John Calipari knows recent teams haven't been "Kentucky Good"
Kentucky has not reached the Final Four in eight years. The Cats have not advanced past the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament since 2019. Ahead of his 15th season as head coach, John Calipari is ready to admit that the program has not been the gold standard as of late.
“The last couple of years, we’ve been good but just not Kentucky good,” he said at SEC Basketball Media Day.
“We’re expected to be in the Final Four every single year. We started slow last year. We could have folded but we had guys that toughed it out and by the end of the year, we’re in the tournament, maybe could have advanced another round or two. But we didn’t.”
Calipari used the phrase “Kentucky good” again a few minutes later, adding that the alpha dog mentality is an essential element to the type of success fans are accustomed to.
“We have maxed out and we have been good and I’m proud,” Cal said, pointing out that four players from last year’s team are now in the NBA (Cason Wallace, Chris Livingston, Jacob Toppin, Oscar Tshiebwe). “But there’s a Kentucky good. And a Kentucky good is both players standing out and having that group that is just, this that that. And doing it together, having enough dog in you that you refuse to lose. Like, you’re a dog. Are you going to accept being pushed? No, you do the pushing.”
This season, Calipari is returning to his old recipe for success, bringing in a top-ranked recruiting class full of five-star freshmen to pair with super-senior Antonio Reeves and incoming grad transfer Tre Mitchell. Justin Edwards, Aaron Bradshaw, DJ Wagner, and Rob Dillingham were all ranked in the top 15 of the 2023 On3 Industry Rankings. Reeves was next to Calipari on the SEC Now set and confirmed that the freshmen are, in fact, “dogs.”
“I always tell them there’s a bunch of dogs and they throw that bone in there,” Calipari said. “One eats. And you’re in there with their players too. And so, this group — you’d say we got a bunch of dogs, wouldn’t you say?”
“Of course,” Reeves said.
Calipari: “You have to be dogs and you have to relish it”
In some ways, Calipari’s comments today felt like his most honest and candid in years. It was refreshing to see him admit that the program has not met expectations in recent seasons. Perhaps that self-reflection was brought on by this new group, which sounds like his squads of old.
“You have to be dogs and you have to relish it,” Calipari said. “Our whole job when we go on the road is to ruin somebody’s weekend. Their whole weekend is based on us coming in. Let’s ruin their weekend.
“If you’re not up to that, then you shouldn’t come here. If you’re not up to every game is meaningful — every single game is meaningful — if you’re not looking at the NCAA Tournament and staying right in the moment. Let’s just play. We’re not worried about winning or losing; we’re worried about playing well. And we got really good players. Now all of a sudden that’s when you do the stuff we did for that span of time.”
Calipari did say that he believes the 2019-20 team with Immanuel Quickley and Tyrese Maxey could have won the national championship if not for the pandemic. However, since then, “we’ve been good; we just haven’t been Kentucky good.” Now, he’s got a group that he believes can be just that.
“I’m excited about this team. I come in every day — like, when I know I don’t have to raise my voice and I go through weeks and weeks and I’m not raising my voice because I’m not going to yell just to yell. You know dudes are competing and they’ll tell you, when I’m exhausted, when I go to my chair and I’m in a coma, I know they’re tired. That’s when I say, ‘We’re taking the day off man. If I’m this tired, I know you are.'”
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