked the pride, fire and guts to fight back.
I have been critical of this team over the course of the season so I don’t feel the need to hash through it again. The most interesting part of the off-season for me – aside from the Randle decision – is who will be back in a UK uniform next season. There will more than likely be a transfer and a few going to the NBA (prematurely) and there is a huge class coming in next year. For the players that do come back, I have a feeling that Calipari will have a long talk about what is on the inside of the guys before he will let them come back next year. If you watched UK at all towards the end of the year it was obvious how defeated Calipari looked. His comments about some of the players being “not real coachable” was no doubt an inadvertent, but accurate, slip of the tongue. There will likely be some convincing of Calipari by some of the players to be able to play for UK again next year.
From Harrow’s mysterious “illness” to Noel’s injury to the first round loss to Robert Morris in the NIT in essentially a high school gym, this has been Calipari’s most bizarre season thus far at UK. Most assume next year’s team will be dynamite and I am in that camp as well. It is going to be a long and painful off-season in the Bluegrass that will no doubt be full of interesting twists and turns.
KSR Twitter Feed
vBulletin Message