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Kentucky Enters the NCAA Tournament Motivated, “We Want to Prove Everybody Wrong”

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The Kentucky Wildcats are entering the NCAA Tournament motivated, wanting to prove everyone who doubted them and John Calipari wrong.
Photo by Chet White | UK Athletics

Win or go home. That is the reality Kentucky and 67 other teams face as they enter the NCAA Tournament this week.

They got a taste of that in the SEC Tournament, losing to Texas A&M in their first game. Sending them and thousands of the Kentucky faithful home with a bad taste in their mouth, one that Rob Dillingham believes will motivate the team for the Big Dance.

“I’m confident in our team,” Dillingham said after the loss to A&M. “It’s one game. Teams lose. It’s the best team to win that day. I feel like it only sets us up to be more hungry to be in the tournament.”

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Fairly or unfairly, a lot rides on this Kentucky team to lift the morale of the program with a Tournament run. After just one SEC Tournament win and one NCAA Tournament win over the last three seasons, the Big Blue Nation is not content, nor should they be.

That lack of postseason success has acted similar to a pressure cooker, creating a level of pressure that hasn’t been felt in years. The solution, win.

That is a task the players are accepting. “If you ask me, I just want to prove everybody wrong who doubted in us,” Zvonimir Ivisic said. “Everyone who said we couldn’t do it. Who doubted in Coach Cal. ‘They’re all freshmen’. All this, all that. I just want to prove them wrong.”

This team has been at their best when people are doubting them, counting them out, and so has Calipari. Kentucky has won four straight games when they are at least a 7.5-point underdog, including beating a 1-seed quality Tennessee team on the road in Knoxville in the regular season finale.

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Teammates Rob Dillingham and Anotnio Reeves talked more along the same lines after the Selection Show, going into the tournament with revenge on their minds after losing to Texas A&M in the SEC Tournament.

“We feel confident, honestly. Every time we’ve lost we have come back with a vain.” Dillingham said. “Just coming back with revenge,” Reeves added.

This was supposed to be the year. Kentucky brought in the No. 1 recruiting class, which featured multiple NBA Draft picks. Including DJ Wagner, the No. 1 recruit who was long tabbed a Wildcat, and homegrown talent Reed Sheppard. Pairing that young talent with talented veterans Tre Mitchell and Antonio Reeves, with the latter having an All-American season, and key contributors like Adou Thiero and Ugonna Onyenso.

The style of play, the personalities, their celebration of each other, have brought joy to a fanbase at a time when it has needed it. But without a deep run, one of the most likable Kentucky teams in recent memory could be looked back on with disappointment.

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Dillingham says it’s all about playing their own game. “When we play our game, there’s not a lot of teams that can play as good as us,” Dillingham said. “When we play our game, we rarely lose.”

Men's Basketball

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

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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.
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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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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

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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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