LEXINGTON – It’s different down here. Just 80 miles south but a whole other world in so many ways.
No other way to look at it after spending a couple of days in March here. When basketball is all they’re thinking or talking about.
Some thoughts after Sweet Sixteen-ing it . . . and NCAA’ing it with UK, down Lexington way.
Only the Campbell County fans were cheering for the Camels Friday at Rupp Arena. (Photo by Dale Dawn/NKyTribune)
First the Sweet 16:
WE DON’T BELONG HERE
At least that’s the clear consensus after — for the eighth time in 11 seasons — a Wednesday team (by the first-round “draw”) won it all as Lyon County and Mr. Basketball Travis Perry — headed to UK next season — gave the Wildcat fans in Rupp Arena some good news this difficult week. And for the eighth time in the last 11 seasons, the Ninth Region Northern Kentucky team drew into the Thursday game.
Although on the bright side, the only three teams to overcome the short-rest Thursday challenge the last 11 years and win a state title were all from Northern Kentucky – Covington Catholic twice and Highlands. And they haven’t forgotten here.
Do you think anyone here cares about Northern Kentucky’s bad “luck” with the bad “draws?” Even after the No. 1 Ninth Region threat – Newport – was knocked out Thursday by a tough, gritty Campbell County team that would have been easy for the Rupp Arena crowd to adopt as a favorite, there was no way that was going to happen.
Nope, they waited until they could jump onto the Harlan County bandwagon – a team that outsized the Camels at every position and is 145 miles from Lexington, 65 more than Alexandria – and rooted them home. That was something Harlan County, thanks to the incredible 48-point performance of Trent Noah, deserved.
Taylen Kinney and four other top-seven Newport Wildcats could give Rupp Arena another Northern Kentucky team the fans won’t like next year. (Photo by Dale Dawn/NKyTribune)
And maybe didn’t, thanks to a series of head-banging calls that almost all went Harlan’s way as the game turned around to start the fourth quarter. Fingertip hand check by the Camels. Quick foul. Two-hand grab, shove, re-direct and steal by Harlan County, no harm, no foul. Two Black Bears propel the ball out of bounds. Harlan ball. Did the officials get caught up in the Harlan comeback? Yeah. But how do you get upset at that. They’re high school officials calling a high school tournament. If they were good enough not to get influenced by the crowd, they’d be calling college games for a lot more money.
How odd was the officiating? Well, in his first three Sweet 16 games, Noah, the 6-foot-6 shooting guard headed for South Carolina, shot 36 free throws against the teams nobody here wanted to see win. But in the championship game, how many free throws did Noah get? Zero would be the correct answer. The entire Harlan County team shot two free throws in the championship game against Lyon County.
So here we were at Friday night’s late game thinking how the KHSAA had its dream scenario. A mountain team just dispatched Northern Kentucky’s second “Thursday night” team on Friday night and then in the late game, with 9 ½ hours less rest than the top bracket team in Saturday’s semis were the two Louisville schools with one certain to go and the other certain to have lest rest.
Perfect.
NEWPORT LOOKING AS GOOD AS ANYONE NOW
With the way this turned out, Newport beat state champion Lyon County in the All “A” Classic in Corbin with a not completely healthy Taylen Kinney and maybe could have done so again. Newport also beat another semifinalist, Evangel Christian, in the All “A”. The third semifinalist, Great Crossing, managed to beat Newport, 48-46 in December. So looking back at the Sweet 16, maybe no one comes out better than Newport.
And with four of the top six Wildcats back for two more seasons and five of the top seven next year, there’s a chance the Rupp Arena crowd will have a Northern Kentucky team to root against as it comes out of – we’ll guess — the bottom bracket. Although we’re also guessing Cooper is saying the same thing.
Let us be the Northern Kentucky team everybody wants to root against down here.
And if UK is recruiting Kinney the way we think they’d better be, maybe that changes the entire dynamic at Rupp – although we wouldn’t bet on it.
THE CALIPARI CONUNDRUM
John Calipari (NKyTribune file photo)
It’s obvious John Calipari’s time has run out at UK. The amazing thing about being in Lexington for UK’s Loss to NKU’s Horizon League buddy, Oakland, is that not one person we talked to or listened to could – or would – make the case for keeping Calipari around. But it was more sadness than anger.
Sadness at how UK could lose in the NCAA scoring just 76 points against a team NKU scored 99 points on in a 10-point overtime win last month where the Oakland zone, that Calipari said “we knew was going to be tough” did not seem to deter NKU’s shooters.
And yet, not a single person could – or would – say that UK can afford to get rid of Calipari with – as everyone here knows – his $33 million buyout. Think about how that would play in a town within 100 miles of a number of counties with the lowest life expectancy in the U.S. and the worst health outcomes.
Can’t do it. No matter where those dollars would come from, Kentucky can’t spend that kind of money getting a failed basketball coach to leave town.
Reed Sheppard (Photo by Dan Weber/NKyTribune)
So here’s the obvious problem: Calipari can’t stay . . . and Kentucky can’t make him go away. But if there’s any doubt that it’s time for Cal to go, here is his record the last five seasons that ended with a pair of embarrassing first-round losses in the SEC and NCAA tourneys for a young, extremely talented team the fans fell in love with and “was built for March,” Cal kept telling us.
Over the last five seasons, with almost no postseason success, Cal has won 105 games, lost 52, for a winning percentage of 66.9.
Here’s how the UK coaches who came before him the last half-century fared their last five seasons:
Adolph Rupp: 114 wins, 25 losses, 82.0 winning percentage.
Joe B. Hall: 114 wins, 34 losses, 77.0 winning percentage.
Rick Pitino: 154 wins, 23 losses, 87.0 winning percentage.
Tubby Smith: 131 wins, 40 losses, 77.8 winning percentage.
Not on the list: Billy Gillispie, who lasted just two seasons with a 40-27 record and a 59.7 winning percentage, the only coach with a worse record than Calipari’s.
But why just the last five years, you ask? Well, it was in 2019 when Calipari signed that “lifetime” contract that pretty much insulates him from pressure or criticism, at least none that matters to him. He doesn’t have to change. Doesn’t have to adjust. Pretty much doesn’t have to do anything but rake in that eight-figure salary every year.
Although here’s a question for Cal. If he cares about his players as much as he says he does, especially the young guys like Reed Sheppard, and if he were the father of one of them, would he recommend that they come to UK? Or would he suggest they go somewhere else where they could have more success playing for a better coach?
Our next question for Cal is whether it’s time for him to go somewhere else after working out a reasonable separation agreement with a UK program that has been so good to him?
Just Askin’.
Contact Dan Weber at dweber3440@aol.com. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) @dweber3440.
Great article.