Can John Calipari, Kentucky stay hot?
Kentucky coach at peace with ’Cats’ placement
By the time the Kentucky men’s basketball team arrived at coach John Calipari’s house for the NCAA tournament selection show Sunday, all the suspense had ended.
The Wildcats, who had flown back to Lexington from the Southeastern Conference tournament title game in Nashville, had been announced as the No. 2 seed in the South Region with a first-round matchup against Northern Kentucky. Players knew No. 1 seed North Carolina, a team the Wildcats beat Dec. 17, and No. 3 seed UCLA, a team the Wildcats lost to Dec. 3, were possible impediments to a Final Four trip.
But as Calipari joined his players and news media assembled around his living room to watch what was left of the selection show, the CBS broadcast displayed the possible path to the Final Four for West Region No. 1 seed Gonzaga.
“What region is that?” Calipari asked.
When told it was the West, he smiled, said, “Wow,” and put his face in his hands.
Calipari is no stranger to leaving Selection Sunday with a sour taste in his mouth. A year ago, he was miffed by Texas A&M being seeded higher than his team despite beating the Aggies earlier that day. In 2014, he was shocked when an inconsistent UK squad was dropped to a No. 8 seed with a possible second-round matchup against undefeated Wichita State.
It’s unclear whether Calipari’s reaction to the West Region was one of surprise or annoyance, but for once Calipari seemed relatively accepting of UK’s tournament path.
“I don’t know another region,” Calipari said. “I mean, there’s got to be some others that are tough, too. ... Guys did what they were supposed to. They did it in tournament play and finished the year and won tough games and got down and still won.”
After Northern Kentucky, eligible for the tournament for the first time as a Division I program, clinched its bid, many projected brackets included a matchup for the Norse with Kentucky or Louisville.
Calipari had no problem with the committee placing his squad against one of the smallest programs from the state, and he was thrilled to learn the Indianapolis pod would start Friday.
“If you look back, they fired us in on Thursday,” Calipari said. “Like, ‘Deal with that!’ You know, they gave us Thursdays. That stuff is hard — they gave us five games, folks, in eight days. The NBA doesn’t do that.”
Asked if he thought his team had played well enough to deserve a No. 1 seed, Calipari pointed to some of the other programs playing well across the country.
He could not avoid noting the one seed the Wildcats did draw was among the toughest.
“Right now when you talk about who’s got the team, it’s probably North Carolina,” he said. “But that’s fine. We played our way in. From what everybody’s saying, could you imagine a couple brackets tougher than ours?”
Fans will immediately focus on the possibility of Kentucky facing UCLA and North Carolina for the second time this season in the tournament’s second weekend in Memphis.
UK seniors Dominique Hawkins (a guard) and Derek Willis (a forward) insisted players will not look that far ahead.
“I don’t really care who we play, to be honest with you,” Willis said. “I feel like we got to worry about the first two games rather than the games potentially.”
Calipari planned to shift his focus to preparing for Northern Kentucky right away. Some members of his staff planned to begin scouting possible second-round opponents in No. 7 seed Dayton and No. 10 seed Wichita State, but Calipari wants that information kept away from him until after the opening game.
“I love Indy,” Calipari said. “What a great place to be. It’s a great town. It’s a city, but it’s kind of like a small town, so it’ll be great. And they’re Basketball Bennies up there, and the greatest thing is our fans can get there and they probably already scooped up a ton of those tickets, knowing our fans.”
Kentucky enters the tournament on an 11-game winning streak. After a 17-point win against Arkansas in the SEC tournament title game, Calipari and players said they are confident the team is playing some of its best basketball of the season.
It’s that performance that likely had players unconcerned about what team the bracket would match them up against.
“I feel good about it,” Hawkins said. “We got a great seed, and we’re ready to play.”
Hale writes for The (Louisville) Courier-Journal, part of the USA TODAY Network.