John Calipari had a successful 15-year run with the Kentucky basketball program, running what was basically a factory for NBA talent, but early exits in the NCAA Tournament over the last few years made the relationship with the fanbase wear thin, as expectations were not met. Calipari decided it was time to move on, and he is now the head coach for the Arkansas basketball program. John Wall and DeMarcus Cousins are two notable former Kentucky players who played under John Calipari, and they had some thoughts on the Kentucky basketball fanbase.

“It's what have you done for me lately,” John Wall said, via his podcast called Point Game, presented by DraftKings. “I think you want to be wanted, you want to feel the love, you want to feel the support, you want to be wanted where you are. I think that void had just went away with the last four years of how things have went in the tournament, not going far and having certain upsets against certain teams. And I think the fanbase had just gotten annoyed. But it's interesting because everybody praised him for what he was doing and then stopped praising him. So it's a gift and a curse, but at the same time now that he decides he might take this Arkansas job, now all of a sudden fans are like, no we don't want Cal to leave, we want Cal to stay, but like you kind of pushed him out.”

Those are interesting words from John Wall, who played for Calipari at Kentucky for one season in 2009-2010 before going to the NBA and being drafted by the Washington Wizards with the No. 1 pick. That team lost in the Elite Eight to West Virginia.

DeMarcus Cousins adds thoughts on Kentucky's fanbase

DeMarcus Cousins was Wall's teammate that season, and he made some revealing comments regarding the support that Calipari felt he had at the end of his time with Kentucky.

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“I know for a fact Coach Cal didn't feel supported, I don't feel like he had the school's backing,” Cousins said, via Shams Charania and Kyle Tucker of The Athletic. “There's a lot of things going on behind the scenes, adjusting to the modern times of college basketball now. It's more so at the top, I just don't feel like the support was there. This situation could have been handled a lot more gracefully, especially for as much as he's done for them. Given the guys that have come through there, I would say these were the golden years of Kentucky basketball in the modern era.”

Calipari will move on and try to build something new at Arkansas, while Kentucky basketball is starting a high-profile search to try to land a proven winner. Baylor's Scott Drew seems to be a name to watch as of right now.