In what’s becoming a trend of late, John Calipari and the Kentucky Wildcats were eliminated from the NCAA Tournament after just one game to a much lower-seeded team.
While the 2022 NCAA Tournament saw two-seed Kentucky fall to the 15-seed Saint Peter’s Peacocks in the first round, Thursday night it was the 13-seed Oakland Golden Grizzlies knocking off the 4-seed Wildcats, 80-76.
As is generally the case, attention immediately turned to Calipari’s coaching, with multiple trending topics bearing his name on X in the late stages of the loss.
Calipari’s future at Kentucky feels murky at this point. It would be unlikely to see him fired, but he could opt to retire, or resign, or the sides could mutually part ways as it seems clear that things are no longer working. With the recent abrupt retirements of other legendary coaches in college sports like Jay Wright and Nick Saban, nothing is a surprise anymore.
After the game, Calipari praised his team and expressed how bad he felt for them, but added that they made too many mistakes and Oakland capitalized.
The Golden Grizzlies hit 15 three-pointers in the game, ten of which came from guard Jack Gohlke, who attempted 335 field goals this season with 327 coming from long-range.
Fans on social media weren’t exactly sad to see Calipari and the Wildcats fall short again.
https://twitter.com/kicknyrgios/status/1770994801296437359
THE UK MESSAGE BOARD CRASHED LMAO pic.twitter.com/PdBItgokAA
— Nelson Earley (@alwaysearley01) March 22, 2024
About Robert O'Neill