Calipari changed his mind about Chris Livingston playing the four

Back in mid-November, John Calipari said it is time to start getting Chris Livingston more looks at Kentucky’s four-spot. Kentucky was four games into its season when he said he will use Livingston to push Jacob Toppin and Daimion Collins at that spot on the floor. “I’ll play Chris at the four,” Calipari teased in his post-South Carolina State game press conference on November 17.

A couple of weeks later, Livingston still hadn’t seen any serious opportunities at the four when Calipari said after the Bellarmine game, “I could play him at the four, which I was going to do today.” He added, “He’s not afraid of the contact. So maybe we play him at the four. Let him get in there and you play small ball with him at four.”

Then after the following game versus Michigan in London, Calipari tripled down on Livingston at the four. This time, he said the staff needs to teach Livingston to play the position.

Calipari: told my staff we need to teach Chris to play the 4. He can play the physical game

— Big Blue Insider (@bigblueinsider1) December 4, 2022

Six days later, Calipari said after the win over Yale, “I’m gonna do that more. But again, he needs to be scrimmaging at the four. I can’t just throw him in and say I hope he knows what he’s doing. It’s not fair.”

At that point, many began to wonder, why not play him at the four already? Only one person has the power to make that call, right? Yet, Livingston still saw nearly all of his minutes on the wing with two other forwards and two guards, despite more and more talk of moving him over in order to try something new to improve the play at Kentucky’s weakest spot on the court.

Then most recently, two days ago, after Livingston was one of the few bright spots in Kentucky’s loss to UCLA with 14 points and four rebounds, Calipari said on his call-in radio show that it was time to “tweak” the lineup and the assumption was Livingston would finally get a real look at the four after a string of subpar performances by Jacob Toppin.

Don't have to read between the lines too much with John Calipari's comments tonight. Pretty clear he's going with Chris Livingston at the four.

"He brings toughness."

— Jack Pilgrim (@JackPilgrimKSR) December 19, 2022

But the lineup “tweak” Calipari teased meant starting Livingston at the three with Lance Ware at the four, likely to reward Ware for bringing the fight in the loss to the Bruins in the CBS Sports Classic. That’s fair. Ware earned it. But from there, Calipari tinkered with several new lineup combinations throughout the game against Florida A&M, some he hadn’t used all season (even Oscar Tshiebwe at the four with Ugonna Oyenso) but not once did Livingston get any run in the spot Calipari had been talking about since the fourth game on the schedule.

Why not? In a game against a team ranked outside the top 350 in college basketball, is there a better time to test Livingston in a new role before the competition level picks up in SEC play?

Turns out, Calipari changed his mind because Tom Leach asked him on the postgame radio show if the plan is still to play Livingston at the four moving forward, a statement he has made over and over in postgame press conferences and on his call-in radio shows since the beginning of the season.

Calipari replied, “No. I think I’d rather even play Adou (Thiero) at the four with Chris in the game and now you have two 6-6, long, physical guys.”

And with that, the Chris Livingston/small ball dream appears to be dead.