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Tag Archives: Calipari
John Calipari, a crucial NCAA tournament and the pressures of Kentucky basketball – ESPN
- John Calipari, a crucial NCAA tournament and the pressures of Kentucky basketball ESPN
- How far will Kentucky go in the NCAA Tournament? Experts give us their predictions. Lexington Herald Leader
- NCAA Tournament 2023: John Calipari explains Kentucky’s ‘underdog’ role entering March Madness bracket 247Sports
- Looking at 2024 5-star Karter Knox’s recruitment to the Louisville basketball program Big Red Louie
- Saint Peter’s flashbacks linger as Kentucky basketball begins NCAA Tournament play Lexington Herald Leader
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Heat on John Calipari ratchets up as Kentucky’s 28-game home winning streak snapped by South Carolina
Kentucky’s season went from on the brink to off the rails on Tuesday as the 19.5-point favorite Wildcats fell at home in a stunner to unranked South Carolina 71-68. The loss snapped Kentucky’s 28-game home winning streak at Rupp Arena that was the longest running streak in the SEC and dropped the Wildcats to 1-3 in conference play for the first time since the 1986-87 season. The disastrous loss comes only days after falling by 26 points to Alabama — its largest margin of defeat in the century-long series against the Crimson Tide — on Saturday.
The Wildcats have struggled at various points throughout the season, either on offense or defense, but Tuesday against the Gamecocks was a combination of everything going wrong at all times. South Carolina scorched the nets from 3, smashed on the offensive boards and raked in 21 second-chance points in a wire-to-wire win in front of the UK faithful. And each time the Wildcats were on the prowl lurking to make things tight, South Carolina seemed to have an answer all the way to the end.
South Carolina got 26 big ones from Meechie Johnson — a new career-high — in an out-of-his-mind scoring performance on the road to pull off the upset. Johnson hit six of his 10 3-point attempts, including an absurd stepback from deep range late in the second half and another from close to the logo to cushion the lead as UK was pushing to make it closer. Star freshman GG Jackson also added two 3s on two attempts and contributed 16 points on 6-of-10 shooting.
South Carolina was as scorching hot as Kentucky was ice cold in yet another flat performance from the Wildcats. Even with reigning Player of the Year Oscar Tshiebwe, UK got worked on the boards and the offensive glass, and got no help from the offensive side of things to even out the scales. The team took only 10 3s and made three, a confounding strategy by a team that statistically rates as one of the best 3-point shooting teams of the Calipari era.
Compounding matters, freshman star Cason Wallace, the team’s best 3-point shooter by percentage, left midway through the game with an injury and did not return.
Here are three takeaways from the game.
1. Pressure on Calipari intensifies
John Calipari denied reports this week that Texas officials had contacted him about its head coaching vacancy after firing Chris Beard. But that was about as fortuitous a distraction as possible for the Hall of Fame coach. After falling to No. 15 seed Saint Peter’s in the NCAA Tournament, Big Blue Nation has been Big Mad Nation aimed at Calipari, and the 10-6 start to 2022-23 — despite opening the season as a top-five team — has only intensified the pressure on him. It’d be one thing if the talent wasn’t there, but this roster has plenty of pieces. The effort, though, seems to wax and wane intermittently and the system — the spacing, the pacing, the 3-point attempts — seem to be off, too. It’s never good when your own fanbase is making signs for you to leave. (And even worse when your school officials have to go full New York Knicks to defend the coach by booting a fan out of the arena.)
2. Kentucky’s foul shooting struggles continue
After hitting seven of its 14 attempts vs. South Carolina, Kentucky is now hitting on a woeful 65.6% from the charity stripe on the season — a mark that ranks third-worst in the SEC and near the 300 mark nationally (out of 363 Division I teams). Four of Kentucky’s six losses on the season have been by double figures, so it’s not the singular thing that’s keeping it from winning, but make no mistake: it is a massive problem. On Tuesday, it was quite literally the difference between a win and another painstaking loss.
3. What’s next for Kentucky?
The CBS Sports college basketball staff went on record earlier Tuesday to game out how the rest of Kentucky’s season would unfold, and I was the high guy of the bunch. Then they turned around and lost to arguably the least-talented team in the SEC at home. So what’s next for Kentucky? There’s no reprieve in sight. Saturday is a road matchup against Tennessee and its elite defense that’s likely to make this UK system look even more broken.
There’s room to be optimistic here that Kentucky can turn things around, but there’s no real basis on which you can lay that belief. It’s just simply that … things can’t get much worse. This is a top-three roster by talent in the SEC. It has no business fumbling games away at home to South Carolina as a 19.5-point favorite. Surely things will get better. They’re almost certain to get better. But whether that’s a turn towards the path of a tourney bid remains up for debate, and things seem much more grim Tuesday night than they did even a few days ago.
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Kentucky Wildcats coach John Calipari shares photo of coal miner who rushed from work for son’s first game — and invites the family to Lexington for a game
CNN
—
A Kentucky coal miner who rushed straight from work to take his family to a University of Kentucky Wildcats practice game is on the shortlist for father of the year and earned praise from legendary coach John Calipari, who shared a picture of him and expressed admiration for his hard work and dedication to his son.
The photo, which has now gone viral, shows Michael McGuire and his son sitting in the stands at Saturday’s Blue-White Game scrimmage that was played in Pikeville, in Eastern Kentucky.
McGuire is still wearing his work uniform and heavy boots and his face and arms are covered in black coal dust.
Kentucky fan Sue Kinneer took the photo and posted it on several Wildcats fan pages on Facebook in hopes that someone from the coach’s staff would see it and send the little boy an autograph.
The plan worked better than she hoped and Calipari shared the photo on social media.
“My family’s American dream started in a Clarksburg, WV coal mine, so this picture hits home. From what I’ve been told, after his shift, he raced to be with his son & watch our team. Don’t know who this is, but I have tickets for him & his family at Rupp to be treated as VIPs!!,” Calipari tweeted. (The Rupp Arena is the home of the University of Kentucky basketball team.)
McGuire had not yet been identified at that point, but Kentucky fans quickly found him and connected the coach with the family.
McGuire told CNN affiliate WKYT that he was at work underground while all this was happening and had no idea any of it was going on.
“When I got out and got service on my way home, it went crazy … I couldn’t believe that it was real,” he told WKYT.
McGuire told the station that he only had about 45 minutes to get to the game when he got off work on Saturday and he didn’t want to miss his son Easton’s first basketball experience.
“It was either go straight there, or miss half the game to go home and take a shower and everything,” he told the affiliate.
He said Easton had a great time and they are now looking forward to going to a home game at Rupp Arena in Lexington.
“He had a blast. He was dancing and every time they would slam dunk it, he would go crazy,” McGuire told WKYT.
And McGuire, a lifetime Kentucky fan, got to talk with Calipari on Monday night.
“It was awesome, he was really down to earth,” McGuire told WKYT.
Calipari told reporters on Tuesday that he talked to McGuire’s wife, Mollie, first because her husband was still at work.
“And Mollie’s comment to me is, ‘My husband is humble. He’s hard-working. This is hard work, but he makes enough being there that I don’t have to work. And he’s a great father. He’s done this many times,” Calipari said.
The coach said he hopes McGuire will be a lesson for his players.
“I talked to my guys about it. It’s just a great lesson, and I showed ‘em the picture yesterday of Michael and his son, and I talked about hard, backbreaking work that’s honorable work, but that he makes time for his son, even when he knew he couldn’t shower. It didn’t matter what he looked like, he just wanted to be with his son,” Calipari said.
The McGuires haven’t decided which game they will go to, but Calipari said that hotels, restaurants and other local businesses are tripping over themselves to do something nice for them when they come to town.
“Isn’t it neat for someone like that, who is a quiet, humble guy to know people appreciate you, and we appreciate what you stand for,” Calipari told reporters. “And I appreciate it because it’s how my family got their start in this country.”
Kentucky held the Blue-White Game in Pikeville to raise money for Eastern Kentucky flood relief.
John Calipari still working to bring Shaedon Sharpe back to Kentucky after draft declaration
Kentucky coach John Calipari says that Shaedon Sharpe has not made a final decision on his playing future and that he is continuing to discuss with the wing player’s family whether Sharpe will stay in the NBA draft or play for the Wildcats next season.
“All I can tell you is he may do this, but it is not done,” Calipari said Friday on SportsTalk with Dan Issel, a Kentucky basketball legend, and Mike Pratt on ESPN 680 in Louisville.
Calipari added: “Nothing has changed in the last two months about how we’re going about this. I’m talking to his mother and father, and we’re talking once a week. I’m not overbearing with the stuff, but they will play a part in this.”
Sharpe announced on social media Thursday that he was entering the NBA draft but maintaining his college eligibility. But sources told ESPN’s Jeff Borzello that Sharpe, the No. 6 NBA prospect by ESPN’s rankings, would stay in the draft.
Sharpe, who arrived at Kentucky as a five-star recruit and enrolled for the spring semester, did not play for the Wildcats in 2021-22.
The 6-foot-6 Canadian wing — who was a No. 1 recruit in his class — graduated from high school in May, sources told ESPN’s Jonathan Givony, which would allow him to be eligible to enter this summer’s NBA draft.
“My path to this point wasn’t a straight road of successes but my passion for this game and my dream to play at the highest level has allowed me to overcome challenges and disappointments and has shaped me into who I am today,” Sharpe wrote in his Instagram post.
But Calipari said that Sharpe, who has enrolled for summer and fall classes at Kentucky, has moved his belongings into the basement of the team’s dormitory, which is what players usually do when they are planning to return.
“What changed is he was coming back,” Calipari said Friday. “That was the plan. But all of a sudden some circumstances changed and maybe he can be picked in those early, early picks. Maybe he can’t.”
Sharpe’s return would enhance the prospects of a team that will be led by Oscar Tshiebwe, the Wooden Award winner who announced this week that he would return to school. Although NIL money is widely believed to be a factor in Tshiebwe’s decision, he can also become the second player to win the Wooden Award twice. (Ralph Sampson won it in 1982 and 1983.)
Kentucky lost to Saint Peter’s in the first round of this year’s NCAA tournament, one of the greatest upsets in college basketball history. Saint Peter’s made it all the way to the Elite Eight before losing to North Carolina.
Despite the backlash he has faced since suffering that loss, Calipari said he has already put that game behind him.
“I’ve moved on from that game,” Calipari said. “Did I grieve? What? Did I take it hard? What? I’ve never had a team do that in my career. We’ve never been in that where we lost to a double[-digit] seed, but I’m done with it. It’s next. How do we win next year? Winning championships. That’s the only thing we put on this wall in here.”
Calipari hints at potential Texas A&M postponement, three-game slate during final week
Photo by Randy Sartin-USA TODAY Sports
Photo by Randy Sartin-USA TODAY Sports
Now sitting on a three-game winning streak after beating the Tennessee Volunteers in Knoxville, the Kentucky Wildcats have built up some momentum down the stretch leading up to the SEC Tournament. They’re still just 8-13 on the year, but with three more games on the official regular season schedule, along with the possibility of “a couple games” being added the final week of the season, they could put together a fairly solid winning streak before making a run in Nashville.
“They’re in a pretty good position, but now, you’ve got to finish,” UK head coach John Calipari said during his postgame radio show. “You’ve got to play the next game, and you’ve got to play well or you get beat.”
As of today, Kentucky’s next game is currently scheduled for this Tuesday against Texas A&M at Rupp Arena, though the Aggies just postponed their sixth consecutive game, with five delays coming as a result of positive COVID-19 test results, contact tracing and subsequent quarantining of individuals within the program.
With the program still on pause, it’s not clear if A&M will be cleared in time to make a trip to Lexington in just three days. And judging by Calipari’s comments after the game, there doesn’t appear to be much optimism on Kentucky’s side of things that they will.
When asked about the possibility of adding new opponents to the schedule as he discussed Friday morning, Calipari backed away from those comments just a touch, adding that UK may just play three SEC games the final week of the season.
“Yeah (we could add new games), but the gauntlet that these kids have just been through, I’m not sure we don’t take a couple days and catch our breath,” Calipari said. “Then try to play both A&M and South Carolina both that last week where we get three games. Play at Mississippi, then two home games before our conference tournament. That’s what I’d like to do. These kids need a breath, come on. They’ve been through a gauntlet.”
With this proposal, Kentucky would not play until Saturday when the Wildcats take on the Florida Gators at Rupp Arena, followed by the team’s trip to Oxford, MS for a battle with Ole Miss on Tuesday, March 2. Then, according to Calipari’s suggestion, UK would fit in the Texas A&M and South Carolina make-up games between March 3-7, giving Kentucky four more games on the schedule.
And then from there, UK would head to Nashville the following week for the SEC Tournament, hopefully staying from March 10-14 and coming home with a conference championship trophy.
Would fans prefer a week off before two straight weeks of chaos?