John Calipari: Coach of the Year candidate?

Does John Calipari deserve some Coach of the Year love?

The folks over at Field of 68 sure do think so. College basketball analysts Rob Dauster, Doug Gottlieb, and Matt McCall sat down on Christmas (of all days) to hand out some “midseason” awards. Even though we’re still not into conference play just yet, it’s never too early to start these types of discussions.

So who did Dauster have as his pick for Coach of the Year? Mr. John Calipari.

“The guy that I have right now as the Midseason Coach of the Year might shock a lot of people, but I’m gonna go with John Calipari, for a number of reasons,” Dauster said. “Biggest one of which is he adjusted what he does to go and play that five-out style and not have to worry about having a big guy in the paint that you throw it to in the post. He is winning with a whole bunch of freshmen, which is not something that happens in college basketball in 2023 anymore.

“And, I think the most important part of coaching more than anything else is getting guys to buy into roles and we just mentioned Rob Dillingham and Reed Sheppard are the two best freshmen in the college basketball. He’s got them both coming off the bench and those dudes aren’t complaining about it all.”

Then we also put together a listing of awards:

Coach of the Year: John Calipari
Player of the Year: Zach Edey
Portal of the Year: David Jones
Freshman of the Year: Ja'kobe Walter (I would have gone Robert Dillingham but @GottliebShow sniped me)https://t.co/GY62vYLnaQ

— Rob Dauster (@RobDauster) December 26, 2023

Calipari wasn’t the only Wildcat receiving some love either. As mentioned above, a couple of Kentucky freshmen were recognized.

McCall had high praise for rookie guard Reed Sheppard, tabbing him as the Freshman of the Year at this point in the season. McCall added that he considered going with fellow Kentucky guard Rob Dillingham for Freshman of the Year, but ultimately went with Sheppard. Instead, Gottlieb decided to go all-in on Dillingham as his choice. Dauster even planned to go with Dillingham before Gottlieb stole his pick.

But back to Calipari for a second. Does he deserve some legitimate Coach of the Year buzz? Kentucky is 9-2 on the season with one high-quality win over North Carolina and a loss to a top-five Kansas team. The loss to UNC-Wilmington certainly hurts his case 11 games through the season, but if Kentucky can win the SEC playing this style of basketball, an argument will be made.