What does another early competition exit mean for John Calipari and Kentucky?

Last May, Kentucky coach John Calipari signedupwith me for an exclusive discussion for FOXSports.com.

In our individually, he opened up about the current drawbacks of his program and the Wildcats’ failure to get to the 2nd weekend of the NCAA Tournament, dating back to 2019. 

“We have to surface muchbetter,” the 15th-year head coach stated. “The last couple of years, we have not been able to go on that run that we anticipate to here. For us, it’s about the huge image and the gold requirement we understand we can accomplish. I have no objective of being anywhere however the head coach at Kentucky. This is where I desire to end my profession. I desire to leave a coupleof more notches in the belt. I desire it to be where it’s been.” 

Where this program is right now is a far cry from where he had it in the veryfirst years of his period. With an operating spendingplan of over $23 million, Kentucky suffered its 2nd first-round NCAA Tournament loss in 3 years on Thursday night, 80-76, to 13th-seeded Oakland University. The Wildcats enabled the Horizon League champ Golden Grizzlies to determine the method the videogame was played, and enabled Jack Gohlke to shoot 10-for-20 from 3 and provide 32 points in the distressed. This comes 2 years after Big Blue Nation was embarrassed by 15-seed Saint Peter’s in the veryfirst round. 

Two years ago, Calipari had the nationwide gamer of the year in Oscar Tshiebwe, who balanced 16.5 points and 13.7 rebounds per videogame. This season, he had the No. 1 recruiting class in the nation and 2 of the finest freshmen in the sport, with Reed Sheppard and Rob Dillingham. On Thursday night, that duo integrated to shoot 3-for-14 from the flooring. DJ Wagner, the country’s No. 6 hire, shot 0-for-5 and was scoreless. 

Kentucky has lost 4 of its last 5 NCAA Tournament videogames, and went one-and-done in both the Big Dance and the SEC Tournament, in which they enabled 97 points in a quarterfinal loss to Texas A&M. This program hasactually been a significant failure in March over the last 4 years, not to reference the 2020 NCAA Tournament was canceled due to COVID-19. For the Wildcats to have a six-year space in inbetween a genuine NCAA Tournament run is undesirable for a blue-blood brandname. 

It’s not news that freshman-heavy groups wear’t win in March, even to John Calipari, and that’s what has to make the individuals in Lexington boil over with disappointment. But the worst part? He didn’t take the blame following his group’s opening-round loss to Oakland, rather picking to go this path.

“I puton’t understand. You’d have to ask them,” Calipari stated when asked if he felt his gamers were tight. “I idea they were distressed, and when you’re distressed, you get actually tired actually quick. They’re not devices, and they requirement the experience of some of this things so when you’re in this environment you can do it, and I idea we went through every experience I might talk about.”

Simply put, Oakland’s collection of skilled Division II transfers, Gohlke and DQ Cole, along with senior Trey Townsend, were too much for the youth of the Cats. 

Calipari offered the verysame old tune and dance on Thursday night when talking about the future, raving about his No. 2-ranked recruiting class headlined by luxury inbound freshman Jayden Quaintance. 

“We have an astounding group coming in that I feel actually excellent about,” Calipari stated. 

That declaration falls on deaf ears duetothefactthat, at the end of the day, absolutelynothing about the plan is altering. 

“I’ve done this with young groups my entire profession, and it’s going to be difficult for me to modification that, duetothefactthat we’ve assisted so numerous young individuals and their households that I wear’t see myself simply stating, ‘OK, we’re not going to hire freshmen,'” Calipari stated. “I indicate, the thing that we’ve been blessed with is households bring their kids to us, and we do what we’re expected to do to assistance them prepare for the rest of their lives. But I’ve taken some older guys, and we’ve done it. 

“I like what we were doing offensively. How do we get harder? How do we get more physical? My groups defensively, in rebounding, have all been muchbetter than this, however we’ve neverever been like this offensively. I kind of like training the method I did this year. We’ve been able to aid so lotsof kids and win so lotsof videogames and Final Fours, nationwide titles and all this things, win league champions with young guys. It’s altered on us. All of a unexpected, it’s gotten truly old. So we’re playing groups that our average age is19 Their average age is 24 and25 So do I modification since of that?” 

Yes, you do alter, since what you’ve been doing isn’t working when it matters many, and the program you’re the coach of needs you to win in March. Also, you can assistance kids out and not have them be freshmen. Whether they’re 18 years old or 20 years old, they’re still college kids.

While its uncertain what comes next for Calipari and the Wildcats, discussions that start to evaluate the trajectory of the program are more than reasonable inthemiddleof a continued absence of success in the month of March.

Here’s the significant issue: Calipari’s agreement has a present buyout of $33,375,000.

The extra concern: Who do you employ? Scott Drew is staying at Baylor after the Louisville reports emerged. There truly aren’t any well-defined alternatives at the college level unless UK made an remarkable deal to UConn’s Dan Hurley or Auburn’s Bruce Pearl, although that appears notlikely. Could the Wildcats call Billy Donovan? Sure, however onceagain, there’s simply not an apparent option.

One thing is for particular: Big Blue Nation is ticked off. The buyout cost is a significant aspect, however if anyone would do something bold, it’s Kentucky, a school that cares more about basketball than anyone.

John Fanta is a nationwide college basketball broadcaster and author for FOX Sports. He covers the sport in a range of capabilities, from calling videogames on FS1 to serving as lead host on the BIG EAST Digital Network to supplying commentary on The Field of 68 Media Network. Follow him at @John_Fanta.