LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — As we await the alluring puff of blue smoke to swirl above the Craft Center, delivering official word the University of Kentucky has settled on its next men’s basketball coach (which won't be Baylor's Scott Drew), we can fuss about the likely choice and whether the Wildcats will be better served moving past John Calipari.
Or we can remember the sights and sounds that many UK fans loved about Wildcats’ basketball that Calipari took away from the program. And we can deliver several reasonable suggestions in a Welcome to Kentucky package for the next coach.
Let’s do that.
1. NBA Draft Night is NEVER the most exciting, important or essential night of the basketball season. It’s not even in the top 25.
The final Monday night of the men’s college season is always first and foremost. Always, Period. End of discussion.
This job is about counting NCAA championships, not about counting how many guys you have playing for the Minnesota Timberwolves, Oklahoma City Thunder or New York Knicks, who never cut down any important nets at UK.
I know Calipari used that line because it was directed at recruits. I know that he said it because getting DeMarcus Cousins drafted in the first round helped him get Anthony Davis, which helped him sign Julius Randle, which helped him recruit Karl Anthony-Towns, which helped him drop the line about his players earning $800 trillion zillion billion in NBA salaries.
It still never sat well with a pocket of Kentucky fans well beyond Dan Issel, who was one of the few people with the courage to push back on Cal’s bluster.
Jay Wright won two national titles at Villanova without hyperventilating about the NBA. Ditto for Danny Hurley at UConn. Don’t look now but Hurley has already pulled the Huskies within two national championships of Kentucky’s eight — and he does not behave like a guy who plans to shift into cruise control.
You can get talented players to stay at Kentucky for more than two or three water breaks and eventually make it to the NBA. You can also win a title without a roster overflowing with NBA picks.
A few talented freshmen. A few guys you develop into ferocious sophomores, juniors or seniors. Surgical additions from the transfer portal.
As it says on the back of the UK sneaker contract: Just do it — without all the NBA overkill.
2. Not every important non-conference games has to be played in Las Vegas, New York City, Chicago or Atlanta.
Splash and dash was a Calipari favorite. He got the Wildcats a prime spot in the Champions Classic with Duke, Kansas and Michigan State. He helped create the CBS event with North Carolina, UCLA and Ohio State.
He played Michigan across the pond. He took his team to Philadelphia to play a neutral site game with Penn this season.
All part of the Calipari marketing plan.
All contributed to a lack of sizzling home games on the Rupp Arena calendar. Toss the loyal home fans a few more bones. Something tastier than Monmouth, North Florida or Albany, to highlight three gems from the last three seasons.
One of those four-team events, probably the Champions Classic, is fine. Two is overkill. Bring North Carolina, Ohio State, UCLA, Arizona, Michigan or UConn to Rupp Arena as part of a tasty home-and-home series.
At today’s prices, that seems like the fan-friendly thing to do.
3. Stop treating the Southeastern Conference Tournament like crime and punishment.
Few things made Calipari squawk more than the SEC Tournament. The championship game should not be played on Sunday. Winning it didn’t help UK’s NCAA Tournament seed. Playing three or four games that late in the season was close to meaningless.
You can look at the results of the teams that have won the men’s national title since 2010 and interpret them any way you like. It didn’t hurt Duke in 2010, UConn in 2011 or Louisville in 2013.
Villanova won a conference title and a national title in 2018. Ditto for Kansas in 2022. And UConn this season. With authority, I might add.
What cannot be debated is this. Kentucky basketball fans love the SEC Tournament. They loved showing an entire conference they cared about basketball more than any fans on the planet.
Back in the day when Rick Pitino won 17 of 18 SEC Tournament games and five SEC Tournament trophies for UK, going to the SEC Tournament was one of the hottest social events on the basketball calendar.
People burned vacation days. They planned trips to New Orleans, Atlanta or Tampa. They purchased season tickets from lowly SEC programs simply to have access to that school’s SEC Tournament ticket supply.
So don’t act like the SEC Tournament is a trip to Sheboygan, Wisconsin or International Falls, Minnesota.
It’s not. It’s fun.
Tubby Smith didn’t act like it was a chore. And he won a national title.
Pitino didn’t act like it was a chore. And he won a national title.
And the next Kentucky coach shouldn’t act like it’s a chore — while trying to win the next national title.
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