After UK’s loss to Saint Peter’s, John Calipari is living ‘A Bug’s Life’
As reliably as the sun setting in the west, Kentucky fans react to defeat by assigning blame. That John Calipari was held responsible for the first-round loss to Saint Peter’s did not surprise Dan Wann, a Murray State psychology professor who specializes in fan thinking.
“It’s never the players because they love the players,” Wann said of fans. “The coach becomes the lightning rod.
“Like the quote from the movie ‘A Bug’s Life,’ ‘First rule of leadership is everything is your fault.’”
The growing parity in college basketball makes no difference. Since the NCAA Tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985, a team with a double-digit seed has advanced to the Sweet 16 round in all but two of those years. In 26 of those years, more than one advanced that far.
Four did so this year: Saint Peter’s, Michigan, Iowa State and Miami (Fla.). Four did so last year.
Of the six teams with a double-digit seed that have advanced to the Final Four, three did so in the last five NCAA tournaments: 10-seed Syracuse in 2016, 11-seed Loyola Chicago in 2018 and 11-seed UCLA last year.
The most double-digit seeded teams to advance to the Sweet 16 is five in 1999.
Incidentally, 12-seed Kentucky advanced to the Sweet 16 in 1985 — which was Joe B. Hall’s final season as coach — before losing to 1-seed St. John’s.
This year’s NCAA Tournament bolsters the argument for parity. Saint Peter’s, the 15-seed in the East Region, became the lowest seed ever to advance to the Elite Eight. The previous lowest seeds to do so were 12-seeds: Oregon State last year and Missouri in 2002.
Of the eight teams seeded one or two, three lost in the first week: UK, Auburn and Baylor.
When asked about the Big Blue Nation not accepting parity as a factor in Kentucky’s loss, Wann said, “I’m going to give fans some slack here because Kentucky won a lot of games.”
A moment later, Wann said of UK fans, “they probably have a perception that the gap between them and other schools is larger than it really is.”
Wann advised Kentucky fans — and all fans — not to judge a season by the last game, but to judge it in its entirety.
“But having said that, it’s tough when you get knocked off by a 15-seed,” he said. “It’s easier said than done when the last game is that catastrophic.”
Wann sympathized with UK fans.
“For a Kentucky fan used to winning to say, hey, we won the SEC regular-season (title), uh, wait a minute,” he said. “We won the SEC Tournament, uh, wait a minute. Well, we won in March. Uh, wait a minute.
“When expectations are that high, you look and say, what banner did we hang this year? So, I think the fans can be excused for being particularly frustrated and disappointed.
“When expectations to win are so high, the disappointment is going to be that much greater when you don’t. Just like when the expectation to lose is so high, the elation will be that much greater when you win.”
Thumbs down
UK fan Jerry Griffin — a 1981 graduate of the UK College of Pharmacy — sent an email expressing his unhappiness with John Calipari.
“This is NOT the NBA. Resign Cal!!!! We are number 2???,” he wrote. “It just does not work for me. Get with the times. You have taken us from the epitome to number 2 and that will NOT work!!!!
“I just feel it may be time for Cal to go to the NBA since he wants to develop NBA players. I am more concerned about student-athletes and our program winning games than having over 1 billion dollars of NBA payroll. I am concerned about playing in and winning conference tournaments which he is not.
“I have a shirt that declares us the all-time winningest college program. Now, I will have to get one that declares us the SECOND winningest program. …
“I do not question his past greatness. He had been the perfect fit for our program. I question that now.”
Thumbs up
Former LSU coach Dale Brown supported John Calipari in a piece that appeared in the Herald-Leader editorial page Tuesday. After UK fans condemned Calipari on SEC Network shows on and on social media, Brown sent a follow-up email. It read:
“The world is full of critics. And the more you set out to do with your life, the more criticism you will get.
“John Wooden said, ‘The coach must recognize that his profession places him in the public eye, and that he will at times receive both unjustifiable criticism and undeserved praise. And that he must not be unduly affected by either.’”
Concluded Brown: “It took John Wooden 16 years to win his first national championship at UCLA. Now, with the impatience displayed by fans and administration, he would have been fired.”
Never satisfied?
In building the 2021-22 roster, John Calipari seemingly gave UK fans what they wanted: less reliance on one-and-done freshmen and better three-point shooting.
UK players started the season having played a collective 13,385 minutes of Division I basketball (most for a Kentucky team since at least 1964-65) and having scored 5,203 points (most since the 1995-96 national champions).
But the three-point shooting accuracy of 34.7 percent was only the eighth-best in Calipari’s 13 seasons as coach.
In its last two games, UK made only six of 35 three-point shots (17.1 percent), and only 29 of 105 (27.6 percent) in the last seven games.
When asked about UK fans getting what they wanted with experienced players, Dan Wann playfully said, “now, they probably want better recruiting classes for one-and-done (players).”
Second-greatest?
Psychology professor Dan Wann is a Kansas graduate. He rejoiced when the Jayhawks beat Providence on Friday night to surpass Kentucky for most all-time college basketball victories. Kansas improved its total to 2,354. Kentucky has 2,353.
Wann suggested that Kentucky can still proclaim having the greatest tradition in the history of college basketball.
“But what you can’t say is most wins,” he said. “That’s going to (tick) the fans off.”
Kentucky’s all-time winning percentage of .766 leads all programs. UK’s record is 2,353-720. Kansas’ winning percentage going into Sunday’s Midwest Regional finals is .729 (2,354-877).
Decades away
Of course, Kentucky remains second in national championships. UCLA has 11 and UK eight.
With eight titles in the 82-year history of the NCAA Tournament, the math suggests it will take Kentucky more than 20 years to catch UCLA.
“Not for Kentucky fans, right?” Dan Wann playfully said of this logical timetable. For UK fans, “it should be, like, four years, right?”
But, on average, Kentucky wins a national championship about every 10 years. So, UK is due for an NCAA title soon, thus needing another 20 years or so to get two more to tie UCLA. That’s assuming the Bruins will not win another NCAA Tournament for decades.
“Using logic with sports fans, that doesn’t get you anywhere,” Wann said.
Belated happy birthday
To Paul Andrews. He turned 57 on Monday.
Happy birthday
To Todd Bearup. He turned 55 on Friday. … To former Georgia coach Tom Crean. He turned 56 on Friday. … To former Alabama coach Avery Johnson. He turned 57 on Friday. … To Sheryl Swoopes. She turned 51 on Friday. … To Wenyen Gabriel. He turned 25 on Saturday. … To Ann Meyers. She turned 67 on Saturday. … To Chris Lofton. The former Tennessee star (and Kentucky native) turns 36 on Sunday. … To Saul Smith. He turns 43 on Monday. … To Hall of Famer Rick Barry. He turns 78 on Monday. … To Sean Woods. He turns 52 on Tuesday. … To former UK assistant coach Ralph Willard. He turns 76 on Tuesday. … To former UK football coach Hal Mumme. He turns 70 on Tuesday. … To Johnathan Davis. He turns 53 on Wednesday. … To former LSU coach Johnny Jones. He turns 61 on Wednesday.
This story was originally published March 26, 2022 at 10:24 AM.
