Seldom at a loss for words, John Calipari occasionally found himself in that unusual position on Monday during a pre-recorded segment of his weekly radio show when attempting to explain how Kentucky's once-promising season was suddenly derailed last Thursday in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament.
"Devastating," the Kentucky coach said of the Wildcats' 85-79 overtime loss to Saint Peter's in the East Region, the first time in program history that UK has lost to an opponent seeded as high as 15.
"It's hard to talk about. I mean, our teams have always performed late in the year, so I'm like, you know, you've got to go back and look over everything and evaluate everything like I do every year. I have to do that, and I've started that process... I don't have all the answers yet."
Many national analysts had Kentucky picked to reach the Final Four as the 2 seed in the East. Instead, the Wildcats' season ended at 26-8 and left their rabid fan base searching for answers.
Among them:
Why was UK so uptight facing a team that had never won an NCAA Tournament game?
An unexplainable anxiety, Calipari surmised.
What happened to UK's once-stingy defense, sliced apart by an 11-loss team from the MAAC that entered the tourney ranked No. 260 nationally in KenPom's offensive efficiency rankings?
Mid-season injuries may have derailed a unit that once ranked near KenPom's Top 10 for defensive efficiency, the UK boss said. He wondered aloud if TyTy Washington may have been hurting more than he was letting on late in the season, trying to gut it out for his teammates.
Where was Jacob Toppin in the second half after a strong first-half performance?
A veritable "My bad," Calipari offered.
Why didn't Calipari use a timeout in an attempt to set up a potential game-winning play at the end of the second half?
Just not his thing. He never likes giving the defense a chance to set up. "I've always coached that way."
What was the final play in regulation supposed to be?
In theory, point guard Sahvir Wheeler would penetrate and get the ball up on the rim. Either it's good, or there's a good chance that national player of the year candidate Oscar Tshiebwe is going to grab the rebound and put it back in, Calipari said. A play the Cats have worked on many times in practice, he added, reiterating that he did not feel a timeout was needed. "He saw something different," Calipari said of Wheeler, and the Cats settled for an off-balance heave from Washington that left no time for a Tshiebwe putback.
What does the future hold for a program that, due to the Covid-19 season and last year's disastrous 9-16 campaign, astoundingly has not won a tournament game since March 29, 2019?
"At this point, we're saying 'What are we going to do and how do we move forward?'" Calipari said. "The grieving and shock and bewilderment... anger... people are still angry. There was a point where I was angry, but I've got to be about these kids. Despair? Heck yeah. I didn't get out of the bed for a day. But then you have acceptance and the resolve to say, 'Alright, here's what we were. Here's what happened. Here's where we're going from here.'"
And who will be part of next year's team? Will Shaedon Sharpe ever suit up for UK?
Season wrap-up meetings have begun, Calipari said. Sharpe, the five-star wing who practiced with the Cats and sat on UK's bench since January but never played, will likely "explore" his NBA Draft options, as may a couple of other unspecified players. Sharpe had come with the intention of working out with the Cats this semester before playing next season, but now some NBA mock drafts have tabbed him as a Top 10 pick in June.
"I'm feeling good about where we are going," Calipari said. "It's just hard to get by that last game, me as the coach and the fans."
