On Thursday evening, “March Madness” lived up to its name when the NCAA Tournament saw its biggest upset of the year so far, with number 14 ranked Oakland knocking off head coach John Calipari and number three ranked Kentucky in an upset that shocked the basketball world. Calipari stood powerless from the sidelines and could only watch as Oakland sharpshooter Jack Gohlke buried ten threes on twenty attempts in the win vs Kentucky, sending Oakland through to the second round where they will face North Carolina State, who also picked up a big win in their first game of the tournament.
On Friday, Oakland took part in some practice in preparation for that upcoming marquee matchup, and during some downtime, Gohlke launched a shot from full court that, of course, found nothing but the bottom of the opposite net.
He still can’t miss @jgohlke34 pic.twitter.com/A5h3jLNio3
— Evan Solomon (@_evansolomon) March 22, 2024
Some took the epic shot as an omen that Oakland basketball is on its way to shocking the entire world and winning the whole NCAA Tournament this year.
Oakland is winning the whole dance 🪩
— Shac Dawkins (@ShacquilleD) March 22, 2024
Others hilariously roasted John Calipari while simultaneously giving Jack Gohlke his props.
Dude could toss a notice of unemployment into John Calipari’s mailbox from 100 yards 🔥
— Parker Thayer (@ParkerThayer) March 22, 2024
Gohlke led all scorers on Thursday evening, registering 32 and two rebounds in the shocking victory in which Oakland had an answer every time it looked like Kentucky basketball was ready to make a run.
Oakland is set to take on North Carolina State at 7:10 PM ET on Saturday.
Article Continues BelowKentucky's descent continues
The loss on Thursday evening marked the fourth NCAA tournament loss in five tries for the Kentucky Wildcats. In fact, so frustrating have the last few years been for the organization that some fans have called for the job of Calipari himself, citing his team's lack of tournament success in recent seasons.
One thing that was quite obvious on Thursday was Kentucky's obvious lack of experience in these sorts of moments, as freshmen Reed Sheppard and Rob Dillingham both struggled mightily against a much more veteran Oakland squad.
After the game, Calipari broke down how his team building approach of recruiting talented freshmen and then sending them out into the fire may have resulted in the upset loss.
“I've done this with young teams my whole career, and it's going to be hard for me to change that, because we've helped so many young people and their families that I don't see myself just saying, ‘OK, we're not going to recruit freshmen,'” Calipari said, per Brooke Pryor of ESPN.
Over the last several years, Kentucky has branded itself more so as a pitstop for elite players on their way to the NBA Draft rather than an organization trying to build something long term. That method worked for a while, as Kentucky has been able to put together many deep Tournament runs in Calipari's tenure; however, as the results get less and less successful and the upset losses continue to rack up, it's worth considering just how viable of a strategy this is in the present era of college basketball, with NIL money evening out the playing field like never before.