Arguably the best sporting event of the year is currently in its early stages as March Madness got started on Tuesday night with the First Four, and then the first round got started on Thursday. The First Four gave us an early taste of the tournament and there were some great matchups, but Thursday was March Madness at its finest. The first day is always one of the best as there are 16 games going from noon all the way until around midnight ET. We saw a lot of great action on day one, and now, college basketball fans are ready to do it all again on Friday. It's the most wonderful time of the year. Well, maybe not for Kentucky basketball fans.
There is so much to love about March Madness, and the first week of the tournament is one of the best stretches in all of sports. Basketball begins at noon and there are countless good games all day and into the night. College basketball fans are currently setting up multiple TVs to be able to take in as much March Madness action at once as humanly possible. It doesn't get much better than this weekend when it comes to sport, and a big reason why are the upsets and the individual performances from the stars that we didn't see coming. We saw a lot of that in the Kentucky Oakland game.
Another great part of March Madness are the historic performances put on by individual players. Every so often we will see a player completely take over a game and put their team on their back, and they sometimes carry their squad all the way to a national title. It's always fun to watch. When it gets to the later stages of the tournament, everyone knows that player is getting the ball, and still, no one can stop him. We saw some of that yesterday, but we'll get to that later.
Should Kentucky basketball move on from head coach John Calipari
The biggest upset of the day on Thursday was definitely Kentucky going down against Oakland, and it was a familiar sight for Wildcats fans as they continued their March Madness slump that has seen them lose in upset fashion a couple times recently. In their last three trips to the big dance, the Wildcats have lost to 15 seed Saint Peter's in the first round (2022), lost to three seed Kansas State in the round of 32 (2023) and now they just lost to 14 seed Oakland yesterday in the first round. It certainly isn't a good streak, but no, Kentucky should not move on from John Calipari.
What Kentucky fans need to do right now is take a step back and take a look at the big picture. Obviously, losing to Saint Peter's and Oakland in the first round these past few years is not ideal and it is extremely disappointing based on the seasons that those two teams had. However, those two games do not outweigh the success that John Calipari has had as the head coach of the Wildcats.
Calipari has been the head coach of Kentucky since 2009 and he has been very successful. He has been to four final fours and he won a national title in 2012. When Kentucky fans think about wanting Calipari gone, think about how many teams in college basketball would be absolutely thrilled to have just been to one final four in their entire school's history. Trust me Wildcats, it could be much worse.
At the end of the day, things aren't going to be perfect every season. Upsets are going to happen in the tournament, it happens to a big team every season, but Kentucky always come back around. It's not worth taking the risk of bringing someone else in that doesn't fit the mold at Kentucky.
If Calipari was consistently having bad regular seasons, then I would understand the argument. However, the Wildcats put together a good regular season this year. They finished with a 23-8 overall record and 13-5 mark in conference play that was good for second place in the SEC. However, the postseason was clearly an issue for this team. They lost to Texas A&M in the first round of the SEC Tournament, and then they obviously had their big upset loss against Oakland on Thursday. Disappointing? Yes. Should Calipari be fired? No. Postseason success is extremely important, but this upset doesn't mean that Calipari isn't going to get it done in the future.
Another thing that Kentucky needs to think about here is Calipari's buyout, which is $33 million dollars. It is not worth it to fire him and take the risk of bringing in a new coach when Calipari has a buyout like that. It is unlikely that he leaves because of that.
Calipari has been at Kentucky for a long time and he knows the system. Wildcats fans want to get back to another Final Four, and Calipari can get them back. They had a good team this year, but they ran into a bad shooting day. It still seems like the best option here is for Kentucky to trust their head coach that has taken them to four Final Fours. He knows how to recruit, and with a new NIL collective, he should continue to get some of the best players in the country to come play for him. If Calipari stays, the Wildcats will be just fine.
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