{"id":46608,"date":"2022-08-16T03:38:15","date_gmt":"2022-08-16T03:38:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/if-john-calipari-wants-to-declare-kentucky-a-basketball-school-its-time-for-him-to-back-it-up\/"},"modified":"2022-08-16T03:38:15","modified_gmt":"2022-08-16T03:38:15","slug":"if-john-calipari-wants-to-declare-kentucky-a-basketball-school-its-time-for-him-to-back-it-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/if-john-calipari-wants-to-declare-kentucky-a-basketball-school-its-time-for-him-to-back-it-up\/","title":{"rendered":"If John Calipari wants to declare Kentucky &#8216;a basketball school,&#8217; it&#8217;s time for him to back it up"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p>John Calipari isn&#8217;t wrong that the University of Kentucky is a basketball school.  That&#8217;s what he told the Athletic last week and any suggestion, let alone any huffing and puffing, to the contrary is ridiculous.<\/p>\n<p>That&#8217;s not a shot at Mark Stoops&#8217; football program, which this week is ranked in the AP preseason poll for the first time since 1978. Stoops has done excellent work building things up and delivering his second 10-3 season last year.<\/p>\n<p>Yet Kentucky is still a basketball school, one with eight national championships and a heightened level of expectations.<\/p>\n<p>That is exactly why Calipari needs to deliver another national title, which would be his second, to Lexington either this year or next.  It appears he will have enough talent to do just that.<\/p>\n<p>Is that an impossibly high barrier to determine success?  Of course it is.  A couple Final Fours would probably place the masses.  maybe.<\/p>\n<p>But that&#8217;s what makes it a basketball school.  Good isn&#8217;t good enough.  Considering the roster Calipari has to work with and the fact his team hasn&#8217;t won a national title in 11 seasons, there should be a desperate urgency around the team.  And that&#8217;s before you tack on a 9-16 season in 2020-21 and a first-round NCAA exit at the hands of Saint Peter&#8217;s last year.<\/p>\n<p>No one knows that more than Calipari, who has never lowered expectations or shied away from the fiercest recruiting battles or tried to minimize the program&#8217;s immense history and power.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"caas-figure\">\n<div class=\"caas-figure-with-pb\" style=\"max-height: 640px\">\n<div>\n<div class=\"caas-img-container caas-img-loader\" style=\"padding-bottom:67%;\"><noscript><img alt=\"Kentucky football coach Mark Stoops, left, wasn't happy with UK hoops coach John Calipari saying 'this is a basketball school.'  (Pablo Alcala\/Lexington Herald Leader\/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)\" src=\"https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/ny\/api\/res\/1.2\/3MSUWsOkzSfyggDyvjzxZw--\/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTk2MDtoPTY0MA--\/https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/os\/creatr-uploaded-images\/2022-08\/4d999b80-1b66-11ed-bfaf-9434fa26b740\" class=\"caas-img\"\/><\/noscript><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><figcaption class=\"caption-collapse\">Kentucky football coach Mark Stoops, left, wasn&#8217;t happy with UK hoops coach John Calipari saying &#8216;this is a basketball school.&#8217;  (Pablo Alcala\/Lexington Herald Leader\/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p>His comments last week about being a basketball school and hoping Kentucky would continue to invest in the program as such \u2014 namely in the construction of a new practice facility and museum \u2014 were based on that thinking.  This sport matters, so the school can&#8217;t fall behind other schools where it also matters.<\/p>\n<p>Where things got sideways \u2014 either purposefully or clumsily, depending on whether you believe Calipari \u2014 came when he brought up the football program.<\/p>\n<div class=\"caas-pull-quote-wrapper caas-img caas-lazy\" data-src=\"\">\n<blockquote class=\"caas-blockquote\">\n<p>&#8220;This is a basketball school,&#8221; Calipari told The Athletic last week. &#8220;It&#8217;s always been that. &#8220;Alabama is a football school.  So is Georgia.  I mean, they are.  No disrespect to our football team.  I hope they win 10 games and go to bowls \u2026<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<p><button class=\"link caas-button collapse-button\" aria-label=\"\" title=\"\" data-ylk=\"elm:readmore;slk:Story continues\">Story continues<\/button><\/p>\n<div class=\"caas-pull-quote-wrapper caas-img caas-lazy\" data-src=\"\">\n<blockquote class=\"caas-blockquote\">\n<p>\u201cBut this is a basketball school,\u201d he continued.  \u201cAnd so we need to keep moving in that direction and keep doing what we&#8217;re doing.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<p>Football coach Mark Stoops took exception to the comments.  So did athletic director Mitch Barnhart.  That&#8217;s fine.  Calipari was wrong to compare UK football to any other program.  He&#8217;s acknowledged that.  And passive-aggressive lines like \u201cwin 10 games\u201d and thus implying UK football is a second-tier program at best did n&#8217;t help his cause.  Stoops apparently is n&#8217;t returning his calls.<\/p>\n<p>Still, if Barnhart is smart he&#8217;ll heed Calipari&#8217;s wishes, or at least perspective, no matter how poorly expressed.  If Cal feels his program is being ignored, then that&#8217;s a problem.  If nothing else, this should have been handled \u2014 quietly, as Barnhard no doubt prefers \u2014 long ago.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI&#8217;m not real thrilled at where we are,\u201d Barnhart said.  \u201cGrown-ups are going to have to figure this out and be a little better.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He then added comments seemingly directed at Calipari: \u201cSometimes when you get a little bit of success, you get a little entitled.  We will be a grateful [athletic] department.  We will not be entitled.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Oh boy.  This probably isn&#8217;t just going to get soothed over with a quick staff meeting.<\/p>\n<p>That means Calipari needs to win big this year even more than before.  Based on his team&#8217;s play during a series of exhibition games last weekend in the Bahamas, he certainly has the players.  The Wildcats look deep, long and athletic around Oscar Tshiebwe, the returning national player of the year.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, Calipari has verbal commitments from two top-five players in the Class of 2023, Justin Edwards and Robert Dillingham, and a real shot still with DaJuan Wagner Jr.  and Aaron Bradshaw.<\/p>\n<p>You could argue the recruiting success proves Calipari doesn&#8217;t need a new practice facility to continue to lure great players to Lexington \u2014 Barnhart called the 15-year old Craft Center \u201cstate of the art.\u201d  It is undoubtedly incredible, but a coach&#8217;s job to make sure the program doesn&#8217;t fall behind and the facilities arms race is relentless.<\/p>\n<p>Either way, Calipari needs another national title to remind Wildcat fans and administrators what he has brought to the program.  No, he didn&#8217;t build it like Stoops \u2014 who cracked about how his program \u201cdidn&#8217;t wake up on third base.\u201d  But UK had faded during the end of the Tubby Smith era and continued during Billy Gillispie&#8217;s two-year stint.<\/p>\n<p>Calipari reinvigorated it and brought a parade of otherworldly talent to town.  Should he have another title or two?  Duration.  The 2014-15 team that started 38-0 might hurt the most.  But he&#8217;s been good to UK and the standard is not winning mid-level bowl games or padding records on weak non-conference slates.<\/p>\n<p>Stoops should be proud of what he&#8217;s done.  Kentucky football is legit now and not long ago, that seemed impossible.  Calipari should apologize for dragging him into what looks like a coach-administration financing battle.<\/p>\n<p>Then Coach Cal should go prove both what his program and he is about by winning it all.  soon.<\/p>\n<p>That&#8217;s how this all gets put to rest.  Perhaps the only way.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>John Calipari isn&#8217;t wrong that the University of Kentucky is a basketball school. That&#8217;s what he told the Athletic last week and any suggestion, let alone any huffing and puffing, to the contrary is ridiculous. That&#8217;s not a shot at Mark Stoops&#8217; football program, which this week is ranked in the AP preseason poll for &hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"> <a class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/if-john-calipari-wants-to-declare-kentucky-a-basketball-school-its-time-for-him-to-back-it-up\/\"> <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">If John Calipari wants to declare Kentucky &#8216;a basketball school,&#8217; it&#8217;s time for him to back it up<\/span> Read More &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":44469,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/i-stay-in-my-lane\/","url_meta":{"origin":46608,"position":0},"title":"&#8216;I stay in my lane&#8217;","date":"August 13, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"A passionate Mark Stoops defended the Kentucky football program on Saturday after comments earlier in the week from men's basketball coach John Calipari in which he called the university a \"basketball school.\"Stoops responded immediately on Thursday, tweeting, \"Basketball school? I thought we competed in the SEC?\"He spoke publicly for the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Sports&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":44796,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/john-calipari-on-basketball-school-comments-i-said-the-wrong-thing\/","url_meta":{"origin":46608,"position":1},"title":"John Calipari on &#8220;basketball school&#8221; comments: &#8220;I said the wrong thing&#8221;","date":"August 14, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"On Thursday, John Calipari created quite the stir within the athletics department when he said he believes his team deserves a new practice facility because Kentucky is a basketball school first and foremost. The comment did not sit well with Mark Stoops, who immediately fired back on social media and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Sports&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":43271,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/john-calipari-says-kentucky-is-a-basketball-school-but-football-coach-mark-stoops-questions-if-thats-true\/","url_meta":{"origin":46608,"position":2},"title":"John Calipari says Kentucky &#8216;is a basketball school&#8217; but football coach Mark Stoops questions if that&#8217;s true","date":"August 12, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Kentucky basketball coach John Calipari woke up Thursday and decided to publicly make the case for his program to get a new practice facility. So he talked with The Athletic's Kyle Tucker, explained how he had to stop a recent workout because the roof was leaking in the 15-year-old Joe\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Sports&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":41921,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/kentucky-basketball-crushes-dominican-republic-4-takeaways-and-postgame-cheers\/","url_meta":{"origin":46608,"position":3},"title":"Kentucky Basketball crushes Dominican Republic: 4 takeaways and postgame cheers","date":"August 11, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Kentucky basketball is back! Well, kind of. The Kentucky Wildcats dominated the Dominican Republic National Select Team by a score of 108-56 on Wednesday night in their first of four games down in the Big Blue Bahamas. The Cats came out ready to put on a show as they dominated\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Sports&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":42185,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/takeaways-from-kentuckys-game-1-in-the-bahamas-vs-dominican-republic-select\/","url_meta":{"origin":46608,"position":4},"title":"Takeaways from Kentucky&#8217;s Game 1 in the Bahamas vs.  Dominican Republic Select","date":"August 11, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Your University of Kentucky Wildcats put a 100-piece on the scoreboard in their first of four preseason exhibition games at Baha Mar Resort in the Bahamas, opening up against a team from the Dominican Republic that never stood a chance from the jump. The DR did hold one lead in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Sports&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/on3static.com\/uploads\/dev\/assets\/cms\/2022\/08\/10212806\/DR-128364-1024x683.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/os\/creatr-uploaded-images\/2022-08\/4d999b80-1b66-11ed-bfaf-9434fa26b740","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46608"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46608"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46608\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46608"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46608"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46608"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}