The Stage Is Set At Kentucky
If you live inside the borders of the state of Kentucky, odds are you think the sun rises and sets on Kentucky basketball. If you don’t, you likely have a more jaundiced view of the program. Like us, for example.
As John Calipari kicks off his tenure in Lexington, he has clearly figured out what Kentucky fans want to hear. From a warm-up video: envy our past. Fear our future. From Calipari himself: "It’s a vision where we are the gold standard, not just for college basketball but for all college athletics."
That’s the way Kentucky fans have always seen themselves. The reality has always been different. Kentucky got a de facto Death Penalty in 1951 for point shaving.
Kentucky was widely seen as corrupt during the Joe B. Hall era and very nearly got another Death Penalty under Eddie Sutton.
Rick Pitino ran a clean ship, as did Tubby Smith, but when the wins slowed down, he left under immense pressure, and Kentucky turned to Billy Gillispie. We all know how that turned out.
Now they have Calipari, a charismatic man and solid coach. Yet he is the only coach to have two Final Fours vacated, and left Memphis in a mess, with an entire season wiped out and taking most of his rcruiting class with him when he left to boot.
We don’t doubt the passion for Kentucky basketball, but there’s a certain arrogance there, a certain desperation to believe that they are better than anyone else, and being a political animal to an extent, Calipari is feeding the beast. Whether he bites it or it bites him first will be fun to observe.
A program that has decades of cheating and corruption, by definition, cannot be a standard of anything other than winning at all costs. That’s what the hiring of Calipari signifies, and that means that it’s basically not a question of if but when things blow up.
And while Calipari is happy to feed the beast, he also understands that he needs to temper expectations. He says he’d take talent over experience every time, and that’s understandable. But Kentucky has some issues to deal with, not least of all youth. Great talent makes a big difference, but it’s really hard to win with very young players. It’s also really hard to merge two teams, which is what he’s going to have to do: the players who are left, with a couple of exceptions, notably Patrick Patterson, are going to be displaced by the freshmen. A new system will replace an old one.
And by the way, fans are already expecting a national title. Now.
Aware of all this, Calipari, after a weak defense shown in scrimmage said "Folks, I hope you’re enjoying this, but do you see how far we have to go? All right, just so everybody understands it."
Well, no, they don’t. The bar has been set to the highest possible setting, and if Calipari can’t manage his personnel and overcome inexperience, he’ll be a failure. And the pressure on everyone is going to be immense.
He said during the Midnight Madness festivities that "[y]ou all have made us feel like we’ve been in the Commonwealth forever."
Actually, that feeling will arrive when adversity does.
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