John Calipari, Kentucky navigating through rise in COVID-19 cancellations

All went well for the Kentucky Wildcats on Saturday. After a pair of cancellations took Ohio State and UCLA out of the CBS Sports Classic, a reshuffling of the schedule matched UK against North Carolina, a game the former dominated from start to finish.

There was plenty to celebrate in Kentucky’s 98-69 win. Sahvir Wheeler had the ultimate bounce-back game, Kellan Grady broke through, Oscar Tshiebwe added another double-double, and the team shot 53.3% from deep.

As the dust settled on the victory, though, the team remembered how they got to this point and the hurdles that may be on the horizon.

“I know some of us were like, ‘Man, this could be our last game for a while,”‘ Wheeler said after the win, “‘So just go out there and give it your all. Like, play your hardest. … Why not just go balls to the wall, play your hardest, play for your brother, and try to win a game?'”

Knowing how many teams have been forced to cancel their games, John Calipari was grateful to be playing at all. More importantly, he wants to do whatever it takes to make sure his team continues to play.

“They were ready to play,” Calipari said. “I told them this: ‘Feel good that you’re playing. There’s all kinds of teams that aren’t playing. Feel good that you are playing basketball.’ We don’t know where all this stuff goes, but my hope is that we are able to mitigate, if folks will get the booster we can mitigate.”

After a season of delays, cancellations and isolation, Calipari is willing to take the floor no matter how difficult things get this season. If teams are physically able to play, he wants to play and keep moving forward.

“If you have eight guys, play. ‘Well, I have three starters now.’ So do I, now let’s play. We’ve got healthy guys that we’ve got to coach. Let Brad (Calipari) coach the game. I want him to coach anyway. I’ll make the other guys be ‘sick’ and have my son coach.

“… Look, last year was the most miserable thing I’ve ever been through. Forget about — my whole worry was keeping guys safe. We went (through) a whole lot. Not a player or a staff got a virus. We went a whole year — the basketball wasn’t very good. We were 8-8 in our league, we weren’t very good for us, but I wasn’t even worried about basketball.

What’s next for his team at this point? Will the isolation return to avoid contact tracing or potential outbreaks?

“We’re going to talk about it,” Calipari said. “I’d like them to get boosters. I’m not sure any of them really want to try to go do a booster. I did a booster shot and I did scream, but I did take the shot. We’ve just got to do it. But if anybody — I don’t force them. If anybody chooses not to do it, they don’t do it. I mean, that’s what it is.”

This team is at an advantage for numerous reasons. For starters, they’ve already spent an entire offseason together and have played ten games. Chemistry is already there. They’re also a veteran-led team, a major change from last year’s group.

“Our kids have been good. I mean, they were good last year — (but) we never became a team last year because we were separated. At least this year if we do separate, we’re okay.

“And I said it a year ago, if you were a veteran team that knew each other, you could be separated and be fine. If you were all new guys and you couldn’t be together, you’d never become a team. You can’t trust each other. We never got close.”

As of today, all is well for Calipari and the Wildcats.