Kentucky suffered its second opening-round NCAA Tournament loss in three years on Thursday night, falling 80-76 to 13th-seeded Oakland. John Fanta examines what this loss means for John Calipari's future at Kentucky.
Last May, Kentucky coach John Calipari joined me for an exclusive conversation for FOXSports.com. In our one-on-one, he opened up about the recent shortcomings of his program and the Wildcats' inability to get to the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament, dating back to 2019. 'We have to finish better,' the 15th-year head coach said. 'The last couple of years, we have not been able to go on that run that we expect to here.
' Simply put, Oakland's collection of seasoned Division II transfers, Gohlke and DQ Cole, along with senior Trey Townsend, were too much for the youth of the Cats. Calipari gave the same old song and dance on Thursday night when talking about the future, raving about his No. 2-ranked recruiting class headlined by five-star incoming freshman Jayden Quaintance. 'We have an unbelievable group coming in that I feel really good about,' Calipari said.
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