Certain expectations come with perennial quests for 40-0, churning out heaps of NBA-level talent year in and year out like a pro factory, and being the biggest college basketball powerhouse in the nation today. The 2015-16 Kentucky Wildcats are apparently nowhere close to living up to those expectations just yet and head coach John Calipari isn’t sugarcoating it.
“This year’s team, as we speak, we stink,” Calipari said at Wednesday’s Wildcat Tipoff Luncheon per The Courier-Journal. “I said to them two days ago: ‘There’s one really good thing that’s happening.’ They said, ‘What’s that, Coach?’ I said, ‘We’re not playing tomorrow, so we’re OK. I’m not going to panic yet.’
“The greatest thing is we got great kids; they are gonna do what we ask them to do,” the 56-year-old coach continued. “Please understand: They are children. They are 18 and 19 years old. I’m telling you, early on, we’re going to be ugly.”
Kentucky went 38-1 last year, falling just short in their hunt for the perfect season, losing to the Wisconsin Badgers in the Final Four. They lost their seven top scorers from last year’s team to the NBA Draft, including No. 1 overall pick Karl Anthony-Towns along with three other teammates who were also selected in the lottery (Willie Cauley-Stein, Trey Lyles, and Devin Booker).
But the Wildcats being the Wildcats, their roster heading into next season is still universes away from being something to sneeze it. In classic Kentucky fashion, the team brought in a plethora of elite freshmen including standout two-way Haitian big man Skal Labissiere, Team Canada standout Jamal Murray, and highly-rated point guard playmaker Isaiah Briscoe.
The Wildcats will also return a solid amount of talent from last season such as defensive dynamo Alex Poythress returning for his senior season after suffering a torn ACL last December, junior forward Marcus Lee, and Isaiah Thomas-clone Tyler Ulis who is ready to start at point guard as a sophomore.
Amidst all the doom and gloom, Calipari actually took some time to praise Ulis. “We gotta hope that Tyler is so good that we get by being ugly,” he said. “He’s really good. My other guards are underwater with that: they got more turnovers than assists. But that’s OK. They’re learning.”
Ultimately, it’s easy to dismiss Calipari’s comments as typical self-deprecating Coach Cal media-speak. Similar to the way LeBron James and David Blatt attempted to temper championship expectations for the Cavs before last season (a situation, if you recall, that Calipari almost wound up in), if Coach Cal can lower the bar a little bit and take some pressure off these kids heading into the year, it could wind up doing a world of good.
After all, we’ve seen how this story plays out before. Kentucky pulls themselves together, opens the season as the No. 1 team in the nation, blazes a path of destruction through the collegiate universe, survives a couple of close calls from non-conference opponents, and remains the frontrunner for national championship contention all year. Wash, rinse, repeat.
H/T ESPN
