The Kentucky Wildcats have again fallen short of their potential in the NCAA Tournament. Although Oakland was propelled by an unbelievable shooting performance from Jack Gohlke, this loss highlights the more significant issue for Coach Calipari’s program.
First Round Folly
Oakland came on strong at the start, hanging with the Wildcats, the second-highest-scoring team in the nation. Much of this came from Gohlke’s seven threes, the last of which gave the Golden Grizzlies a 38-35 halftime lead.
Kentucky looked lost against Oakland’s zone defense. When discussing this in the post game, coach Calipari stated.
We knew the zone would be tough, but we missed shots we don’t miss.
John Calipari
We’ll return to the rest of that soundbite in a moment. Sticking with the issues that plagued UK throughout this game, turnovers were costly for Kentucky. Oakland scored 12 points off of 11 turnovers, with the Wildcats continuing to be careless with the ball in the game’s final minutes. This can be pointed back to the same root issue, Kentucky’s ‘One and Done’ formula is dead in the NIL era.
One and Done is Done
The Wildcats have four upperclassmen on their roster. Antonio Reeves and Tre Mitchell were the team’s leading scorers, with 27 and 14, respectively. The other two, Brennan Canada and Kareem Watkins, don’t see much playing time. This team has two seniors and no juniors on the floor. With eight freshmen and four sophomores, the Wildcats have an abundance of youth and talent but an apparent lack of experience on the court and in life in general.
Compare this to Oakland, who has 12 upperclassmen (eight juniors and four seniors) and only four underclassmen (one sophmore and three freshmen). These players have played in more games, faced more adversity, and perhaps most importantly, have played together for consecutive seasons. Gohlke, the team’s viral hero, played five years in Division II before transferring to Oakland and was paying his way by Doordashing and giving Uber rides to UM and MSU students.
In the age of NIL, where lower-level NBA talent can make money in college while attempting to raise their draft stock, it will get increasingly challenging to trot out a team of 80% 18-year-olds and expect them to put together a significant NCAA Tournament run.
Change of Scenery for Coach Cal?
I referenced a post-game interview clip earlier, and it’s time to dive back into that. When asked about the game, Coach Calipari said.
We had some guys that didn’t play the way they’ve been playing all year. We did everything we could, we knew the zone would be tough, but we missed shots we don’t miss. And, you know, the preparation, I thought they were in a great [place], trying to keep them loose. But when the game started, they, you know, they just, you had some guys not play to the level [that] they can play.
John Calipari
There are a few concerns with this quote. First, it’s not the type of accountability that one would expect from a head coach. Especially coming from a coach who has talked about it being his responsibility to ‘take pressure off of the players and put it onto me.’
Additionally, it sounds like Calipari’s plan for his team to beat Oakland’s zone was simply to shoot over it. You can’t expect a bunch of young players to beat a rarely-seen defense if you don’t at least have a few sets in place to try to break your opponent out of it. I hope they at least practiced some press breakers before the tournament started.
To put this point to rest, let’s give coach the benefit of the doubt. Okay, the team will just shoot over the zone, breaking Oakland out of it. Once you get to halftime and that hasn’t worked, it’s the coach’s job to adapt and call a play or change the rotation. You can’t question Calipari’s contribution to the college game, but it may be time to bring in a coach more concerned with building a winning program than an NBA prospect factory.
What Do You Think?
But enough from me, what do you think? Leave a comment below or reach out on Twitter, @kevnivek_ and @bite_sizesports!
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