Former NBA player Rajon Rondo was on the show “All the Smoke” with Rachel Nichols and DeMarcus Cousins and gave his thoughts on the Kentucky basketball team and head coach John Calipari. As the Wildcats dropped their first round game in the NCAA tournament as the No. 3 seed to the No. 14 seed in Oakland University, Rondo had the viewpoint that while he's not going to say that Calipari should be fired, the program had a lot of expectations coming in to March Madness.
“I'm not going to sit up here and say anyone should be fired, obviously what he's done for the program over the last decade speaks for itself,” Rondo said. “With obviously the last couple years hasn't been so great, and as a Kentucky fan, as a Kentucky alumni, you know they expect greatness night in night out each year. High expectation especially when you have the number one recruiting class coming in. People expect nothing but a championship, and the mindset is pretty much championship of bust.”
Rondo calls Wildcats performance against Oakland “unacceptable”
After the loss to Oakland, Calipari and the Kentucky basketball team has just one win in the last five national tournament appearances for the program. Rondo would continue on with his thoughts on the Wildcats and Calipari by saying that the performance in their last appearance is “unacceptable.”
“With the loss of Oakland, allowing a guy like Jack [Gohlke] to shoot, to even shoot 23-point attempts in the game. Knowing coming into the game plan he's only taken I think four to eight mid-rangers all season,” Rondo said. “And for him to come out and make 10 threes, seven in the first half, to me that is on the coach, coaching staff, that is on the player personnel as well understanding the game plan, the Scout report, that guy shouldn't have had any effect on the game, let alone 32 points with zero assist unacceptable for the University of Kentucky.”
DeMarcus Cousins comes to the defense of Calipari
While Rondo never went to the University of Kentucky or been coached by Calipari, the co-host of the show DeMarcus Cousins has and did not hesitate to come to the defense of his former head coach. He said that Calipari has “evolved with each generation of basketball” and that every program goes through a “dry spell.”
“This is a guy that's evolved with each generation of basketball. We’re talking about a guy that's found success when he was at UMass. So this isn't a guy that can't, you know, find his way through the evolution of the game,” Cousins said. “So that's more so why I'm so confused as to how we got to this point because no matter what university no matter what legendary coach they all went through a dry spell of losing tournaments, not really meeting the standard for that year. It happens with every program.”
Whatever side of the argument anyone is on, there is no doubt that the Kentucky basketball team experienced more disappointment this year as the program has had championship aspirations since Calipari captured one in 2012. The Wildcats finished 23-10 last season and 13-5 in conference play as they look to bounce back next season.
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