Kentucky Fans Are Processing Failure And It’s Amazing To Watch

26-8 is not really failure but everyone has their standards

In the Triangle we’re all focused on Saturday’s big collision in the Big Easy as Duke and UNC prepare to face off in the Final Four.

As you may have noticed, the Final Four is packed with blue bloods - Villanova and Kansas join the 15-501 set - and Kentucky is at home in Lexington, watching all sorts of Wildcat standards fall or be threatened.

Losing to #15 Saint Peter’s, a school with a gym that UK wouldn’t even accept as a practice facility, hurt too.

Plenty of people are now questioning coach John Calipari and whether he has lost a step or two and there have even been calls for him to be fired.

There’s a palpable sense of worry amongst BBN as you will see in this article from KentuckySportsRadio.com that talks to recruits about their perception of Kentucky.

Hilariously, all these recruits picked other schools, but they all are kind enough to soothe the wounded BBN ego and tell them that, yes, Kentucky is still a fine program.

And of course they’re right.

UK has had a couple of off years but nothing nightmarish. In 2018-19, the Wildcats made the Elite Eight. The next year was Covid I and you can’t judge any program fairly by that. Everyone was recovering in Covid II and this year Kentucky won 26 games which is certainly respectable.

We completely understand the desire for more and for greatness. Kentucky fans are passionate and they expect great teams.

We wouldn't give up on Cal just yet. He’s shown an ability to adapt and to innovate.

There’s also this to consider: who could do better? In a perfect world, you’d get Jay Wright or Scott Drew or maybe Eric Musselman to be your next coach. We’re not sure anyone could deal with the, uh, complexities of the Kentucky program better than Calipari does though.