Kentucky salvaged the season -- and proved mercenaries still kill

“I’m stupid, you’re smart. I was wrong, you were right. You’re the best, I’m the worst. You’re very good-looking, I’m not attractive.”

It’s a Happy Gilmore quote, but the crow-eating tastes the same for me as I gather my thoughts with an emotional day winding down at State Farm Arena. Kentucky hit rock bottom in Nashville with a 35-point loss to Gonzaga to make it four losses in four tries against name-brand competition, these Wildcats getting worse before they were getting better — but most damning of all, they didn’t look like they cared. That’s why Big Blue Nation booed them off the floor and I called them overpaid, heartless portal mercenaries who were taking the “sacred piece of cloth,” as Mark Pope likes to call these uniforms, and wiping their asses with it.

My words and my words alone.

Those were very real heat-of-the-moment reactions that felt deserved. They were also the heat-of-the-moment reactions that led to a stern talking to from Rick freaking Pitino, saying Kentucky media members were too quick to judge Pope’s Wildcats without having the full picture with injuries destroying this group to start the season.

“I think you all need to learn a little bit of a lesson as writers because you’re expecting Kentucky to be this great basketball team with all those injuries,” Pitino said. “So you all need to learn a lesson because you can’t be a great basketball team without two of your best players, with no point guard, no big men. So I think everybody really exaggerates one game or two games or three games.

“Kentucky got blown out, and usually Kentucky doesn’t get blown out of any game, okay. But you have to look at it when they come back, two gigantic pieces.”

There is a lot of truth to that and I want to start there. It was unfair to put this team in its coffin without first seeing how all of the pieces would work together — not just most of them. You don’t walk out to the floor blaring Many Men by 50 Cent if you haven’t heard the noise that you’ve been written off as a group. Jaland Lowe and Jayden Quaintance were complete game-changers and availability has been quite literally the only question mark for both players since the season tipped off. They play — and play well — and Kentucky wins. Is it that simple? They haven’t been allowed to prove otherwise, so until then, we can only judge what’s in front of us. For that, I was completely wrong and shortsighted with a sample size far too small and incomplete. I have no problem owning up to my stupidity.

Hear me out on this, though. I had roster construction concerns and still don’t feel totally comfortable about how all of these puzzle pieces fit together — again, where is the creation and shooting?! — for Pope to believe “we’re going to become a really explosive offensive team,” but those things can all play out. They’ve clawed back enough to earn that patience.

The root of our frustrations had to do with the fight and want-to, though. That’s why these Wildcats got booed. That’s why they were generally unlikable through nine games and four losses. Nothing about their play suggested they wanted this the way Big Blue Nation wanted this or that representing the name on the front of their uniforms actually mattered. Take the first halves vs. Indiana and St. John’s, for example. The offensive execution stunk in both games and they couldn’t buy a basket if their lives depended on it, but not once did I question effort or heart. Trying and failing is fine for fans, to an extent, but what they don’t tolerate is not trying at all. Pitino can say what he wants and that may be how those inside the Kentucky program feel right now — we certainly haven’t made any friends over there recently, which is fine — but there has been a stark difference in the first nine games vs. the last three. That’s where they have deservedly been crushed, not general production.

Maybe it was the realization that Lowe was nearly back to himself and Quaintance was on the cusp of his debut, or that Mo Dioubate was the spark going 1-on-5 for rebounds and taking entire teams on by himself? Or maybe they finally took their criticism to heart and recognized just how much they were letting the fanbase down as the most underperforming team in college basketball with a couple of inexcusably gutless performances?

Whatever it was, rooting hard for this group is now coming naturally. They were gutless, then showed nothing but guts in that second half against the Hoosiers a week ago, winning in the trenches with defense and toughness. Fans reacted accordingly, acknowledging that while this IU team may not be a world-beater, giving a damn goes a long way. You can steal our hearts with a few dives for loose balls, defensive stops and second-chance scores. That continued into an emotionally charged battle between student and teacher, Pope taking on his former head coach under the bright lights in Catlanta. The offense was a disaster — especially when Lowe reinjured his shoulder after seven seconds on the floor — but hey, they fought and the C-A-T-S chants and Go Big Blues kept coming.

Then when the breakthrough came in the second half of both games, BBN was there to push these Wildcats across the finish line. Lowe fought through the pain like a warrior and put the team on his back while Quaintance had the debut of a lifetime, plus big days for Otega Oweh, Kam Williams and Malachi Moreno, leading to the 78-66 victory to move to 8-4 on the year with two straight wins against teams with a pulse.

You still have to take care of business vs. Bellarmine on Tuesday, but what Kentucky did was allow a hard reset going into the holidays and the start of SEC play. This stretch has given this group the benefit of the doubt. Was it the injuries or effort? Doesn’t matter, because at full strength, the fight was right where it needed to be. The on-court talent has improved, but so has the edge they’re playing with. They can now take the next two weeks and tinker with the offense while building upon their tangible defensive growth, knowing that it’s all salvageable with a resume slowly but surely coming together. No bad losses and two Quad 1 wins with 11 more opportunities to come during SEC play, plus whatever happens in Nashville? Last year’s group had 10 Q1 victories entering the SEC Tournament and earned a No. 3 seed. This one found itself in a massive hole, but to their credit, the Wildcats are digging their way out with reasons to believe — even if the identity is substantially different than any of us expected going into the year.

Heartless mercenaries? They’ve certainly shut me up on the first part of that statement these last two outings, showing nothing but heart. As for the second, we should probably remember that no matter the why, mercenaries are still trained professionals hired to kill. They may have been expensive with some egregious early misses on the young season, and it may not be the aesthetically pleasing product we all thought we were signing up for this year, but the trigger is now being pulled with back-to-back hits.

And judging by the jersey pops with Big Blue Nation roaring behind them and bench celebrations for every big play, it certainly looks like they’re starting to enjoy representing the name on the front, too.