LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- This will be the 12th basketball team that John Calipari has recruited to develop at the University of Kentucky. Only one other Calipari UK squad has been less hyped.
That would be Team Two in 2011. That Kentucky team started the season ranked 11th in the preseason AP college basketball poll and finished at the Final Four in Houston.
Only four of Calipari’s teams have failed to earn at least one first-place vote in the preseason AP poll.
The 2011 Brandon Knight-led squad.
The 2018 Kevin Knox/Shai Gilgeous-Alexander-led team.
This one, which was ranked 10th when the initial AP offering was posted last week.
And, the fourth?
Ask Anthony Davis. In 2012, North Carolina grabbed 62 of the initial first-place votes. Connecticut earned two. Ohio State one.
Davis, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist and Doron Lamb did not earn any first-place voted in October on their way to earning the national championship in New Orleans.
Game day — fingers crossed — is approaching for Team 12. Kentucky is scheduled to host Morehead State Wednesday at 6 p.m., return to Rupp Arena on Friday at 6 p.m. to host Detroit (and Calipari’s son, Brad) and then return a third time for a 1 p.m. Sunday game against formidable Richmond.
On Monday, during a videoconference to preview the game and season, Calipari began his analysis by saying that he had both hands on the Panic Button.
From Push Button to Panic Button?
Yes.
He quickly upgraded that to both hands and feet.
By the end of the conversation, Calipari said he considered hitting the button with both hands and feet as well as his head.
That, of course, was the typical Calipari hyperbole. Remember: He was a marketing major who mastered the skill of selling.
Under-promise and over-deliver is the wisest way to keep customers happy.
But this season, you can legitimately argue that Calipari is doing more than marketing. His concerns can be packaged in truth.
I asked John Clay, the savvy columnist of the Lexington Herald-Leader, if one of the most interesting takeaways from Calipari’s media availability Monday was what the coach did not say.
Other than his response to an opening question about the availability of Keion Brooks, his injured sophomore forward, Calipari did not mention the name or the performance of one player on this team. (For the record, Calipari said he did not expect Brooks to play this week.)
Not Olivier Sarr, the transfer center from Wake Forest.
Not B.J. Boston nor Terrence Clarke, the team’s most likely one-and-done freshmen.
Not Devin Askew nor Davion Mintz, the two most likely candidates to serve as the Wildcats’ point guard.
Maybe that is a reminder why the Wildcats are ranked No. 12 (Ken Pomeroy); No. 20 (Erik Haslam) and No. 22 (Bart Torvik) by three of the top college basketball analytics sites.
More likely it is a sign there are more pressing matters than discussing his potential lineup, which will certainly fluctuate. We are less than 48 hours from the start of the season and three Southeastern Conference teams (Florida, Tennessee and Ole Miss) are in pause mode because of the novel coronavirus.
Translation: There is no guarantee Kentucky will play three games this week.
Duke’s opening game has been delayed. Ditto for Bellarmine. And the University of Louisville women.
Rick Pitino, now the coach at Iona, made his second pitch on social media to push the start of the season to March and play the NCAA Tournament in May, with the hope that a vaccine will be widely available by then.
The most substantial things Calipari said Monday were focused on the correct topic: the virus.
He said that Kentucky would consider traveling to road games on game day to limit their time in hotels and as well as their time outside the safety of their living quarters in Lexington,.
He said one of the program’s biggest advantages —playing in Rupp Arena — would be diminished by crowds that are likely to be limited to less than 4,000.
“If it’s just a building and a court, we don’t have the advantage we normally have,” Calipari said.
(Point granted as long as Calipari grants this one: Nobody will.)
He said an advanced testing program for fans would likely have to be created for larger crowds to be admitted in Rupp.
He said that he was fine with the idea that the NCAA promoted last week to play the entire men’s tournament in the Indianapolis area.
But for a coach who generally has a Push Button team with superior talent, Calipari absolutely wanted the world to know that he was pushing a different button.
“We’re not very good right now,” he said.
We’ll start to find out this week — fingers crossed.
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