UK basketball has lost its identity. The transition to a new one is proving rocky.
INDIANAPOLIS
The most regrettable thing about Kentucky’s stunning 85-79 overtime loss to No. 15 seed Saint Peter’s in Thursday’s NCAA Tournament round of 64 is that one of the most likable collection of UK players ever will now be remembered for the worst Big Dance defeat in Wildcats hoops history. “Talk about a pleasure to coach, this whole team. I’m sick right now for them,” a subdued Kentucky Coach John Calipari said in the Gainbridge Fieldhouse media area after the result that rocked college basketball. “I wish I’d had an answer or two. I just do.” By seed, East Region No. 2 UK’s defeat at the hands of Shaheen Holloway’s tough-minded Peacocks is the biggest upset ever suffered by a Kentucky men’s basketball team in the NCAA Tournament.
Off the hook are Joe B. Hall’s 1981-82 Cats, who, as a No. 6 seed, lost to No. 11 Middle Tennessee State in a 50-44 clunker; and Eddie Sutton’s 1985-86 Wildcats, who as a No. 1 seed, were beaten 59-57 by No. 11 LSU in the Elite Eight. Throughout the Calipari era, one thing had consistently protected Kentucky from the kind of shocking early NCAA upsets that have bedeviled other blue bloods (looking at you, Duke and Kansas).
Year after year, UK rosters stacked with players of unusual length and bouncy athleticism would create defenses that teams from conferences “down the food chain” could not surmount. From 2010 through 2019, UK faced 13 teams in the Dance from a conference other than the major ones (defined here as the football Power Five plus the Big East and the American Athletic Conference). Of those 13, only two shot above 40 percent against Kentucky. That is the biggest reason that UK, under Calipari, was 13-0 in such games until Thursday night — when Saint Peter’s shot 50.9 (29-for-57) from the field and 52.9 (9-for-17) on three-point tries. Simply put, the 2021-22 Wildcats did not have a DeAndre Liggins or a Michael Kidd-Gilchrist defending on the wings, nor did UK have an Anthony Davis or a Willie Cauley-Stein protecting the rim.
In fact, Saint Peter’s — whose starters went 6-foot, 6-3, 6-7, 6-7 and 6-8 — was taller or even with Kentucky’s starters at four of five positions. “They backdoored us, they beat us off the dribble, they came off of screens and hit threes,” Calipari said of the Peacocks. “You have to give Saint Peter’s credit.” Saint Peter’s guards Daryl Banks III (27 points) and Doug Edert (20 points) had nights to remember vs. Kentucky. Banks’ output was the sixth time in UK’s final nine games that an opposing guard scored 25 or more points on the Cats. After last season’s 9-16 UK basketball slog, many stakeholders in the Kentucky basketball universe wanted Calipari to bring in more veterans and more outside shooting. Calipari did just that.
Far from a team filled by one-and-done freshmen, the team that suffered UK’s most embarrassing NCAA tourney defeat ever played seven players for double-digit minutes — two super-seniors, four juniors and one freshman. In retrospect, the Kentucky team that looked so powerful in strafing Kansas 80-62 in Allen Fieldhouse on Jan. 29, never seemed the same after guards TyTy Washington (lower leg) and Sahvir Wheeler (hand) suffered injuries against Florida (Feb. 12) and Tennessee (Feb. 15), respectively. Calipari held both out of two full games, reasoning that Kentucky had no hope in March Madness if its two primary offensive creators were not healthy. In those two games, Grady was pressed into service at the point. He played 79 of a possible 80 minutes in wins over Alabama and LSU. However, it’s hard not to wonder if the physical toll of those two performances sabotaged Grady down the stretch. UK’s designated three-point marksman was 6-for-25 on three-point shots the rest of the season, including 0-for-5 vs. Tennessee in Kentucky’s SEC Tournament semifinals loss and 1-for-7 vs. Saint Peter’s.
Meanwhile, Wheeler and Washington didn’t seem the same after they returned. “We got injured and we never were entirely back,” Calipari lamented Thursday night. “So I may have been trying to coach a team I had a month ago. We had some guys who weren’t playing like they were a month ago.” Another shame of a Kentucky season that petered out in March is that Oscar Tshiebwe’s brilliant 2021-22 season yielded no team achievement. No SEC regular-season crown. No SEC Tournament championship. Not even one NCAA tourney win. Tshiebwe went down fighting vs. Saint Peter’s, scoring 30 points, grabbing 16 rebounds and recording two steals and two blocks. Asked what his plans are regarding turning pro or staying at UK, Tshiebwe quietly said, “I don’t know yet.”
If your disappointment is leading you to call for a Kentucky coaching change, it would cost UK some $44.025 million to remove Calipari without cause. So unless the coach himself decided to exit, UK can’t afford to change coaches. The best thing that can happen for UK is for Calipari to push Kentucky toward a new identity that combines some of the defensive prowess of the past with better shooting and greater experience. As we saw on a truly shocking night in Indianapolis, finding the happy medium in that transition is not as easy as it sounds.
This story was originally published March 18, 2022 12:50 AM.
https://www.kentucky.com/sports/spt-columns-blogs/mark-story/article259526589.html
INDIANAPOLIS
The most regrettable thing about Kentucky’s stunning 85-79 overtime loss to No. 15 seed Saint Peter’s in Thursday’s NCAA Tournament round of 64 is that one of the most likable collection of UK players ever will now be remembered for the worst Big Dance defeat in Wildcats hoops history. “Talk about a pleasure to coach, this whole team. I’m sick right now for them,” a subdued Kentucky Coach John Calipari said in the Gainbridge Fieldhouse media area after the result that rocked college basketball. “I wish I’d had an answer or two. I just do.” By seed, East Region No. 2 UK’s defeat at the hands of Shaheen Holloway’s tough-minded Peacocks is the biggest upset ever suffered by a Kentucky men’s basketball team in the NCAA Tournament.
Off the hook are Joe B. Hall’s 1981-82 Cats, who, as a No. 6 seed, lost to No. 11 Middle Tennessee State in a 50-44 clunker; and Eddie Sutton’s 1985-86 Wildcats, who as a No. 1 seed, were beaten 59-57 by No. 11 LSU in the Elite Eight. Throughout the Calipari era, one thing had consistently protected Kentucky from the kind of shocking early NCAA upsets that have bedeviled other blue bloods (looking at you, Duke and Kansas).
Year after year, UK rosters stacked with players of unusual length and bouncy athleticism would create defenses that teams from conferences “down the food chain” could not surmount. From 2010 through 2019, UK faced 13 teams in the Dance from a conference other than the major ones (defined here as the football Power Five plus the Big East and the American Athletic Conference). Of those 13, only two shot above 40 percent against Kentucky. That is the biggest reason that UK, under Calipari, was 13-0 in such games until Thursday night — when Saint Peter’s shot 50.9 (29-for-57) from the field and 52.9 (9-for-17) on three-point tries. Simply put, the 2021-22 Wildcats did not have a DeAndre Liggins or a Michael Kidd-Gilchrist defending on the wings, nor did UK have an Anthony Davis or a Willie Cauley-Stein protecting the rim.
In fact, Saint Peter’s — whose starters went 6-foot, 6-3, 6-7, 6-7 and 6-8 — was taller or even with Kentucky’s starters at four of five positions. “They backdoored us, they beat us off the dribble, they came off of screens and hit threes,” Calipari said of the Peacocks. “You have to give Saint Peter’s credit.” Saint Peter’s guards Daryl Banks III (27 points) and Doug Edert (20 points) had nights to remember vs. Kentucky. Banks’ output was the sixth time in UK’s final nine games that an opposing guard scored 25 or more points on the Cats. After last season’s 9-16 UK basketball slog, many stakeholders in the Kentucky basketball universe wanted Calipari to bring in more veterans and more outside shooting. Calipari did just that.
Far from a team filled by one-and-done freshmen, the team that suffered UK’s most embarrassing NCAA tourney defeat ever played seven players for double-digit minutes — two super-seniors, four juniors and one freshman. In retrospect, the Kentucky team that looked so powerful in strafing Kansas 80-62 in Allen Fieldhouse on Jan. 29, never seemed the same after guards TyTy Washington (lower leg) and Sahvir Wheeler (hand) suffered injuries against Florida (Feb. 12) and Tennessee (Feb. 15), respectively. Calipari held both out of two full games, reasoning that Kentucky had no hope in March Madness if its two primary offensive creators were not healthy. In those two games, Grady was pressed into service at the point. He played 79 of a possible 80 minutes in wins over Alabama and LSU. However, it’s hard not to wonder if the physical toll of those two performances sabotaged Grady down the stretch. UK’s designated three-point marksman was 6-for-25 on three-point shots the rest of the season, including 0-for-5 vs. Tennessee in Kentucky’s SEC Tournament semifinals loss and 1-for-7 vs. Saint Peter’s.
Meanwhile, Wheeler and Washington didn’t seem the same after they returned. “We got injured and we never were entirely back,” Calipari lamented Thursday night. “So I may have been trying to coach a team I had a month ago. We had some guys who weren’t playing like they were a month ago.” Another shame of a Kentucky season that petered out in March is that Oscar Tshiebwe’s brilliant 2021-22 season yielded no team achievement. No SEC regular-season crown. No SEC Tournament championship. Not even one NCAA tourney win. Tshiebwe went down fighting vs. Saint Peter’s, scoring 30 points, grabbing 16 rebounds and recording two steals and two blocks. Asked what his plans are regarding turning pro or staying at UK, Tshiebwe quietly said, “I don’t know yet.”
If your disappointment is leading you to call for a Kentucky coaching change, it would cost UK some $44.025 million to remove Calipari without cause. So unless the coach himself decided to exit, UK can’t afford to change coaches. The best thing that can happen for UK is for Calipari to push Kentucky toward a new identity that combines some of the defensive prowess of the past with better shooting and greater experience. As we saw on a truly shocking night in Indianapolis, finding the happy medium in that transition is not as easy as it sounds.
This story was originally published March 18, 2022 12:50 AM.
https://www.kentucky.com/sports/spt-columns-blogs/mark-story/article259526589.html
