Kentucky Fan Fatigue Builds After Another "None-and-Done" Exit

John Calipari used the one-and-done NBA rule to his advantage and turned it into four Final Four appearances and a National Championship across five seasons (2011-15). Shortly after each season ended, a parade of Wildcats announced their intention to enter the NBA Draft. It was the cost of doing business, but it paid well for the Big Blue Nation.

That familiar feeling is being replaced by another one. Fifty-one weeks after Shaedon Sharpe announced he was going to the NBA Draft, Ugonna Onyenso requested paperwork to enter the transfer portal.

Each player arrived late on campus. Each player was a building block for the future. In fact, the premature journey to Lexington was supposed to give them a head start for the next season. Instead, each left without doing much of anything in a Kentucky uniform.

Sharpe never stepped foot on the court outside of warm-ups. Onyenso saw minimal time in 16 appearances.

The new era of NIL and the transfer portal has ushered in a pair of none-and-dones in back-to-back seasons. The cost of doing business is no longer delivering dividends for John Calipari and Kentucky basketball fans.

Each player brought baggage with them that I will not pretend to know. It’s clear ulterior motives by outside parties influenced the decisions of each athlete. There’s no clear “why” in this new problem the Kentucky basketball is facing, but it is clear “what” it’s costing the program, leaving behind short-term and long-term consequences.

One Player Away

Every team that comes up short of a National Championship has that missing piece. What if the 2010 Cats had Jodie Meeks or the 2016 team had Dakari Johnson? The NIL and transfer portal rules were supposed to prevent those early exits from happening. Instead, the Wildcats are still seemingly one piece away.

As the Kentucky backcourt struggled to find consistent scoring, Sharpe was making highlight-reel dunks in the NBA. The rookie has scored 20+ points for the Blazers in seven of his last eight games.

Onyenso is arguably an even more significant absence. It’s not from a pure talent standpoint. John Calipari needs shot-blockers for his defense to be successful. Kentucky had its second-worst defensive season of the Calipari era, according to KenPom. It was also the first time a Calipari team finished outside the Top 100 in block percentage. Coincidence? I think not.

Onyenso only played in 16 games but blocked 16 shots during that time. With Aaron Bradshaw bringing offense to Lexington, Ugonna’s defense could have provided balance to the frontcourt. What if we’re saying ‘what if’ a year from now?

A New Reality for Kentucky Basketball

Is John Calipari responsible for this new twist in the Kentucky basketball roller coaster? That’s impossible to determine. It is his job to provide a solution.

“It is what it is.”

That matter-of-fact statement is Grade A coach-speak, but it’s the reality the BBN currently faces. This new form of annual turnover may become a new norm. Now it’s Coach Cal’s turn to transform the chaos into on-court results, which have not lived up to expectations in recent years.

Kentucky hasn’t won an SEC Tournament since 2018. The Wildcats haven’t played in the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament since 2019. During that time span, Kentucky is 6-15 against AP Top 25 teams and a combined 2-6 in the Champions Classic and CBS Sports Classic. Individually, none of those stats make the Kentucky blue sky fall, but the collective drip is exhausting for Kentucky fans that just want to see the Wildcats win big games.

Watching players leave Lexington without making meaningful contributions for the Cats in only one season is just another drip to an ever-growing puddle of frustration for the BBN. There’s one simple solution to clean up this mess: win.