John Calipari responds to critics, shares how Kentucky can make NCAA Tournament

The Kentucky Wildcats have just picked up their second win in a row after knocking off the No. 10 ranked Tennessee Volunteers. And if you had the Wildcats bowing out and missing the NCAA tournament, John Calipari says shame on you. After picking up the home victory against their SEC east rival, Calipari responded to all the critics, writing off his Kentucky squad.

“Talking us out of the NCAA tournament does not work,” said Calipari. “You either play yourself in, or you play yourself out. So people are talking, ‘They are done.’ And I just said, ‘Look, don’t listen to it’. I told our fans, our fans in that building, we lead the nation in attendance. And our fans, in that game, helped us win that game.

“All I’m saying to them (is) don’t listen to all the garbage. And if you hear it, turn it off and just have good thoughts about this team. Because this team is trying to fight, and they’re great kids. I’ve said all along, we were gonna break through. We’ve had two losses that you would like to have back but none of that matters now. Everything is us going forward.”

At the beginning of February, Kentucky was listed as one of the “Last Four In” teams, according to bracketologist Joe Lunardi. They didn’t make the situation any better when the Wildcats lost two of their first three games to start the month. Still, Kentucky has bounced back in a big way, beating Mississippi State on the road, followed by this huge victory against Tennessee.

Calipari knows Kentucky’s work is not done

While Calipari is all smiles right now, and his Wildcats can breathe a slight sigh of relief, their work is far from done. The Kentucky headman knows that there are still a handful of games left on the schedule, and all of them are critical for his team’s postseason aspirations.

“We have a tough game; we’ve got road games. Two tough road games. We got two tough home games. Play the games; let’s see how we are. Let’s see if we get healthy (and) let’s see if we get better.

Kentucky will finish this season alternating home and away games. The next contest will be on the road against Florida, followed by a home game against Auburn to end the month of February. To kick off the month of March, the Wildcats will take on Vanderbilt at home and end the regular season with a Saturday afternoon contest against the Arkansas Razorbacks.