Kentucky's 9th championship might come 12 months later than expected

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By Mike Rutherford  @CardChronicle on Nov 9, 2015, 10:54a

It should as no surprise that the Kentucky Wildcats are once again the No. 1 team in our preseason countdown.

The John Calipari era in Lexington has been loaded with firsts. First program to produce 15 first-round draft picks in five years. First program to bring in five consecutive top-ranked recruiting classes. First team to earn a preseason No. 1 ranking the year after missing the tournament entirely. First program to produce the No. 1 and No. 2 draft pick in the same year. First program since Duke (1990-94) to make four Final Four appearances in five years. First team to start a season 38-0.

The last item on that list was supposed to be different. Perfection was supposed to be the coup de grâce for Kentucky. Forty wins and no losses: the unreachable fruit that only Cal's Cats could grab, and the giant middle finger to the face of anyone with a problem. Instead, it was 38-1 -- good enough to be stuck somewhere between 2013-14 Wichita State and 1990-91 UNLV, and forever locked out of the home of those who hoisted the hardwood on the first Monday in April.

As is the case with any life-altering heartbreak, Big Blue Nation will never be able to fully rid itself of the scar that came with Kentucky's Final Four loss to Wisconsin. There may, however, be a major shot coming in five months that will effectively numb the pain.

Slotting UK at No. 1 has become the safe play for any preseason top 25 countdown, and with good reason. The Wildcats under Calipari have only really made preseason prognosticators look silly once, when a subpar national freshman class and a season-ending injury to star center Nerlens Noel left Kentucky finishing the 2012-13 season in the NIT. Outside of that, Cal has led the Cats to five Elite Eights, four Final Fours, two national title games and brought home the program's eighth NCAA championship. A healthy run at No. 9 figures to start on Nov. 13.

While the subject may rear its head again if they beat reigning national champion Duke on Nov. 17, Kentucky's 2015-16 campaign is unlikely to be dominated by the "pursuit of perfection" talk that was more prevalent than any other throughout last season. The Wildcats will be dealing with what should be a much-improved SEC, and in addition to the Blue Devils, UK has non-conference showdowns with Kansas, UCLA, Ohio State and Louisville. A slip-up at some point before the calendar makes the dramatic flip to March seems like more of an inevitability than it did last November.

Get Ready for New Season

Kentucky, UNC tie for No. 1 in first pollPreviews for our top 25 teams Though Kentucky carries the same coaches' poll ranking into this season as they did 12 months ago, there are few in Lexington who believe this group would match up all that favorably with the team that came so close to being college basketball's first unblemished champion in nearly four decades. That doesn't necessarily mean that the 2015-16 Cats don't have a better shot at finishing their season with some net-cutting.

From the first day of the 2014-15 season, the overwhelming consensus was that a "great" team was going to win the national championship. There were five or six teams that appeared to fit that mold, and it would have been extremely surprising if one of those squads didn't wind up claiming the title. One of them did. It just wasn't Kentucky. The Wildcats were a great team in a season that featured a handful of other great teams. They ran up against one of those teams on the season's final weekend, and that great team was better than they were on that particular night. It's as simple, and as painful, as that.

The sport's landscape would appear to be more navigable in 2015-16. There is no overly apparent dividing line between the group of teams who should rule the season and those who are merely staring up in envy. For Kentucky, a squad with yet another loaded class of newcomers, a returning starter at the most key of positions on a Calipari team, and a couple battle-tested bigs, this is an appealing setup.

Timing isn't everything in college basketball, but it's more important than it is in any other major American sport. Overwhelmingly positive or negative work that took four months to comprise can be completely wiped away by one or two good or bad weeks in March. In keeping with that theme, improved timing might be more important than an improved team when it comes to Kentucky's quest for championship No. 9.

Projected Lineup

PG Tyler Ulis Sophomore

SG Jamal Murray Freshman

SF Isaiah Briscoe Freshman

PF Skal Labissiere Freshman

C Marcus Lee Junior

Key reserves: G Dominique Hawkins (Sophomore), F Alex Poythress (Senior), F Derek Willis (Junior), G Charles Matthews (Freshman), G Mychal Mulder (Junior), F Tai Wynyard (Freshman), C Isaac Humphries (Freshman)

How Kentucky can succeed: Let their latest dose of soon-to-be millionaires do their thing

Nothing that Kentucky has done since John Calipari arrived in 2009 has been ordinary, which is why it's impossible to handle previews of the Wildcats in any of the traditional fashions. Categories like "returning starters" and "percentage of scoring lost" are highly relevant for just about every team in the country, but UK is never like every other team in the country.

Where Karl-Anthony Towns, Willie Cauley-Stein, Trey Lyles and Devin Booker exited, Skal Labissiere, Jamal Murray, Isaiah Briscoe and Tyler Ulis enter. Think about that: four players from the same program were all lottery picks in the same draft, and that same program is sitting here as the projected No. 1 team in college basketball for the very next season. The fact that we don't find this occurrence even the least bit strange anymore might be even more insane than the actual phenomenon itself.

Any team that can count itself among the most talented in the country is going to enjoy a high level of success, and Kentucky appears once again to be loaded with players who will realize their lifelong dreams at next June's NBA Draft.

Recently cleared Labissiere has been at No. 1 or No. 2 on just about every 2016 NBA mock draft since their inception.  Murray never finds himself too far below his teammate, and many believe the Canadian might actually be the bigger star this season. Briscoe is yet another consensus top 10 recruit whose stay in college is expected to be short. Ulis was widely considered to be the best point guard on last year's Kentucky team, and would have likely been the fifth Wildcat to hear his name called in the first round of the draft had he elected to follow the worn-out path of the one-and-done. Instead, he's back for another year in Lexington, and may have a bigger impact than any returning player in the Calipari era.

If you're looking for comparisons between this squad and the 2012 one which cut down the nets in New Orleans, there's this: Calipari has had just one Kentucky team that has received significant production from a senior, the national championship team which saw Darius Miller average just under 10 points per game. This year's team figures to receive a similar boost from Poythress, who was never expected to be around this long, but who now finds himself as the first Calipari recruit to play four years at Kentucky.

The other major parallel is that this team will allow Calipari to get back to letting his guys get up and down the court, a style which was noticeably lacking the past two seasons with the more halfcourt-oriented Harrison twins running the show. It's a shift that figures to please both Big Blue Nation and its front man.

How Kentucky loses early: A culture clash finally goes down in Lexington

There is no lack of evidence to support the widely-held belief that the egos attached to the highest-profile basketball recruits in the AAU era have gotten out of control. With that being the case, maybe the most remarkable aspect of what Calipari has been able to do at UK is that he's brought together the cream of the recruiting crop and never seemed to have much of an issue with his players coming together to pursue one common goal.

There has been nothing so far this summer or fall to indicate that this trend is going to be broken in 2015-16, but if you're looking for a reason why the Cats might be unsuccessful this season, that's about all there is. Maybe Lee, Poythress and Ulis don't take kindly to the 2015 crew once they start stealing the spotlight. Maybe Willis finally freaks out over being a former highly-rated recruit who gets treated like a glorified walk-on. Maybe Mulder smells and it creates a bad locker room environment.

These are the types of things that Kentucky's competition has to hope for in the Calipari era.

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Kentucky again to challenge for NCAA Basketball National Championship

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Bad News for UK Haters

What we learned from Kentucky's first exhibition against Ottawa

By Justin_Hodges  @justin_hodges22 on Nov 2, 2015, 9:36p

Kentucky looked about as impressive as a team could in an exhibition opener.

Basketball season is back, folks!

Your Kentucky Wildcats took the floor against Ottawa University for their first game of the season tonight and put on an excellent performance, winning the game 117-58. Deeper than the score, let's dive into some of the aspects we learned about this brand new Kentucky team.

These boys are hungry

If we saw one thing out of these kids tonight, it is that these Wildcats play with energy, unselfishness and effort. They've shown a will to learn and a hunger to become better. Most kids come into Kentucky with a set of skills that they use effectively. These kids seem to be different; they allow Cal to work on them and learn to play ways that Cal knows will help them win basketball games.

Jamal Murray is well deserving of #23

You can remember at the UK-UNC alumni game, Anthony Davis went over to John Calipari and said, "you let him have 23?!?!" about Jamal Murray. Cal responded with, "your number ain't retired yet! I hope he's better than you so we can retire his instead of yours." Now, is anybody ever going to be as good as Anthony Davis was at Kentucky? Likely not, but Jamal Murray looked excellent tonight. Tallying up 17 points, 7 rebounds, and 6 assists at halftime, Murray finished with 22 points, 12 rebounds, and 9 assists for a near triple double.

Cal is looking rather spry

Over the years, it's been noticeable how much the stress of leading Kentucky can have on a person. Lately, we've seen Cal growing gray hair, showing those aging aspects. Today, he looked a little different. A full head of black Italian hair, a lot of energy, turning the clock back a little bit, probably because this is the most fun he's ever had with a basketball team. Cal has guys that play to the same style he loves for really the first time in his career. Cal always preaches for his kids to have fun; it's nice to see the ol' coach having a little fun himself.

The guards will get to the rim

Coach Calipari loves for his players to get to the rim, especially his backcourt players. Over the years, Cal has had mostly guards that do work outside of the paint. Not this group of kids; Tyler Ulis, Isaiah Briscoe and Jamal Murray love attacking the rim and are so good when they get there. With 66 points in the paint, 26 fast break points and 32 assists tonight, this has the looking of a team that is absolutely perfect for Calipari's scheme. That is scary to think about.

Alex still isn't all the way back

As we thought would be the case, senior forward Alex Poythress clearly isn't all the way back from his ACL rehab. Anytime you're dealing with a ligament tear, it's going to be a long road to recovery, and while Poythress showed flashes of his beastly self, it was clear he's not all the way back yet.

That's also why junior Marcus Lee got the start at the 4 spot over Poythress. It may end being where Poythress coming off the bench as the sixth man is best for this team, and as long as Poythress gets back to 100%, this will be a true championship contender.

Different team, same fundamentals

A lot of new faces are coming into Kentucky this year, but tonight's game made it appear evident that it's going to be a lot of the same fundamentals as it always is in Lexington moving forward. Kentucky's going to play stout defense, garnering 9 blocks, 10 steals and holding the opponent to 26%FG shooting.  They're going to throw lobs and slam them as Marcus Lee and Skal Labissiere did numerous times tonight. They're also going to stretch it behind the three point line, going 12-22 from range today with Tyler and Murray making 4 each. The bench is going to deep as well, just like last year; the bench unit provided 39 points today.

Overall, a great first performance by your Kentucky Wildcats. This team looks like it's going to be very good in hopes for our ninth national title.

Kentucky Wildcats Basketball No. 1 in Preseason Top 25 Poll

By Jason Marcum  @marcum89 on Sep 7, 2015, 

The Kentucky Wildcats will likely once again have one of the best teams in college basketball when the upcoming season begins.

While the 2015-16 season doesn't open for another two months, UK is already having high expectations placed upon them with top-five rankings in just about every preseason poll you'll find. That's the case with Athlon Sports, who have the Cats No. 1 in their preseason top 25:

The Wildcats might not challenge 40-0 again, but Tyler Ulis, Skal Labissiere and Jamal Murray should contend for the Final Four.

Here is the entire Athlon Sports 2015-16 College Basketball Preseason Top 25:

1 Kentucky

2 Duke

3 North Carolina

4 Maryland

5 Virginia

6 Kansas

7 Iowa State

8 Arizona

9 Oklahoma.

10 Villanova

11 Gonzaga

12 Michigan State

13 Cal

14 Wichita State

15 Vanderbilt

16 Purdue

17 Indiana

18 UConn

19 Wisconsin

20 Butler

21 Oregon

22 Michigan

23 Louisville

24 SMU

25 Texas A&M

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March Madness - Badgers Devour Wildcats in Epic Rematch - Wisconsin Moves to Final

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After a season of hype, consistent winning form, and a whole lot of basketball tradition, the epic semi-final rematch between the Kentucky Wildcats and Wisconsin Badgers lived up to the drama.

Just last year in the same match up in the national semi-finals, Kentucky edged Wisconsin by one point on a buzzer beater,  This year Wisconsin turned the tables and shocked the basketball world by ending Kentucky's historic 38 game winning streak two victories shy of perfection.

The final scoreboard read Wisconsin 71-64 but the grit and determination of the Badger squad in battling back from deficits was the determining factor.  Kentucky, as usual, fought back from deficits of nine-points in the first-half and 8 points in the second-half and with six minutes left in the game held a four point lead after outscoring Wisconsin 16-4.

Suddenly the Kentucky magic that saved their unbeaten season time-and-again went cold.  The team of destiny fell flat and only scored four points the rest of the game.  Wisconsin stars Frank Kaminsky, the MVP of the game, and Sam Dekker rallied the Badgers to a seven-point victory.

Shock waves swept through the Kentucky Blue nation as tears of sadness rather than joy were shed at the end of the game.  Twice in the closing minutes, bad calls by the refs went against UK, but they had plenty of opportunities to save the victory and did not.

For Wisconsin, the blue-collar team of basketball again rallied behind the most valuable player of the year in college basketball, Kaminsky, and the team never lost sight of their goal.  You see, it was never their intent to avenge the loss last year in the semi-final to Kentucky.

The Badgers focused solely on winning only the second national championship in history for Wisconsin, the last coming 74 long years ago.  To accomplish their mission, they have one more game, against mighty Duke, four-time national champion, Monday night in the finals.

Wisconsin was able to trade punches with Kentucky for the entire game because its front court shot well enough from the perimeter to force the Wildcats' big men out of the paint, opening up driving lanes for the Badgers.

In the end, Kentucky wasted a series of possessions after it built its four-point lead.
The Wildcats repeatedly bled the clock dry, put the ball in the hands of one of the Harrison twins and asked them to create off the dribble against Koenig, but they were not able to score with anywhere near the ease they did during a first half when they combined for 18 points.

Three straight Kentucky possessions ended in shot-clock violations during the final five minutes and the twins were unable to get the better of the matchup with Bronson Koenig.

UK Coach John Calipari looked at the stat sheet: Kentucky had only six turnovers, hit 90% of its free throws, made 48% of its field goals, and lost.

He said his team struggled to guard Wisconsin's players, and the rebound battle -- which Wisconsin won by 12 -- was crucial.

Kamisky, who turned 22 on Saturday, was asked how the Badgers out rebounded a team that is the tallest in basketball.

"We stayed into them, attacking them, trying to do whatever we can," he said. "Just trying to keep them off the glass was one of our main priorities."

 Wisconsin Head Coach Bo Ryan said, "These guys just gutted it out."

Regardless of why it happened, the ending was still a shock for the legions of Kentucky fans making the trip to Indianapolis.  When most people expected Kentucky to move to the final step of a perfect season in the finals, the Badgers were the ones left celebrating.

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The Heart and Soul behind the Kentucky Widcats Drive to Perfection - Willie Cauley-Stein

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Perhaps the greatest achievement of Coach John Calipari of the Kentucky Wildcats was his ability to put one of the greatest teams in the history of college basketball on the court that is grounded in discipline, humility, and class.  There is no trash talking from these Wildcats, no show boating, no taunts of opponents, and no headlines from ridiculous claims of superiority.

They coolly and methodically go about the business of proving they are the greatest team in the nation, and perhaps for all time.  Standing seven foot tall in his third year at Kentucky is perhaps the heart and soul of that magic act by Calipari, one Willie Cauley-Stein.

Stein said he went to Kentucky to compete at the highest level of competition.  In his three years he had done just that with a Final Four appearance every year, one national championship, and a chance to get two during his career in college.

On court he simply over-powers opponents.  He is first team All American.  Off court, this imposing force is one of the most beloved of all Wildcats in the eyes of, believe it or not, the news  media.  Now college jocks have never been particularly astute at handling the media but Willie is one of their favorite interviews and he has no problem doing them.

He respects his opponents, can joke and bring sportsmanship to the table, and never makes stupid statements.  In fact, he is so far removed from the stereotype of a money hungry college superstar he is a breath of fresh air in the world of big bucks and high pressure.

Most of all, he just keeps winning, helping the coach teach the young freshman like a senior statesman, sharing his experiences with them, using humor to keep the pressure down, and doing things that blow his image as the Monster Mash of Kentucky basketball, a title once held by legendary UK star Jamal Mashburn.

Just this last Monday of the most important week of his life, Final Four week, Willie took time to ask out a fan for lunch and what resulted is vintage Willie Cauley-Stein.

Kentucky's Willie Cauley-Stein takes young fan on lunch date

Even during what must be one of the biggest weeks of his life, Kentucky forward Willie Cauley-Stein took time out for a special fan.

The Final Four-bound Wildcats are awaiting Saturday night's game against Wisconsin, but Cauley-Stein met with four-year-old Olivia, a young girl with cerebral palsy, at the Child Development Center of the Bluegrass in Lexington, Ky., on Monday.

Child Development Center of the Bluegrass .

Education · 968 Likes

· April 1 at 7:43am ·

Our hearts are full today!  We are so proud and excited to let you all know why the UK Wildcat visited CDCB on Monday! He came to deliver an invitation to our Olivia.... Willie Cauley-Stein requested her presence for a lunch date!

Yesterday Olivia got to have spaghetti with Willie at the Wildcat Lodge. She was SO charming and he made her feel SO special. Very happy for our little girl, and very proud to be a part of ‪#‎BBN

.... that a player of Willie's caliber would take time out of his day on perhaps the most pressure-filled and anticipatory week of his college career speaks volumes about the outstanding character of Kentucky's Basketball team.

Now if that does not soften your impression of the mighty Kentucky basketball machine, the following article will.  How often does a member of the news media bemoan the fact a jock will no longer be so accessible to the press.  Well a reporter for the prestigious Washington Post did just that in this most unusual tribute to Willie.

Washington Post

By Chuck Culpepper April1

He’s Kentucky’s Willie Cauley-Stein, and he’s certainly worth a listen

A brief mourning period will follow this soaring Kentucky basketball season. It will have nothing to do with Kentucky fans or any Kentucky outcome, although a finicky tournament that banishes people for one mere defeat can always wind up in mourning. No, this odd bereavement will come to a smallish group of Kentucky residents.

They’re the writers and broadcasters who cover Kentucky basketball, and they will face a unique void come springtime. The 7-foot human Willie Cauley-Stein will make off for the NBA after three seasons at Kentucky, and no longer may they stand at his locker and listen to him routinely. They tend to sigh about that.

“I’ll miss covering him tremendously, and this is the rare instance when I think I can speak for everybody on the beat,” said Brett Dawson of rivals.com. “I’ve never covered anyone quite like him anywhere, and I doubt anyone’s ever covered anyone like him at Kentucky,” after which Dawson referred to Cauley-Stein as “a true individual,” “genuinely funny,” “thoughtful” with “no place” for cliches, a player who “rarely, if ever, fails to consider a question carefully before he answers it.”

Kentucky’s passage to the Final Four at 38-0 has brought a bale of regular sights, not least the usual blob of souls and cameras around Cauley-Stein as he sits at his locker (or a table in a side room). He speaks in tones mostly calm. Everyone leans in. Inevitably there comes some burst of laughter.

He begins almost every answer with, “Ommm,” and flows from there.

As a third-year wise man in a sport of starry freshmen, he manages to be blunt without being abrasive, helpful without being fawning, candid without being derisive. Mostly, he’s respectful of seemingly every type of question, often with long answers. He’ll describe the sport seriously, describe Kentucky’s noted fans semi-seriously, or go off the script unseriously.

Just last week in Cleveland, imagining West Virginia’s vaunted press, he went on a long description of the importance of how a cornered animal might react.

Reporter: “What animal are you guys?”

Cauley-Stein (pausing to think): “Have you seen a raccoon?”

With laughter all around at the unexpected nature of it, reporter: “I was thinking lion.”

Cauley-Stein: “Lions don’t get cornered.”

Then: “Raccoons are feisty. They’re not gonna just roll over.”

On other occasions, he said it would thrill him if his team ever got a mention from anchorman Tom Tucker on “Family Guy;” spoke of Kentucky as “not the villains” and said the black hat he once wore was only “my John Wayne;” professed to prefer Batman over other superheroes because he accomplishes his feats without superpowers. He once drew laughs by saying he could tweet about “hot dogs” and get deluged with responses about how he wasn’t working on his game. Speaking of a Cincinnati player over whom Cauley-Stein dunked ferociously in the round of 32, he said, “I was already on the way down dunking it and the dude slid over . . . I mean, I just remember seeing his head, like that [underneath], ‘What is this guy doing?’ It was more confusing. Normally I know what I’m doing. I didn’t really know what he was doing for real.

I’m looking down at his hair, like, ‘Dude, you really jumped on this.’ ”

Cauley-Stein scholars speak of him as a basketball player who wants very much to participate in the general college experience. With Jerry Tipton of the Lexington Herald-Leader, he discussed his wish to open his own “shoe and clothing store, designing my own stuff and putting it in there,” and said, “One of the best ways to express yourself is the way you dress.” So in the inverted world of college sports, he has fielded questions about his basketball seriousness. “I mean, that’s been the question since I got here: If I love the game,” he said at tournament’s outset. “If I didn’t love the game, why would I play at the University of Kentucky? Why would I ever come here? It’s a serious program. All the success they had, all that. That bugs me when people ask me that. ‘You don’t love the game.’ This is the most serious place to play. (Laughs.) I’m dumbfounded when people ask that. Like I really get upset.

“‘What? How is that a question, just because I’m interested in other things?’ You got to be interested in other things. If you focus on one thing, you’re going to eventually like – you’re going to get bored with it or you’re going to get burned out on it. My grandparents have taught me that since I was younger, just to be involved in a whole bunch of different things so you don’t get burnt out and you know what you like to do and what you don’t like to do. I couldn’t imagine not playing this game.”

He spoke as the chatter builds on where he might go in the NBA draft come June — the consensus tilts toward early — and on his rarefied, manifold defensive skills, last seen in the frantic final seconds of the Midwest Region final. That’s when Notre Dame’s 6-foot-5 guard Jerian Grant took his court-length dribble in the nagging company of Cauley-Stein’s evolutionary, revolutionary speed and quickness and length, and the whole chase wound up in the hopeless corner. Cauley-Stein didn’t come to Kentucky as a McDonald’s all-American, and he did experience Kentucky at a nadir, the (shudder) NIT season of 2012-13. Of that, he said, “If you accept [the criticism], if you indulge the weight, it’s only gonna make you stronger.” From that, Kentucky ascended from a No. 8 seeding to the 2014 national championship game, but sans Cauley-Stein, who broke his ankle in the Sweet 16. Since the trip back to the hotel that night, he has said repeatedly, he has looked forward to all of this — even to all of these questions.

He’s established enough to point out, gently, that when the coaches took him out after a missed left-handed hook, the ensuing discussion never would have occurred had the shot merely gone in as it nearly did. During a thick, physical match with Cincinnati, he saw also “probably one of the better refereeing groups we’ve had.” Of the various ploys teams have tried, he said he understands: “You can’t just let us catch it and let us do whatever we want.” And having learned some of life through sports fans, he said, “Like last year, I dyed my hair blonde. A quarter of them were like, ‘What are you doing?’ Then there’s another whatever percent like, ‘Yo, that’s awesome. Like, keep up with that.’ It’s anything you do. There’s going to be a side that doesn’t mess with it, there’s going to be a side that likes it.”

In that same mass conversation, he made the point that with all its nine-deep talent and its 38-0, Kentucky still isn’t particularly showy. “I feel like if we were out there after every dunk beating your chest or every three doing something or every play you was doing something crazy, people are just gonna hate you more,” he said. “We’re already hated doing classy things. If we was doing rude things to people, the whole world would hate us.”

Then again, it seems the only people who could hate Cauley-Stein are those who haven’t listened, and that’s according to those who have.

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