John Calipari has done it. He has disgraced the very name of college basketball once again and continues to be the primary reason for the negative views of college basketball today.
Calipari, the head coach of the Kentucky Wildcats men’s basketball team, recently wrote a blog titled, “The vision of the program: where we’re going.” In it, Calipari was sure to take a shot at Duke and its recruiting methods.
“…There’s been #NoFlipFlop during our time here,” Calipari said in the post. “I refuse to go in a home and paint a picture saying things like, ‘If you come with us, you’ll be taken care of for the rest of your life by the program and by our alums’ even though you may only be in school for a year or two.”
Calipari then went on to say, “How preposterous does that sound? What if I say that same thing and the young man decides to transfer for one reason or another?” It is evidently clear Calipari was referring to recent Duke transfer Derryck Thornton Jr. in the statement.
Thornton decided to come out of high school a year early to join the Blue Devils after point guard Tyus Jones decided to enter the draft, leaving Duke with virtually no options at point guard. After this past year, Thornton decided to transfer due to lack of playing time.
This blog is an issue because it once again shows the problem that we have today in college basketball, and its name is John Calipari.
In his 24 years of coaching in college, he has one national championship to his name, coming in 2012 when he had future All-NBA first-team power forward and three-time NBA All-Star Anthony Davis.
Calipari had arguably one of the best rosters in college basketball history in 2009-10 which featured John Wall, DeMarcus Cousins, Patrick Patterson and Eric Bledsoe, yet failed to make the Final Four that year.
The 2014-15 team was also considered to be one of the best in history. The squad was headed for greatness after completing an undefeated regular season. It was abruptly stopped in the Final Four by Wisconsin. This roster had players such as Karl-Anthony Towns, Willie Cauley-Stein, the Harrison twins, Devin Booker and Trey Lyles.
Why did both of these historic teams fail to leave their places in history? John Calipari.
Calipari knows how to recruit, certainly. He’s had three No. 1 overall NBA Draft picks, 17 first-round picks and 23 total players drafted since 2010. These numbers prove he knows how to recruit great players to Kentucky.
But he doesn’t care about any of his player’s academics. It is evident that winning games and a place in the Hall of Fame is more important than a sound education and preparing these kids for life.
While that may be fine because these kids want an NBA career, criticizing others of their methods shouldn’t even be an option based on what he does with his players. Calipari honestly condemns other techniques, then uses his own questionable ways.
Reasons why Calipari does not have the right to criticize other programs stem from the vacating of Final Fours at two different schools. He is the only coach in history to have this done; it seems he really did write his own piece of history.
Calipari coached at University of Massachusetts from 1988-1996 and at Memphis from 2000-09. He received both of his Naismith Coach of the Year awards in those years that the wins were vacated.
The idea of this man criticizing a person like Duke men’s basketball head coach Mike Krzyzewski and company is ridiculous. The worst thing fans have ever heard of Coach K is the incident in which he told Oregon stud Dillon Brooks he was “too good” to be shooting at the end of the game in which the outcome was already decided.
Krzyzewski has yet to challenge the integrity of the game. Calipari chooses to ridicule a man who has won five national championships in three different decades, and he has done it with a variety of players. He’s done it with seniors one year and one-and-dones another.
Coach K has beat Calipari at his own game, and Calipari is not taking it very well. The only way he knows to respond is to criticize someone else. He has to find fault with another’s methods in order to feel better about himself.
The difference between Calipari and Krzyzewski is this: Krzyzewski can use any player in the books to establish a dominant and winning team. Calipari has to have top-of-the-line recruits and/or an easy schedule — let’s face it, the SEC isn’t exactly a loaded basketball conference — to establish dominance.
Maybe once Calipari catches up to other coaches in national championship wins he can run his mouth about their ways. Until then, he needs to focus on himself and learning how to finish.