Jay Wright questions John Calipari's approach to building Kentucky roster through freshmen

For the second time in three years, the Kentucky Wildcats Men’s basketball team finds itself ousted in the first round of the NCAA tournament courtesy of a double-digit seed. The last time was in 2022 when no. 15 seeded Saint Peters opened up the tournament upsetting the no. 2 seed Wildcats on their way to an Elite Eight berth. This season, John Calipari and the Wildcats came up short against Oakland University.

Following the game, plenty of individuals were stunned by the No. 14 seed upsetting the No. 3 seed in the first round. However, while some were wondering how and why, another national champion-winning head coach, Jay Wright, provided some context as to why Kentucky has struggled early on in the championship tournaments. Not only that, but he explained the reality that Calipari is now facing in the current college basketball landscape.

“The era of taking these young freshmen and trying to play against older players is over,” said Wright. “I think he did a phenomenal job with these guys all year, getting to be as successful as they were. You can see they’re playing against grown men. The guys on Kentucky will be far better pros than any of these guys on Oakland or any of these guys in the tournament. But they’re not as good college basketball players.

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“At this point in their careers, they’re not as disciplined yet as the guys from Oakland. It’s not Cal’s fault; it’s their 18 years old. And they’re in this era where everyone’s telling them how great they are — just show up in college, and you’re going to win. It doesn’t happen that way. And the more the guys stay in college because NIL, is going to be tougher for young teams like this to be successful.”

Calipari is well known for his one-and-done college basketball head coaching style, which has catapulted plenty of top high school recruits to the next level. That is great, seeing that that is most players’ ultimate goal. However, if Calipari wants to get back into the business of winning national championships, he will likely have to adapt to the changes that Wright mentioned above.

Calipari reveals if NCAA Tournament upsets will impact his philosophy in future

Oakland‘s victory on Thursday sent the Wildcats home without a win in the postseason, including the SEC Tournament. Disappointing results have become too normalized in Lexington, and some kind of change is needed.

While some Kentucky fans believe the change needs to be the head coach, his buyout is just South of $34 million. There is a good chance Calipari returns for the 2024-2025 season and will make another run at a national championship.

So, maybe there could be a philosophy change for Calipari — specifically in the way he recruits.

However, Calipari says changing his ways will be difficult due to the individual success his players have had. Kentucky the team has not been able to break through in some time but the NBA results certainly still there.

“I’ve done this with young teams my whole career,” Calipari said. “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 saying ‘Okay, we’re not going to recruit freshmen.’ The thing that we’ve been blessed with is families bring their sons to us and we do what we’re supposed to do to help them prepare for the rest of their lives.”