John Calipari wants to get back to being 'Kentucky good'

There’s no doubt Kentucky basketball has been good lately, but not “Kentucky good” as head coach John Calipari put it.

Other than the 2020-21 season, Calipari’s Wildcat teams are consistently in the NCAA Tournament and win over 20 games a  season. Even last year, a 22-win team got to the second round.

But to recapture the magic of 2011-12, the national championship squad, Kentucky has to get back to being “Kentucky good.”

“You know, we’ve been good, we just haven’t been Kentucky good,” Calipari said on Sirius XM’s SEC Radio. “I mean, when we had Maxey and Quickley, we could have won the national title. We won this league by three games, four games, maybe. COVID shut us down in the conference tournament. We could have been one of those teams again.

“Last couple years, we’ve been good. You start winning 25 games and doing stuff and you’re in the NCAA tournament, you advance or we got beat in the first round for the first time in I’d say my career, I’d have to think back. But stuff happens. So we’ve been good. We just haven’t been Kentucky good.”

The team he referred to was the 2019-20 team that finished 25-6. The No. 1 team in the SEC, Calipari is still burnt by not being able to finish that season.

The COVID-19 pandemic began right at the time and Calipari maintained that the team could’ve went all the way.

However, you can’t change what happened three years ago. So, how does Kentucky get past the first or second round in the NCAA Tournament, the last two finishes for the Wildcats?

Simple, just improve and keep working. Perhaps this veteran team will do it for Calipari.

“Which is you’re one of those last teams standing,” Calipari said. “So we’re trying to say, do we have that kind of team, kind of veteran team? We got some size. You gotta have rim protection or your team’s literally a fraud, especially in the NCAA Tournament. We’ve got good young players who, they got dog in them. They’re good, they’re talented, they’re young, but our veterans are good too.”

Kentucky opened its 2023-24 campaign with an 86-46 win over New Mexico State. Ranked No. 16 in the AP Poll, Kentucky is back in action Friday against Texas A&M-Commerce before a showdown with No. 1 Kansas on November 14 at home.