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Kentucky insider spells out what John Calipari and the Cats need to do in March
By Keith Farner
Published:
A Kentucky insider has outlined what embattled coach John Calipari and his Kentucky men’s basketball team need to do by the end of the season.
Speaking on WJOX and “McElroy and Cubelic In the Morning,” Matt Jones of Kentucky Sports Radio shared his concerns about the recent losing skid at home for the Cats, and the reasons for it.
“The most over-hyped part of it is the league,” Jones said. “First of all, they lost to Gonzaga, who’s not in the league. But secondly, they’re all at home. What’s changed in college basketball, especially the SEC, is that it’s hard to win on the road. And that’s happened because the teams have gotten better, coaches have gotten better … so it’s harder to win on the road, but you’ve got to win at home. The difference between good teams and bad teams is winning at home.”
Jones then noted it’s the first time UK has lost the 3 straight losses in Lexington since 1967.
“That’s terrible, and when you throw in, he’s got a ton of talent,” Jones said. “They’re young, but Cole, they’re not as young as they usually are.”
Jones then laid out that UK has 2 fifth-year seniors, a pair of sophomores and the freshmen guards are not really the problem.
“It’s the most frustrating John Calipari season of his tenure,” Jones said. “They’ve had worst teams, they’ve had 2 that missed the tournament, but they’ve not had a worse team with this much talent. This team has 6 NBA players, and you’re losing at home to the worst Gonzaga team in a decade, I think it’s pretty bad. It’s the worst it’s been at Kentucky for John Calipari.”
Jones was at a loss to explain the problems on defense, because he said the Cats are athletic, but have a trio of 7-footers who anyone can score on.
“They can’t guard anybody,” he said. “And it’s at every position.”
Jones also took the temperature of UK fans and noted that in the last 4 seasons, Calipari has led a program that has produced the worst NCAA Tournament loss, the worst season overall, and potentially the worst home record.
“That’s pretty awful,” Jones said.
Jones said Calipari won’t be fired, but if March doesn’t go well, both the school and Calipari could view it as too toxic, and they part ways.
“He has to make a March run, there’s no other way to look at it,” Jones said.
A former newspaper veteran, Keith Farner is a news manager for Saturday Down South.
