Kentucky coach John Calipari reacts to his team’s play during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game against Tennessee at Rupp Arena in Lexington, Ky.Kentucky basketball coach John Calipari has a problem.
Actually, he has several problems, beginning with the gargantuan fact that his freshman shot-swatter Nerlens Noel is done for the year following a knee injury.
Add in Sunday’s news that Saturday’s 88-58 loss to Tennessee moved the Cats outside ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi’s NCAA Tournament field, dropping them from the nervous “last four in” to the dreaded “first four out” and crisis hotlines throughout the Bluegrass have reached end-of-the-world mode.
But Calipari’s biggest problem is this: What do you do when your one-and-done players look far more likely to be three-and-free or four-and-the-door scholarship eaters?
When your entire recruiting strategy seems to be to create a constant revolving door of McDonald’s All-Americans, all expected to produce one spectacular collegiate season before moving on to NBA riches, what do you do when one class begins tripping, if not stampeding, over the class in front of them?