Q&A with a Kentucky Wildcats fan
How do their questions help predict the future of Arkansas Razorbacks Basketball?
The Bluegrass State doth protest too much, methinks.
The internet is rife with Kentucky Wildcats fans who just cannot quite seem to get over losing Calipari. I get it. Breaking up is hard to do. It takes the average person about three months to fully heal from a breakup. It can take even longer to heal from a divorce, which is what we’re dealing with in the case of Cal and the cats after 15 years together.
Kentucky fans are grasping at whatever coping strategies they can find. The current group favorite is to just outright bash Calipari and tarnish his legacy at their own school.
I sat down with one of these fans to rationally answer some of their ridiculous questions.
Wildcat Fan Question 1: You realize he hasn’t been winning in March, right?
Absolutely. This has been well-documented among all college basketball fans. People love to see a blue-blood struggle and relish every time it happens. So, yes, we’re all aware that since making the Elite Eight in 2019, Kentucky is just 1-3 in tournament games.
Even with those down years, Calipari has a career NCAA tournament record of 57-22, which is good for a 72 percent winning percentage. That’s with his two vacated Final Four runs (one at UMass, one at Memphis) removed from the equation.
Calipari has the 17th-best career winning percentage all-time in the NCAA Tournament. His record is better than that of coaches like Jim Calhoun, Tom Izzo, Bill Self, Dean Smith, and Jay Wright.
It’s also better than a man named Rick Pitino. You know that name. You just plucked your new coaching fruit from his tree.
He’s also still holding it down in the regular season. Calipari has won 77 percent of his games at Kentucky and 75 percent of SEC games.
If Calipari’s March record is concerning to you, wait until you hear about Mark Pope’s.
Wildcat Fan Question 2: You realize he has no idea how to recruit the portal, right?
Calipari expressed two things in his opening remarks at Arkansas. First, he shared that he will never stop trying to bring in the best Freshmen in the country because he loves that part of his job. Second, he recognizes that the game is evolving and that he has to grow with it.
He’s done that growing in a big, big way. Calipari has landed two of the top ten portal targets in college basketball, according to On3. He’s also landed another recruit, Zvonimir Ivisic, who brings a ton of worldly experience. I believe you are familiar with him.
Wildcat Fan Question 3: You realize Kentucky is the brand, not Cal, right?
No one is arguing that you aren’t one of the bluest of blue bloods—not Arkansas fans, not Cal himself. No one is trying to take that away from you.
At the same time, how was the brand under Billy Gillespie? Or how was it those last three years under Tubby Smith? Kentucky basketball had a dark half-decade before Calipari came along and fixed things.
Players—specifically Boogie Fland, Ivisic, Karter Knox, and Billy Richmond—also disagree with you. The only commit you kept from Calipari’s class was a Kentucky native whose dad was Pope’s roommate.
Do you want me to bring up Cal’s former players? I don’t think you want me to bring up Cal’s former players.
If Calipari and Kentucky are both brands, you tell me which one seems stronger right now.
Follow-up question: You realize he’s out there telling recruits that Arkansas is Cal U, right?
You realize that it’s literally impossible for me to care less what he says to a recruit.
Wildcat Fan Question 4: You realize Mark Pope is already out recruiting Cal at Kentucky, right?
Pope is winning hearts and minds and occasionally winning recruiting battles.
But under no circumstances or metrics is he out-recruiting Calipari at Arkansas. Per 247 Sports, Arkansas has the third-ranked overall class, the sixth-ranked composite class, and the third-ranked transfer class. Kentucky is ranked 24th, 78th, and 5th.
Kentucky fans will also cite that they landed Oklahoma State transfer Brandon Garrison over Arkansas and that he’s the “better player” than Tennessee transfer (and All-SEC performer) Jonas Aidoo, who is now a Razorback. Neither On3 nor 247 agree with the Wildcat faithful, as Aidoo is ranked higher than Garrison, according to both publications.
Wildcat Fan Question 5: You realize this is a fictional person created to frame a story, right?
Yes, I think we all get that.