Kentucky MBB looking to get its swagger back

Kentucky Men’s Basketball doesn’t seem to strike the same fear into its opponents that it did during John Calipari’s early seasons in Lexington.

Constantly reloading his rosters with multiple NBA lottery picks and a key veteran here and there, the Wildcat head coach built teams that exuded attitude with a hint of a mean streak. From the likes of John Wall, DeMarcus Cousins, Terrence Jones, Julius Randle, Josh Harrellson, Willie Cauley-Stein, Devin Booker, Tyler Ulis, and on and on and on…Kentucky always had players that made the opposing team respect them.

But lately? That hasn’t exactly been the case. While not entirely void of these no-nonsense types, they are certainly fewer and farther between. Even Swaggy Cal feels like a different character. The first half of Calipari’s run at Kentucky was one of knowing that UK was the nation’s top program. The second run has been one of half-successfully trying to defend that notion.

In short, Kentucky has lost its swagger in recent seasons.

“Had a friend of mine call me and say ‘Your teams have always had a swagger. They’ve had a swagger in the warm-up line; they had a swagger,'” Calipari said on Thursday. “‘When I watched the Notre Dame game I didn’t see it.'”

Kentucky’s loss to Notre Dame on the road last weekend was the definition of a team that didn’t come out with the mindset of stomping its opponent into the ground. UK played most of the affair trying not to lose, only to do just that down the stretch. Even against a stretch of seven consecutive “tune-up” games to begin the schedule, Kentucky played the same way.

Outside of 6-foot-9 forward Oscar Tshiebwe, who has been far and away the Wildcats’ Most Valuable Player this season, Kentucky notably lacks a killer instinct. Some of that might have to deal with the simple fact that most of these players are good-natured people. They love to smile, don’t cause any outside drama, and appear to have a legitimate connection as teammates–especially Tshiebwe.

As a result, several of the athletes have become fan favorites and that shouldn’t change. But on the flip side, it’s crafted an image of a team that doesn’t have a searing desire to win; even if that’s anything but the case inside the locker room.

“And I told them so what would lead somebody to say you don’t have a swagger?” Calipari continued. “Your body language. Every one of you in this room, when your offense isn’t going you have no swagger because you’re so into you. What do you do to help us win when you’re not making shots? How do you create–when people watch us, the officials, the other team, the other opponents, they say boy these dudes have a swag to them.”

This missing “swagger” certainly isn’t lost on Calipari. It’s something he’s been preaching during practice as of late. But at the same time, building swagger comes with invoking confidence. When you know you’re playing well, it’s a hell of a lot easier to act like it on the hardwood.

“Coach was talking about swagger all week,” UK forward Jacob Toppin said on Thursday. “But that comes with confidence. You have to have confidence, you have to have poise in order to have swagger. He just said, on the court, make sure you’re confident. Fall back on your training. And that’s what we need to do because we spend countless hours in the gym working. So it’s gonna show eventually so just stay confident, stay poised, and just have that swagger about you where teams are gonna look at you and see ‘oh, we’re gonna be in a game.'”

The season is still young, though. Calipari-led Kentucky teams have a knack for playing their best basketball in the spring. But the best ones have always played with a fire that is notably absent from what we’ve seen through 2021-22. With a Las Vegas showdown against North Carolina now scheduled for Saturday, there isn’t a better time to rediscover the missing swagger.