Kentucky Basketball should consider an offensive coordinator

By any measure, scoring 53 points in a college basketball game in 2022 is not great. Whether you’re a Basketball Benny or a Hall-of-Fame coach, there is no denying Kentucky’s offense needs a shot in the arm, a whiff of ammonia, or some other stimulant to jolt this team out of the mud through which they trudge when they have the ball.

Teamrankings.com ranks Kentucky 55^th in the nation in offensive efficiency, but that number is a little misleading due to a couple of blowouts of lower-caliber teams. When it comes to Power Five opponents, it is much, much worse. However, by any numbers you choose, Kentucky’s offense has been dreadful this year.

On the flip side, this team’s defense hasn’t been half-bad. KenPom slots Kentucky in as the fifth-best in the country when it comes to defensive efficiency, and while we can squabble about the nuances of all these metrics, it would be hard to find someone willing to argue Kentucky’s defense has been the primary source of the team’s recent struggles.

So, Kentucky Basketball has a solid defense and an offense with no real identity. Do you know what that sounds like? Kentucky Football.

Kentucky Football did it; Basketball can too

Behind first-and-only-year coordinator Rich Scangarello, this season, Kentucky’s offense never really found its groove. Sure, it didn’t help that Will Levis played injured and the offensive line looked more like a Big Blue Gate at times than it did a Big Blue Wall. However, Mark Stoops chose to go a different direction and bring in a new offensive coordinator to help boost his team’s potential to score.

John Calipari might want to do the same thing.

Obviously, offensive coordinators are not really a thing in basketball, but the concept is the same. Cal would still be the captain. He would still direct the ship in the sense of giving the coach a general direction, just like Mark Stoops’ tendency to play more conservatively guides how his OC calls plays. However, the bulk of the Xs and Os would get handed over to someone with a better feel for how the game has evolved. Namely, more spacing, more movement, more layups, and more 3s.

Calipari has hinted that tweaks are coming, and we all love tweaks; however, Kentucky’s offensive woes did not just start this season. Sluggishness has been a trend for a few years and is one that may need a fresh body to help get back on a more promising trajectory.

Cal’s not going anywhere, and that’s a good thing

Despite the recent slump, Cal is Kentucky’s guy. Now that Coach K and Roy Williams are off sipping margaritas on the beach in retirement, there might not be a more front-page college coach than John Calipari, and if just for that reason alone, it is hard to imagine him not representing Kentucky. After all, it is much easier to be a gold-standard program with a Hall-of-Fame icon at the helm.

Moreover, a slew of tactical entanglements inhibits any sort of involuntary dismissal, most notably Cal’s zillion-dollar buyout and the fact that firing him would mean he and Mitch Barnhart would actually have to talk.

So, why not do what other great leaders have done and know when it is time to ask for help? The best CEOs in the world will tell you the reason their company is so successful is that they surround themselves with people smarter than they are. They are humble yet confident enough to employ someone else to manage an area where they themselves are not a guru.

There is no one on the planet better to be the face of Kentucky Basketball than John Calipari, but these last few seasons have shown he is no modern-day offensive wizard. And that’s completely fine. But maybe, as CEO, Cal should consider bringing in someone who is.

Kentucky Basketball used to have an OC

By all accounts, John Robic used to be Kentucky’s offensive coordinator. Robic was the assistant who scouted the other team, worked out game plans, and drew up plays. During his time at Kentucky, the team was 41-14 against ranked opponents. Ever since he left, Kentucky is just 24-31.

There is a multitude of factors that have contributed to Kentucky’s recent mediocrity aside from the loss of one assistant coach, but at a minimum, there sure seemed to be a lot less confusion and standing around on offense back when Robic held the whiteboard on the bench.

Mark Stoops is reportedly bringing back Liam Coen. Should Cal consider bringing back his old offensive coordinator as well? Rumors would suggest the possibility of that happening is nil, but there is no shortage of young masterminds in the game who would jump at the opportunity to spearhead Kentucky Basketball’s offensive scheme. It might be worth bringing one of them on staff and giving them the freedom to weaponize the wealth of Kentucky’s talent.

Oddly enough, next year’s talented class complicates matters

Speaking of talent, Kentucky’s freshman class next year is packed full of it. More importantly, it has the type of NBA-caliber players that Cal’s style of play has worked well for in the past, so it may be poor timing to upheave the system, considering a mid-year change this season is not realistic.

Kentucky will have three guys (DJ Wagner, Robert Dillingham, and Justin Edwards) on the perimeter who can beat their man off the dribble, so Cal’s system predicated on exactly that skillset may work well.

The counter to that, however, the last time Kentucky had this much talent, John Robic was on the sideline. And if you want to downplay his contribution, perhaps those teams won despite using an outdated offensive scheme and not because of it. Maybe a new OC could take what would have already been a really good offensive unit and catapult them to greatness.

The bottom line is that Kentucky’s half-court offense these last few years makes it look like the hardwood is composed of quicksand. Worse yet, in the final minutes of a close game, the basket may as well come from a carnival with a rubber, oval-shaped rim.

The good news is that Kentucky’s offensive stagnation is a correctable problem. However, Cal needs to be both self-reflective and secure enough to take a page out of Stoops’ playbook and bring someone in to help fix it.