Everyone is disappointed in this year of Kentucky basketball, which was supposed to see the Cats return to Final Four form. And I know there will be a lot of bashing of this thread for even raising the question of whether things will improve, but so be it.
The prevailing sentiment on this board, if not among basketball fans or even Kentucky fans in the larger world, is that John Calipari has lost his mojo and will never adjust and get the Cats back to Elite status. Even people who aren't hysterics by nature understand Kentucky needs to change, and that begins with the head coach.
Is that even possible? No one knows the future. But I'd be really, really surprised if Cal is going anywhere for at least two or three years, so it is worth looking at where a coach can make the adjustments and have some success late in his career.
I looked at Coach K's overall record, which includes two late championships in 2010 and 2015 (both painful years for Kentucky fans.)
K was roughly the age Cal is now before the 2010 win, so the comparison as to age is not out of line.
And it is easy to remember K's successes in that period, especially the two titles.
But K also had two stretches that were arguably as bad as Calipari's three year stretch since Kentucky lost in OT in the Elite Eight in 2019. (THat doesn't count the year the tourney was canceled. Ken tucky was outright SEC champ so at least arguably a FF contender.)
K didn't have a year like the post-Covid year of 9-16. But he did lose to a 15 seed (LeHigh) and a 14 seed (Mercer) and an 11 seed (VCU, pre-Shaka Smart.) He won the title in 2010 after a five year drought that included that loss to an 11-seed and a miracle 1-point win over a 15-seeded Belmont, before losing in the next round. And he won in 2015 after losses to a 15 seed LeHigh and a 14 seed Mercer and a couple other lackluster tournaments.
K adjusted, in part, by mimicking Calipari and going to OADs. Can Cal adjust to today's successful strategies? That remains to be seen. But as K showed, it is not impossible.
(NOTE: I know someone is going to say immediately 'Kentucky should have won both those years in 2010 and 2015!' Even If Kentucky had beaten Duke in the Finals both those years, the point I'm opening for debate would have been the same that after a few rough years K got back to the FF and beyond.)
