Calipari to mull modifications after UK’s spectacular exit

Brooke Pryor, ESPN Staff WriterMar 22, 2024, 12:47 AM ET

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• Previously covered the Kansas City Chiefs for the Kansas City Star and Oklahoma University for the Oklahoman.PITTSBURGH– Sitting at the dais in

his home town’s arena, Kentucky men’s basketball coach John Calipari was something near shell-shocked after his No. 3-seeded Wildcats’improbable 80-76 loss to No. 14-seed Oakland.Now 1-4 in his previous 5 NCAA tournament games, matching the program’s worst five-game span in the tournament, Calipari considered what Thursday night’s loss could indicate for his technique to constructing the group’s lineup.”I’ve done this with young teams my whole career, and it’s going to

be difficult for me to change that, because we’ve helped so many young people and their families that I don’t see myself just stating,’OK, we’re not going to hire freshmen,'”Calipari said.Editor’s Picks 2 Related Of Kentucky’s 15 rostered players, eight were freshmen and three were sophomores. Oakland, meanwhile, has

one freshman and a set of redshirt freshmen. 5 of the Grizzlies ‘players were either elders or graduate transfers.Entering 2022, Kentucky was 19-0 versus 14-seeds or lower in the NCAA tournament, according to ESPN Statistics & Information research study, but it is 0-2 in games since, including the 2022 loss to No. 15 seed Saint Peter’s. The Wildcats were 13.5-point favorites Thursday night.”I’ll take a look at other manner ins which we can do stuff, but, you understand, there’s– this thing here, it’s a various animal,” Calipari said. “We’ve had the ability to help many kids and win a lot of games and Final

Fours, national titles and all this things, win league champions with young guys.”It’s changed on us. Suddenly it’s gotten really old. So we’re playing groups that our average age is 19, their typical age is 24 and 25. So do I alter because of that? Perhaps include a couple older guys to supplement.

“The procedure to rebuilding from another early March exit begins instantly after losing to Oakland, Calipari stated.” We’ve got to find out who’s coming back and who’s not. We got this transfer stuff going on,”stated Calipari, who has been at the

helm of the Wildcats since 2009.”We might not need it. We have an incredible group being available in that I feel truly good about.”We include some guys and they remain. I mean, you understand– I’m going to– I’ll meet with them this evening. I spoke with them after. But I’m going to consult with them in my room tonight, and these guys took this actually tough. I imply, they took it truly hard, and I took it hard.

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