LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- You didn’t need a suite in the Wildcat Coal Lodge to predict how John Calipari would respond to his team’s jarring, 76-64, home loss to Richmond on Sunday.
His team is young. (They are.)
His team needs to learn how to compete and handle adversity. (All teams do.)
Richmond is talented and experienced. (It is.)
With the reduction in spectators, playing in Rupp Arena was like playing in a museum. (True, but the Wildcats will benefit on the road.)
He just warned you this team made him reach for the panic button. (He certainly did.)
This has happened before. Evansville. Duke by 34. UCLA three years in a row. (It certainly has.)
He said losses like the Richmond defeat are the kinds of losses that trigger the phone calls (or texts), with non-coaches offering the fixes that players need to make. (I believe that.)
“That’s when kids have to stay the course,” Calipari said.
Valid responses. Every one of them.
But so are these questions:
Was what ailed the Wildcats against the Spiders more than what Calipari has dealt with during his first 11 seasons at Kentucky?
Is Kentucky an elite point guard and a serious perimeter shooter shy of a Top-10 load (now the Wildcats have tumbled to No. 20 in Ken Pomeroy’s computer rankings as well as No. 20 in the Associated Press poll)?
Reasonable questions after the Wildcats threw the ball away 21 times, bricked all 10 of their shots from distance, missed 13 free throws and earned five assists on 22 made field goals against Richmond.
“I’ve never coached a team that had no assists in the second half,” Calipari said. “Our spacing was bad. That’s not their fault that was my fault.”
Elite point guard play has defined the Calipari era at Kentucky. John Wall. Brandon Knight. Tyler Ulis. De’Aaron Fox. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. It's his calling card, magic words to speak to recruits.
After two games, I don’t see a point guard like those point guards, especially the four (all but Ulis) who went to the NBA after one season. B.J. Boston and Terrence Clarke look elite. They are not point guards.
Wall, Ulis and Fox punished defenders with that extra gear, that only the best point guards have, as well as their ability to change directions.
Neither Devin Askew nor Davion Mintz have that gear. Not many guys do. Askew could still be in high school. Mintz was ranked No. 401 when he committed to Creighton as a high school senior in 2016. Solid. Not elite.
Knight and Gilgeous-Alexander were freshmen who played the way juniors and seniors are supposed to play.
This group of Kentucky guards will have to find another way. That requires discovering what Calipari wants. That takes time. Understanding your mistakes and fixing them. Learning how to compete against guys who have more talent. Overcoming doubts -- external and internal.
The shooting thing is more on Calipari than the players. The guy who could have been this team’s best shooter (Johnny Juzang) bolted for UCLA. If it is a choice between quickness or shooting, Calipari typically leans toward quickness. He's won plenty that way.Â
According to the statistics at Ken Pomeroy’s web site, Kentucky has not ranked in the Top-100 teams in three-point shooting percentage since 2016, when the Wildcats made 36.6% of their attempts, 74th in the nation.
Kentucky has not ranked among the Top-50 three-point shooting teams since 2012, the year the Wildcats won their last national championship. That team made nearly 38% of its shots from distance, which ranked No. 37. The 2011 squad was his best shooting team, at nearly 40%, No. 9 in America. It crashed the Final Four.
After two games, this team ranks No. 207 in three-point shooting (23.1%) and No. 186 in free throw shooting (61.7%).
Terribly small sample size, but this team will be forced to prove it can make jump shots.
Calipari did not seem ready to hyper-ventilate. He said he wants this team to attempt between 17 to 22 shots from distance per game.
“We’ve got good three-point shooters,” he said. “I’ve got to teach them how to play winning basketball.”
Expect Kansas to ask for proof Tuesday night in Indianapolis
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