UK Basketball Team: What Happened?

They've got multiple All-Americans, with 3 or 4 kids planning to do the NBA draft this year. The coach is paid close to $4 MILLION per year - Recipe for success, right? Sadly, the UK Kitty seems to have choked on a hairball.

The University of Kentucky basketball team is in danger of not even being in the NCAA tournament unless they do well in the SEC tournament, which they certainly could win. The rest of their league is down this year, which sadly, is one reason they've won some of the games they won. But this could work in their favor come tournament time, especially since it may be "do or die" for them.

What happened?  Part of it is the players are used to being stars and didn't know how to be a team.  This was the case at the beginning of the season, and frankly, like most people, I did not think it would be a big problem. After all, they'd get it together and by Christmas, they'd be winning all of their games. But that never happened.

To hear the coach talk, it's an un-coachable team. They don't want to do what he says. You know what I think? I think that the problem is that despite being paid big bucks, John Calipari simply isn't as good a coach as people thought he was. It would take a superstar to match his ego, but even the casual fan assumed they'd have a great season with that line-up.  I've never coached a basketball team older than middle school, but I'm not sure I would've done a whole lot worse. If nothing else, I'd have bribed them with chocolate chip cookies.

A GOOD coach takes even mediocre players and motivates them to try hard. He teaches them the basics and teaches them to work his style of play. If they don't cooperate, he disciplines them by putting them on the bench and letting someone else play. That has been proven to work wonders. I've seen other coaches (such as Rick Pitino with last year's UL team) take worse players and get them ready to play.  UK's coach doesn't seem to be interested in doing this. In interviews after games, he throws the team under the bus. (Way to build loyalty, Coach)

Not long ago, a star player was hurt. But you know what? They were down by 12 points halfway through the 2nd half with him in the game. They'd been losing games before he got hurt. Losing him is NOT what caused their problems. But I thought that it might encourage the others to step up their game a bit. I've seen other teams do that, but for whatever reason, UK players just don't seem to care this year.

At this point, it's a ridiculous situation with sportstalk shows speculating on how many UK players are drafted in which round of the NBA and at the same time, wondering if the team will even play in the NCAA tournament. Does this go together? Did the players just decide to skip this season because they're already mentally cashing checks next season? If I were an NBA coach, I'd be wary of recruiting someone that didn't even know how to play college ball.  (NOT choosing them could be the best thing that happens to them. They'd get off their high horse and work next year, giving UK the team they expected this year.)

Part of me feels sorry for the dedicated UK fans because frankly, they just plain aren't used to losing, especially at Rupp.  Another part of me is reminded that this is partly their fault as well. The desire to get "the best of the best" players, those headed to the NBA, leaves you with teams that are almost always young players. True, their "inexperienced" players could supposedly (until this year, anyway) out-play any seasoned team full of seniors in the country. The "one and done" philosophy has come around to bite UK this year.

The real unfair thing is that even though the fans are suffering through a miserable season, the players will go on to get multi-million dollar contracts in a few months, and the coach cashes his check no matter what. I'm not a UK fan, though I'm not an enemy either. I'm just objectively pointing out the obvious. I've been spoiled. My team, while they may not win it all, almost always plays with heart. They enjoy playing basketball.

Don't give up Wildcats. Your season is still salvageable. I suspect the prospect of not making the NCAA might finally motivate your prima dona players into playing to win. And once there, it's just a game at a time.

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