Paul Finebaum believes Kentucky has become 'irrelevant' after NCAA Tournament loss

Kentucky tripped again in March Madness on Sunday to continue their recent run of shortcomings in the NCAA Tournament. It was just the latest installment in what has been a more than disappointing stretch for the program. Now, Paul Finebaum believes it has brought about the worst quality that a team can become.

On ‘McElroy and Cubelic In The Morning’, Finebaum went on and described UK as irrelevant. He thinks things have reached a point where the excitement in the preseason no longer needs to be as high considering how things have ended and how far the Wildcats have missed their expectations come the postseason over the last few years.

“Kentucky has become irrelevant,” Finebaum determined. “We get all excited about them every year because they’ve got the No. 1 recruiting class coming in, which they do again. Last year, in November, they were the No. 4 team in the country. They had to fight to get into the tournament in February, which they did. And then they laid another egg.”

“To the elite college basketball world? Getting knocked out in the Round of 32 is a failure,” Finebaum said. “I just thought by moving the goalposts or the goal? The goal this year for Kentucky was they had to make it to the Sweet 16 just to wash away the stench of the last couple years. You had COVID, you had a losing season. And then, last year, losing to Saint Peter’s in Round 1, which is still one of the worst losses in modern college basketball history. And now this.”

Kentucky has fallen short over the last four years in all sorts of ways. For whatever reason, they haven’t been the same program since the pandemic began. Before the NCAA canceled the tournament in 2020, UK was feeling good at 25-6. Since then? They’ve gone 57-36, missed the NCAA Tournament in 2021, and have failed to make the Sweet 16 in either of their last two trips to March Madness all over the last three years.

Upon John Calipari’s arrival in 2009, Kentucky was a powerhouse over his first six years. In the four and a half years after, they took a step back but were still among the best. Since then, though, Finebaum believes the slip-ups and failures have started to pile up too high. Now, he says the hourglass has started to run out on Calipari. The sand inside feels like it has only picked up its pace too thanks to another year of exiting the postseason earlier than anticipated.

“Beating Providence just saved the day on Friday from a complete disaster,” explained Finebaum. “But there’s no way you can look at this season as anything but a failure. And there’s also no way you can look at John Calipari’s career and not say that the clock is ticking loudly.”