Were Coach K's transfer portal comments a shot at John Calipari?

Duke won last night because its freshmen were better than Kentucky’s veterans. Sounds familiar, right? Beating teams with elite, young talent used to be John Calipari’s calling card, but last night’s win was another reminder Mike Krzyzewski has flipped the script.

Over the past several years, Calipari has dipped his toe into the transfer pond, adding grad transfers like Julius Mays, Reid Travis, and Nate Sestina. Now that the transfer portal is whirling away and players don’t have to sit out a season, Calipari fully embraces the concept. This year’s roster features four pivotal transfers — Sahvir Wheeler, Kellan Grady, CJ Fredrick, and Oscar Tshibwe — to go along with Davion Mintz and Jacob Toppin, who joined the squad in the summer of 2020. With Kentucky failing to land the elite of the elite prospects prior to this summer’s staff shakeup, Calipari is building his teams with veterans. Unfortunately, last night proved that when elite freshmen play at a high level, it’s pretty tough to beat them, even with good transfers. (After all, if those transfers were really great, they’d already be in the NBA)

After this team’s 79-71 victory over Kentucky, Coach K had some interesting comments regarding the transfer portal. Duke has two grad transfers, Theo John and Bates Jones, but neither are relied on as much as Kentucky’s transfers. Like the Cats, the Blue Devils struggled last season, finishing 13-11. Coach K said the pandemic taught him the importance of team chemistry, to the point he didn’t want to bring many transfers in case it disrupted it.

“But I learned from COVID the value of preparation and relationships and we didn’t have them and we were not good. We were just very mediocre. So that’s why we brought the guys in as early as we could and that’s one of our succession plan things where John was going to take over and then he was going to recruit the kids that were going to play for him, and I told him, I said, You guys stay on the road. I’m staying in.

“The other thing we did, we only have 10 scholarship players, so we didn’t go to the transfer portal for other players. We specifically told our guys that we’re not doing that and they’re our guys. Just a bunch of different things to build that level of trust and camaraderie.”

Kentucky’s situation was different than Duke’s in that the Cats only had six scholarship players remaining from last season and therefore had to dip into the transfer portal, especially when Nolan Hickman decommitted; however, those comments from Coach K still feel like a bit of a shot at Cal, right? After all, Calipari and Kentucky have been dubbed the early masters of the transfer portal. Before leaving a sport that is evolving at a rapid rate due to the portal, NIL, and preparatory pro leagues, I wouldn’t put it past Krzyzewski to throw in a reminder that his way is best (even if Calipari did it first). A little bit of “Old man shakes fist at cloud,” if you will.

Duke freshmen credit chemistry to early summer start

Duke’s freshmen were a little more subtle when asked if last night’s win was a statement that elite freshmen trump transfers.

“Our team, we got four freshmen,” Trevor Keels said. “We got a transfer. One thing Coach did was bring us there early in the summer, and that’s how we built our chemistry early. We all liked each other…I think that’s what’s put us different from other teams.”

“Yeah, we got two grad transfers,” Paolo Banchero added. “Theo [Young] stepped up big. I was in the locker room watching on TV. He was playing well. And like Trevor said, we came in here beginning of June and we got straight to work. We knew what the goal was right away. We locked in. Once the other guys came and joined like it was just, it just molded like literally perfect, like there was no hiccups really. Like, it just flowed real nicely and we’re a real together team so I think that’s what’s showing.”

For what it’s worth, Calipari requires his players to report to campus in the early summer as well. Kellan Grady and Oscar Tshiebwe were slightly delayed, arriving in mid-June. Davion Mintz joined the team a few weeks later after deciding to come back for one more season. Still, plenty of time to build trust and camaraderie, even with transfers.