John Calipari hopes fans enjoy March ride with inevitable roster reset around the corner

Kentucky hasn’t been the revolving door of top-level draft talent it has been in recent years, piling up six first-rounders and nine total picks in the last four cycles. It’s been good, but not five-first-round picks-in-one-draft good.

This year is back to being Kentucky good in that regard, John Calipari finding the right balance of top-end freshmen with NBA upside and developing portal pieces into likely pros. The team has had its ups and downs, but things are inarguably trending in the right direction in March.

With that comes the unfortunate reality of what it all means at the end of this journey. This team is fun, among the most fun under Coach Cal in terms of personality, chemistry and offensive production. They’re putting up record scoring numbers and having a blast doing it, an easy group to love. But when these next 4-12 games wrap up (emphasis on the latter number, please), this roster will inevitably break up.

We know Antonio Reeves and Tre Mitchell are done, both out of eligibility and quickly approaching the end of their college basketball careers. And then Rob Dillingham, Reed Sheppard, DJ Wagner, Justin Edwards, Aaron Bradshaw, Zvonimir Ivisic, Adou Thiero and Ugonna Onyenso all technically have decisions to make regarding their futures in Lexington. The portal is always something to keep in mind, too. Point being, you can never declare with certainty any player is back until they’re officially back, you know?

For that reason, Coach Cal has a hope for fans watching this team as it makes its run in March: enjoy the ride.

“This has been a fun walk. I’ve told everybody from day one, enjoy this,” he said Monday. “Don’t let anybody steal your joy and give you doubts. ‘What about this? What about that?’ Don’t let them, why? Enjoy these young people because at the end of the year, they’ll be gone. We’ll have another group. So enjoy this group and what they’ve become, what they are for each other, what they are for our fans.”

The team knows the real season begins now in make-or-break territory, starting with the SEC Tournament, followed quickly by the NCAA Tournament. Beyond the two games remaining in the regular season, only two more are officially promised, one in Nashville and one wherever the Cats are placed on Selection Sunday. It will be on them to decide their long-term fate from there.

Practice Monday reflected that going into the final week of regular season action. Kentucky understands the magnitude of what’s to come.

“Today’s practice was a full — they wanted to compete, they wanted to scrimmage. Said, ‘Keep going, Coach. Stop, let us go at each other.’ And it’s what, March something?” Calipari said. “We’ve got a good group, we’ve got great fans, we’ve got a tough schedule of games.

“We’re at that time now. It’s time to lay it down and let’s go.”

We are about to find out what this group is made of in win-or-go-home territory.