Kentucky basketball as we know it is falling apart at the seems. It looked like rock bottom this past weekend with a 26-point beatdown in Tuscaloosa, good enough for the third biggest loss of the John Calipari era and by far the worst loss to Alabama. A matchup against arguably the worst team in the SEC in South Carolina at home where they were 20-point favorites presented a nice opportunity to get things back on track on Tuesday night.
Instead, things fell off the rails worse than anyone could have imagined with one of the most humiliating losses in the history of the program. The Gamecocks, who were fresh off a 43-point drubbing at the hands of Tennessee, came into Lexington and took down a Kentucky team that began the season with a top-five ranking, but now sits at 13th in the SEC. With rumors swirling about Calipari’s future as Kentucky’s head coach, one fan brought a sign to the game that said “Please Go to Texas”, and said fan was removed from Rupp Arena.
So where does this leave Kentucky? The short answer is that right now, the 10-6 Cats (1-3 in the SEC) are on the outside looking in of the NCAA Tournament picture and Calipari, even though he has a “lifetime” contract, can feel his seat starting to get warmer. Perhaps the only reason for hope for the future of the program is that on paper, next year’s recruiting class is one of the best in school history.
But will Calipari even be around to coach them? Will he bolt for Texas while everything feels hopeless in Lexington? Will the administration at UK encourage him to do so? It’s still early on in the year and the Cats can turn things around. It just is starting to feel like everything Calipari has built over the years is about to come crashing down, and a change could be best for all parties involved.
