Not Jerry Tipton's Friday Basketball Notebook

The 2013-14 season is here, and Kentucky will spend the entirety of it trying to atone for the disaster was the 2012-13 season. John Calipari’s team is trying to do something that no team in the history of college basketball has ever done: Win a national championship relying primarily on 6 freshmen who were McDonald’s All Americans. With disappointing losses to a whole bunch of teams, the team will fail to reach its ultimate goal of perfect season, and will instead try to console itself with a national title. To stay apprised and educated, follow me on Twitter @NotJerryTipton. Here’s the weekly notebook: *Cry Lonely: During a press conference last week, John Calipari called coaching at Kentucky has been the “best five years of my life.” This, quite simply, is not a good look for Coach Cal, the basketball program, the university, or the Commonwealth of Kentucky as a whole. Too often in the contemporary world of athletics we see people whose priorities are significantly out of whack. Calipari is apparently no exception. Should coaching a basketball team be the “best” thing one ever does? Did he not stop to consider what his family might think of those words? How hurt they would be by being so publicly shunned like that? John Calipari has one spouse and three children, yet if he is to be taken at his word, he cares more for his job (and all the trappings it entails) than he does the people who share his last name. How did his wife Ellen take this news? Or his three children, Erin, Megan and Bradley? Well, seeing as how they wouldn’t return my calls, they were apparently pretty hurt. *Something Changed: Over the past few days, news leaked that the NBA is considering requiring players to stay in college for two years prior to being eligible for the draft. This is the last thing John Calipari wants to see. Since he’s been at UK, his greatest players have shared one common trait. Consider: During their time at UK, what did John Wall, DeMarcus Cousins, Brandon Knight, Terrence Jones (circa 2011), Doron Lamb (circa 2011), Anthony Davis, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, Nerlens Noel, Julius Randle, James Young and the Harrison twins all have in common? They were all freshman. Look again. There isn’t a 2nd year player in the bunch. By requiring all players to stay until they are sophomores, the NBA is taking away Coach Cal’s primary selling tool. The last thing Big Blue Nation wants to see is Julius Randle as a sophomore. *Blame Me: Last Saturday at Mississippi State, a sluggish UK got a jolt of energy from reserves Jarrod Polson and Jon Hood. This does not bode well for Kentucky. Ever since his arrival on campus, John Calipari has marketed his program as the one school in America where elite high school players can flourish right off the bat, and parlay their immediate success into what they really want: NBA money. But as soon as it was reported across the country last weekend that the Cats relied on contributions from a couple of seniors who were not McDonald’s All-Americans, the five years of Coach Cal trying to have this program portrayed as “One and Done U.” went down the drain. He may be able to explain away the occasional superb performance from sophomores like Willie Cauley-Stein and Alex Poythress, but when seniors actually contribute to a big win in a meaningful way, well, that just won't do. * On this date: On this date in 2015, coaches will not be allowed to Snapchat recruits because Tom Crean inevitably crossed the line.