Ten Years of Coach Cal: Ranking all 10 Kentucky teams
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Ten Years of Coach Cal
A vote by the Herald-Leader Sports staff has generated lists of the biggest shots, the top individual performances and the best players of the Calipari era, along with the toughest losses and the biggest disappointments. We also ranked each of Calipari’s 10 teams, re-visited some of his biggest recruiting hits and misses and recalled the most indelible Cal memories of the past decade.
We hope you’ll have as much fun tapping into your Big Blue memories as we did compiling these lists as you read them in the coming days on Kentucky.com and in the Herald-Leader.
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Editor’s note: This is the third in a series of 12 stories ranking the most memorable moments, teams and players of John Calipari’s 10 years as University of Kentucky basketball head coach. Rankings were compiled through voting conducted by members of the Herald-Leader Sports staff. Watch for a new story every day between today and July 27.
Ranking the 10 UK teams coached by John Calipari is like picking the prettiest flowers in a bouquet of roses. Four teams ended their seasons in the Final Four. Three more advanced to the Elite Eight.
Only twice previously has Kentucky enjoyed such success in a 10-year period: four Final Four appearances and three other advancements to the Elite Eight in 1989-90 through 1998-99, plus three national championships and three other advancements to the Elite Eight from 1948-49 through 1957-58. It should be noted that in the latter, only eight teams played in the NCAA Tournament those first two years, and only 16 in the following two tournaments.
Ranking Calipari’s teams
1. 2011-12 team. A national championship — the standard by which Kentucky teams are measured — was the ultimate prize won by the team led by Anthony Davis and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist. A 38-2 record included 26 victories by double-digit margins. The Cats finished it off by beating Kansas 67-59 in New Orleans.
2. 2014-15 team. A team wins the national championship every year. But until the Cats of 2014-15, no team had won its first 38 games. OK, the UCLA teams led by Lew Alcindor, and then Bill Walton might have done it if teams played so many games in that era. Still, it’s the closest Calipari has come to his ultimate goal of a 40-0 season.
3. 2009-10 team. After the dreary two-season Billy Gillispie error, uh, era as coach, Calipari began his coaching stint by peeling out of the blocks with a 35-3 team led by stars John Wall and DeMarcus Cousins.
4. 2016-17 team. Thrills galore en route to a 32-6 record. Malik Monk’s 47 points against North Carolina in Las Vegas came early. Revenge of a regular-season loss to UCLA came late. If only Luke Maye had missed that shot.
5. 2010-11 team. Even though dominance was not achieved, these Cats showed how a Final Four run remained possible. A pedestrian 10-6 SEC record disguised this Final Four run propelled by Brandon Knight’s clutch shooting and aided by North Carolina point guard Kendall Marshall being sidelined by injury. Kentucky was eliminated by UConn in the NCAA semifinals in Houston.
6. 2013-14 team. Take the 2010-11 team and italicize the keep-the-faith storyline. A 1-6 record against ranked teams and a 72-67 loss at 13th-place South Carolina chained this Houdini team into a box that was then lowered in the NCAA Tournament water. Five victories by a total of 18 points (the last four by 11 points) put Houdini in the national championship game. UConn was there again to block Kentucky’s path to a ninth NCAA crown.
7. 2018-19 team. Lazarus rose from a 118-84 loss to Duke on opening night. Embellishing the theme, PJ Washington emerged as a lottery pick talent in his second UK season, and freshman Ashton Hagans came forth as a solid point guard. Down the stretch, UK overcame injuries to Reid Travis and Washington before losing in the Elite Eight to an Auburn team on a historic roll (first team to beat Kansas, North Carolina and Kentucky in an NCAA Tournament).
8. 2015-16 team. For Kentucky (and a few other programs), a 27-9 overall record that includes the SEC regular-season and tournament championships makes for a ho-hum season. Not advancing beyond the NCAA Tournament’s first weekend leaves a sour taste. Indiana ended Kentucky’s season 73-67 in the round of 32.
9. 2017-18 team. A 26-11 overall record. A 10-8 SEC record that tied for fourth best. One victory against a ranked opponent before February (and that required a comeback from a 48-33 halftime deficit at West Virginia). Oh yeah, and the nation’s longest streak of games in which a team made at least one three-point shot ended. Kansas State knocked the Cats out of the NCAA Tournament in the Sweet 16.
10. 2012-13 team. The only Calipari team not to play in an NCAA Tournament. Nerlens Noel tearing an ACL caused the Cats to nose dive. UK had a 17-6 record and NCAA Tournament ambitions with Noel healthy. Without its leader in rebounds, blocks and steals, the record was 4-6 and the let’s-get-this-over-with ending came in a loss at Robert Morris in the NIT.
About this series
A vote by the Herald-Leader Sports staff has generated lists of the biggest shots, the top individual performances and the best players of the Calipari era, along with the toughest losses and the biggest disappointments. We also ranked each of Calipari’s 10 teams, re-visited some of his biggest recruiting hits and misses and recalled the most indelible Cal memories of the past decade.
We hope you’ll have as much fun tapping into your Big Blue memories as we did compiling these lists as you read them in the coming days on Kentucky.com and in the Herald-Leader.
This story was originally published July 17, 2019 at 10:40 AM.
