It is an ego problem. How many times must you lose by doing the same dumb thing? Foul at ANY time when you have Reeves AND Sheppard as your closers....you freaking IDIOT! How many times must your team lose for you to understand that?
Of course, my disappointment grew with every passing minute tonight because 1) they're not nearly as good as hoped, 2) we cannot guard a sloth, and are still making huge fundamental defensive mistakes, 3) once again, we cannot play with a full lineup, 4) while Onyenso had a nice game, there is no verifiable inside attack with three seven-footers on your team. Add in that in most every instance when it counts, that Calipari is outcoached. He refuses to use timeouts because if he calls one and it doesn't work out, it's "on the kids."
By the way, when you're AT HOME and you have FT shooters in Reeves and Sheppard, YOU FOUL!!!!!!!!! It's NOT rocket science, but it is EGO. He's an egotistical, stubborn-ass, losing-ass saboteur even as a HOF coach. It happened against Kansas when he lost the national championship, against Wisconsin, against Kansas St, against St Peter's, against Evansville, against North Carolina, and against a multitude of other teams.
At the gold standard, the Kentucky standard, you have to be much better and you have to be much smarter. At the end of the game, you have to be much smarter than you knowledge of basketball, and part of that is reigning in a runaway ego.
Finally, this is hugely disappointing and demoralizing. Youth (and he better not use that as an excuse) helped lose this particular game, one we should have won 9 of 10 times, and a profound lack of appreciation for and understanding of our history of winning and tradition of excellence. So we also see clearly, that a number one recruiting class and subsequent pending exodus to the NBA, is NOT what a successful college basketball program should use as its foundation.