Kentucky is in the final stretch of one of the best regular season runs under John Calipari and vying for a No. 1 seed in the upcoming NCAA Tournament, but one of the hottest topics among the fan base, sadly, is Brad Calipari's wardrobe.
Brad's game attire has been a fun little side story for quite some time, but it really took off last Saturday when a postgame show caller, Nancy, called in with a strong opinion after UK's 27-point annihilation of Auburn.
Nancy began her call by saying, "I am totally perplexed at why Coach Calipari lets his son sit on the bench in any color except Kentucky blue. To me, it is a disgrace to the team."
Hear the entire call for yourself:
[audio mp3="http://kentuckysportsradio.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/nancy.mp3"][/audio]
Nancy sparked a clear divide in Big Blue Nation, with many siding with her opinion of Brad's outfits, and others, like myself, arguing it is a petty complaint and Brad can wear whatever he wants. As far as I can tell, it is a pretty even split with reasonable arguments on each side. So,
the only way to truly determine the accurate take is to ask the only one who can settle it: the numbers. Because the numbers never lie.
After going through all 28 of Kentucky's games in the 2018-19 season, I logged every game in which Brad wore a blue and white/grey Kentucky basketball shirt -- a project I'm not proud to admit I took on, but somebody had to do it. And of those 28 games, Brad wore official Kentucky gear in three of them; most notably, the Duke game to start the year. Kentucky of course lost that contest by about a million. He then pleased Nancy's wishes by wearing UK gear in the next two games, before expanding his wardrobe in his team's fourth game of the season, against VMI, and never looked back.
|
Wears UK Gear |
Wears Something Else |
| Win Percentage |
0.667 |
0.880 |
| Record Against Top 15 Teams |
0-1 |
4-0 |
| Scoring Margin |
5.33 |
13.96 |
| 3-Point Percentage |
0.318 |
0.367 |
It is clear Kentucky is much better when Brad wears something other than traditional blue/white Kentucky gear while on the sideline. It is impossible for you to disagree after seeing the statistics. One popular college basketball fashion expert even went as far to say Brad's non-traditional attire is the key to Kentucky's success.
Barstool Big Cat, creator of the #BradSwag hashtag, told KSR, “Kentucky’s secret weapon is Brad Calipari’s swag. It’s both intimidating and breathtaking at the same time. If you’re an opposing team and you don’t gameplan for Brad’s wardrobe, you’ve lost before the game has tipped.”
Another person with direct inside knowledge on the matter, who agreed to speak with me on the condition of anonymity, said, "I'm weak," followed by, "(crying emoji) (crying emoji) (crying emoji)."
The only
weak I see is Kentucky's resume when Brad dresses like his teammates.
So to the Nancys of the world, please let Brad live -- or you could cost Kentucky a national championship. The numbers speak for themselves.
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