For the first time since Kentucky basketball’s season-ending upset loss to Oakland in the NCAA Tournament last week, UK head coach John Calipari spoke publicly about the basketball season that was for the Wildcats, and what’s ahead.
Calipari did so Monday night on a highly anticipated edition of his weekly radio show, which was also the last edition of the show this season.
Calipari began the show by reiterating his plans to remain UK’s head coach, and the subject matter quickly turned to what Kentucky’s roster may look like for the 2024-25 season, and what changes need to be made for the Wildcats to break out of their postseason malaise: UK hasn’t reached the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament since 2019 and is 1-4 over the last four SEC Tournaments.
He also discussed the way Kentucky plans to approach the transfer portal this offseason.
John Calipari appeared on the final edition of his weekly radio show for the 2023-24 season on Monday night. Calipari reiterated his plans to remain the Kentucky basketball coach, while also discussing the outlook for UK’s roster for next season. Silas Walker swalker@herald-leader.com
What comes next for the Kentucky basketball roster?
Plenty of change is expected from the UK roster that this season ultimately went 23-10 overall, with a 13-5 record in regular season SEC games and one-and-done trips in both the SEC Tournament and NCAA Tournament.
A UK team that, among scholarship players, had eight freshmen, two sophomores and a pair of fifth-year players will likely see that group significantly shuffled due to NBA draft decisions, the transfer portal and the expiration of college eligibility.
Calipari said he’s yet to have individual meetings with players regarding their stay-or-go decisions. While more clarity will obviously emerge for the choices faced by UK players — guard D.J. Wagner and center Zvonimir Ivisic have two of the most intriguing decisions to make — a clear theme came through from Calipari’s comments Monday.
The Cats need to be more physical, and they need to get older.
As far as potential additions via the NCAA transfer portal, Calipari pointed back to last year’s stay-or-go saga with legendary former UK big man Oscar Tshiebwe as something that gave potential portal recruits pause about coming to Lexington.
“It’s something that we may deal with maybe more than others (stay-or-go decisions connected to the NBA draft), but for us we need to get older,” Calipari said. “All right so first of all: Who is coming back? Does that make us older in one way?”
True to his postgame comments Thursday night, Calipari also talked up Kentucky’s incoming six-player recruiting class for 2024.
But, right after praising yet another highly ranked group of freshmen, Calipari talked about what UK will be targeting in the NCAA transfer portal.
“You look at the portal and you say: All right, who is that guy, or two, that will make us older, make us more physical, that really adds to what this group needs when you’re having a bunch of young guys and a few that are returning?”
The NBA draft combine is scheduled for mid-May and will offer players in the NCAA transfer portal a chance to receive professional feedback while they gauge their decisions to either go pro and declare for the draft or return to college.
The deadline for college players to withdraw from the draft and retain their eligibility this year is May 29.
Calipari cautioned that, because of this, Kentucky may need to wait in order to recruit “the very best” of the players in the transfer portal.
John Calipari reacted to last week’s first-round NCAA Tournament defeat during his weekly radio show Monday night. Silas Walker swalker@herald-leader.com
Does Kentucky basketball need an older point guard?
During the back half of Calipari’s show, UK radio analyst Jack “Goose” Givens asked a few questions to the Kentucky head coach.
One of them centered around Sunday night’s dramatic NCAA Tournament round-of-32 matchup between 1 seed Houston and 9 seed Texas A&M, an overtime thriller in which Cougars senior guard Jamal Shead led the way with 21 points, 10 assists and five rebounds while playing every minute of the contest.
Givens hinted at the veteran experience that was on display at the guard position in that game — the Aggies were led by junior Wade Taylor IV and fifth-year Tyrece Radford in their backcourt — and he also name-dropped ex-Cat Davion Mintz while asking Calipari if a veteran college basketball point guard is in his plans for next season.
“We’ve got one or two that could come back and solve that issue for us because of what they’ve been through,” Calipari said, perhaps another not so subtle hint of Wagner and projected NBA draft lottery pick Reed Sheppard’s statuses as unknown stay-or-go decisions. “And then if not, then we’ve got to look who’s out there.”
Then, Calipari’s portal pitch began.
“And if you’re a point guard, and you’re near draftable, why wouldn’t you come here?” Calipari said. “And that’s where the NIL plays a part of it, because if they’re really good, it’s not like recruiting freshmen. It isn’t. It’s totally a different situation. ... It’s either, we get one or two of the guys that were playing some point to be back if that’s what they choose to do, or we go find one.”
Cameron Drummond works as a sports reporter for the Lexington Herald-Leader with a focus on Kentucky men’s basketball recruiting and the UK men’s basketball team, horse racing, soccer and other sports in Central Kentucky. Drummond is a second-generation American who was born and raised in Texas, before graduating from Indiana University. He is a fluent Spanish speaker who previously worked as a community news reporter in Austin, Texas.Support my work with a digital subscription
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