Much of the country jumped for joy late Saturday night when Wisconsin beat Kentucky, who was sporting an undefeated record before their 71-64 loss to the Badgers. It was easy to hate Kentucky throughout the season, just as it was easy to hate the Pistons back in ’89, or the Heat in 2012. The Wildcats had a stranglehold on the rest of college basketball, and it has always been easy to hate on success because of the jealousy that is naturally inside a human being, even outside the realm of sports. The reason the Roman empire was disliked so much, and eventually fell, was because of their success in the building of a kingdom. Enough of these people got together to form an army and take down the empire. Of course, Kentucky’s anti-fans could not pile up on the court to take down the Goliath, but these people should take a step back and appreciate the historic season they just witnessed.
Kentucky’s Season Still Historic Despite Loss
The first sign of how special this team could be came on November 18th, the night that the Wildcats beat the Kansas Jayhawks by 32 points. The game wasn’t even nearly that close, as Kentucky drowned out any Kansas offense that even came close to fruition.
It’s safe to say that made the country take a step back and say, “WOAH.” It also gave Kentucky some swagger, and they would reel off wins over North Carolina, UCLA, and Louisville. They completely dominated these games — they beat UCLA by 38 — against teams that would make the NCAA tournament field. This was all on their way to a 34-0 record entering the NCAA tournament.
The Wildcats won their first two games of the tournament rather easily. West Virginia was up next, and was a highlight game because of a guaranteed win by Mountaineer Daxter Miles Jr.
Kentucky beat them by 39.
The real problems began in the Elite Eight. Kentucky faced Notre Dame, a team that featured scorers like Jerian Grant, Pat Connaughton, and Zack Auguste. The Fighting Irish were able to spread their offense, which created driving lanes for Grant. Depending on where the help came from, or if any help came, Grant was good enough to dish it out for a better shot. Those problems almost led the a Kentucky loss in the Elite Eight, but they prevailed once again.
Wisconsin had much of the same success on Saturday night. The best offense in the country, according to KenPom.com, was able to poke and prod the best defense in the country to beat Kentucky.
The actual games that were played is arguably NOT the reason we will remember this Kentucky team. Mostly due to the social media age, this was probably the most talked about college team ever. They certainly had a lot of substance within the program, too. Sports writers across the country could pull out headlines from anywhere. From recruiting, to Calipari himself, to the size, to the platoon system, to Alex Poythress’ injury, ect. There was a new topic about the team every week, and rightfully so. They dominated most of their opponents, but did have some scares that would light up Twitter every time. One week, it was Willie Cauley-Stein and Karl-Anthony Towns. The next, it was Aaron and Andrew Harrison. Suddenly Devin Booker and Tyler Ulis would catch fire, as would Dakari Johnson and Marcus Lee. The number of storylines this team produced was unbelievable.
Love him or hate him — which is an easy gig considering he left two programs that were about to be hit with sanctions from his tenure, but that’s a whole different subject — John Calipari was the main force behind this historic team. For one, he had to recruit the kids, which is not an easy job, unless you’re John Calipari. Whatever he has been pitching — prestige, location, winning, development — has been working, and working well. Kentucky had nine McDonald’s All-Americans in their regular rotation — Willie Cauley-Stein was the only non-member.
Calipari’s ability to accumulate all that talent is incredible by itself, but the way he was able to convince all that talent to play unselfishly and together was something to behold. Most of Kentucky’s players had been their team’s best player by far, and had to have been used to getting the ball more than anyone else. That’s not to say the Wildcats weren’t unselfish players to begin with, but it’s only natural for players of their talent to expect the ball. While Coach Calipari has done a great job of teaching the Wildcats how to put the team first, it seems as if the young men had that trait ingrained in the head before the season began.
Finally, in the age of ‘me, me, me’, Kentucky showed that most of the country gave them a blatantly wrong stigma before the season began. Kentucky haters, and even most casual fans, assumed this was a bunch of spoiled, big-headed kids that were only good because they were more athletic than everyone in high school. The Wildcats showed that certainly was not the case.
It’s quite popular to rag on Kentucky, but it should not be popular to rag on greatness. This Kentucky team was historic, and they will always be brought up when the topic of college basketball comes up. That’s something a true fan will respect.
