John Calipari Has a New Task

Man, what a Saturday. Down goes Kansas in a massive upset at the hands of Northern Iowa. Kentucky, up for the challenge, wasted no time in stepping into the void left by the presumptive Tourney favorite. UK issued a beatdown of extraordinary proportions to Wake Forest prompting Deacon coach Dino Gaudio to lump praise on the ‘Cats, ranking them up there with former national championship squads.

Squads like Syracuse and, to a lesser extent, Duke, Kansas State, and West Virginia, have shown themselves to be in the conversation, but odds are, if you tune in to get some perspective on the Tournament from the talking heads this week, you’re going to hear about how impressive the ‘Cats were and how they have the inside track to not only the Final Four, but also the national title.

If Coach Cal is reading this right now (which would be awesome), I can guarantee you he’s cringing. Getting his young team to play with the hunger necessary to win ball games in March has been a constant challenge. Cal has been using the fact that many pundits have called UK too inexperienced to get in done in March as motivation, which proved to be pretty effective this Thursday and Saturday. If those same pundits begin to turn around and christen the ‘Cats as premature national champs, Cal loses that edge.

John Calipari’s job has constantly evolved this season. First, he had to bring together a diverse group of personalities and begin to meld them into a cohesive unit. Then, he had to figure out how to utilize DeMarcus Cousins in an offense that doesn’t typically call for tossing it into the post most possessions. He’s had to navigate the typical peaks and valleys for his individual players. All along, he’s had the weight of the UK job and the platform it affords him on his shoulders. Oh yeah, and he’s been recruiting under the assumption that most of his main contributors this year will be gone next season.

Looking at that, maybe the $35+ million contract isn’t so ridiculous.

Cal’s latest challenge is maintaining the laser focus that UK showed this weekend instilled in his players even though the source of some that intensity is gone, or at least changed. UK has been praised and hyped all season, but this week, it will reach a different level nationally.

Here’s the question I’ll be asking and that Cal will be trying to answer: against 12th seeded Cornell, after a week of being told how great they are, are the ‘Cats going to have their fastball?