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Everything Players and Staff Had to Say after Losing to Oakland

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7 months ago

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© Gregory Fisher-USA TODAY Sports

Well, Kentucky’s 2023-24 season is over after getting upset in the first round of the NCAA Tournament to 14-seed Oakland. A lot of questions are surrounding the Kentucky basketball program.

Head coach John Calipari and players let all of the sadness out and spoke on the touching subjects after the loss.

John Calipari

Calipari really felt like this team was built March. “They shouldn’t be and our team and our season, defined by that game, but it will be. This one is painful. … This team, I really felt was built for this moment, even though we were young.”

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Calipari says the mistakes from the team was due to the youth. “We made some critical mistakes at critical times today. When you have a really young team and look at where did the mistakes come from, they were freshmen.” When asked if his philosophy will change moving forward, Calipari says he doesn’t know, but he has changed lives doing it the way he is. “”I’ve done this with young teams my whole career. It’s gonna be hard for me to change that because we’ve helped so many young people … I don’t see myself just saying, ‘Ok, we’re not going to recruit freshmen.’ … We have an unbelievable group coming in.”

It was clear, though, that Calipari really believed that this team could have done something special. “I just come back to, I hate it for these guys that people try to define this season by that game, and it’s natural and it’s how this business works but this group was a ball to coach.”

Players

Then, it was the players’ turns to talk with the media, and as you can imagine, it was a devastated locker room. Tre Mitchell, one of the veterans on the team, appreciated his time at Kentucky. “I’ve loved every single second of being at Kentucky. I got an opportunity to live out a dream, and I built bonds with people that will last a lifetime.”

Reed Sheppard was very emotional after the game, talking about how this team was fun to play with, and it being their last time on the court together. “It sucks losing, but it sucks losing knowing it’s your last time playing with this group. This group has been unbelievable. There’s no team that’s been like this on/off the court. We’re all super close. Being able to play at Kentucky and have a special group of guys around me.”

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Sheppard continued on how “special” this Kentucky team was. “You guys could tell how special we were. How close of friends we were on and off the court. It sucks ending the season no matter what. Especially with this group. We’re all really close. We’re all best friends. Knowing that we won’t play with the same group of guys next year is tough. But you know, we have a lot of memories.”

Rob Dillingham also expressed that same comradery feeling. “It means everything to me. I might not show it all the time, but I love everybody on the team. I love putting this (Kentucky) jersey on. Every time I go out there I get chills looking at the crowd. It’s just crazy to think we’re done right now.”

Just like that, Kentucky’s season has come to a shocking halt. A special team ended with a very disappointing March. Now, big questions will need to be answered .

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Men's Basketball

Former Louisville Player “Pissed Off” at Rick Pitino’s Return to Kentucky, Suggests He Is a Liar

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5 days ago

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October 17, 2024

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Former Louisville player Luke Hancock was "pissed off" about his former coach Rick Pitino returning to Kentucky, and suggests he is a liar.
IMAGN

If a Kentucky fan had been told on January 1st that Rick Pitino would return to Rupp Arena for Mark Pope’s first Big Blue Madness as the Wildcats’ head coach, they would have given you quite a look. Yet, it happened, and it even caught Louisville fans off guard.

“I want to come back to Camelot one more time,” Pitino said teary-eyed with a Kentucky blue pullover on. This was quite the opposite act of what he did the last time he was in Rupp Arena, which was flipping off the Wildcat fans as the head coach at Louisville in 2015.

Already angering Louisville fans with his return to their rival, Pitino was asked if he sees himself returning to Louisville in a similar fashion one day, to which he responded, “Probably not”.

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“I love that place, and I love the fans at Louisville, but I’ve never been invited back to Louisville. They fired me quite abruptly and not nicely, but I harbor nothing against the fans and certainly nothing against my players. I love them dearly. But I’ve never been invited back, not one time.”

Former Louisville captain Luke Hancock refutes this, saying he has invited Pitino back himself.

“I’ll tell you what pissed me off,” Hancock said. “The fact that coach went out there and acted like he hadn’t invited back. That’s the line I don’t like. Of course, you’ve been invited back… For him to go out of his way to say that, that’s simply not true.”

It likely is the case that Hancock invited Pitino back to Louisville, but being invited back by a player and an administration is different. Again Pitino left Kentucky on his own will to go to the Boston Celtics, whereas he was fired from Louisville.

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Now that he is back in the good graces of Big Blue Nation, and given the turmoil in his relationship with the UofL administration, it’s difficult to envision Pitino returning to Louisville for a reunion.

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BB Recruiting

Malachi Moreno Helping Kentucky Recruit Top 2025 Point Guard

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5 days ago

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October 16, 2024

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Five-star Kentucky commit Malachi Moreno is helping the Wildcats recruit one of the top point guards of the 2025 class Acaden Lewis.
UK Athletics

This past weekend was a big moment for Kentucky basketball, as the first Big Blue Madness of the Mark Pope era took place. In years past, the event has hosted multiple five-star recruits and this year was no different.

While the guest list was smaller due to USA Basketball junior mini camp, the Wildcats had two top recruits in attendance, 2026 five-star Anthony Thompson and 2024 four-star combo guard Acaden Lewis.

The latter is one of Kentucky’s biggest recruiting priorities in the 2025 class and was also on campus for an official visit as he prepares to make his college decision in early November. To help was five-star commit, Malachi Moreno.

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While Moreno couldn’t make it to Big Blue Madness, he was able to meet with Lewis during his visit on Thursday and even took part in his photo shoot, as the pair posed together in Kentucky uniforms in Rupp Arena.

It helps to have a five-star commit just down the road to help recruit. Could we see the pair play together next season at Kentucky? Things are trending in that direction, but time will tell.

Also published on A Sea of Blue.

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Men's Basketball

Rick Pitino Takes Shot at Louisville Following Return to Kentucky

Published

6 days ago

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October 16, 2024

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Rick Pitino returned to Rupp Arena for Kentucky's Big Blue Madness, and took a shot at his former school Louisville.
© Clare Grant/Courier Journal

Time heals all wounds.

In 2015, Rick Pitino walked out of Rupp Arena with his middle finger up at the fans, as the head coach of the Louisville Cardinals. On Friday, he returned for the first time since, and as he emerged from the tunnel wearing Kentucky blue, holding the 1996 championship trophy, Big Blue Nation cheered for him for the first time in over two decades.

Clearly holding back tears, Pitino sat the trophy down on a mantle alongside seven others, and was welcomed with a warm embrace from his former player and now head coach, Mark Pope.

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“I am so happy to be back,” Pitino opened. “Before I pack it in, in coaching, I want to come back to Camelot one more time. This is one of the best nights I’ve had in a long time.”

On Friday, at an event that had become stale and repetitive of late, was a moment that will be remembered in Kentucky basketball history. To close this historical night, Kentucky Insider asked Pitino if he ever thought he would be wearing Kentucky blue again.

“Yeah, I thought so. Once I left Louisville, I said I’ll sleep in Kentucky blue.”

Pitino is one of Kentucky’s own again. Wow, how time has changed.

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