Kentucky's Trends In Revenge Games

Tomorrow Kentucky hosts LSU, the first of three revenge games so far this season.  The next being Arkansas next Thursday, and Florida to cap the SEC season.  So with so many opportunities to extract revenge on earlier losses, let’s look at how Calipari’s teams have traditionally responded to rematches.

2009-10 team:

I’m sure you remember Kentucky’s first loss of that season coming against South Carolina and Devon Downey, but I didn’t remember that their second came at Tennessee.  Fortunately John Wall and crew got a second crack at both teams, beating fake-USC by 21 and Tennessee in the SEC tournament by 29.

2010-2011 team:

Unfortunately, this Kentucky team had a lot more losses to work with.  They lost at Georgia, but beat them by 6 in Rupp.  They lost at Alabama, but beat them by 14 in the SEC tournament.  Lost at Ole Miss, beat them by 9 in the SEC tournament.  Lost at Florida, but beat them both at Rupp and in the SEC tournament.  Lost at Vanderbilt, beat them by 2 at home.  Lost early in the season to North Carolina, but beat them in the NCAA’s in one of the more exciting games that season.  They even got revenge on West Virginia one season later!  But the season ended to eventual champion Connecticut – a team they lost to earlier that year.  This would be the only team to play a Calipari team more than once in a season and win both times.

2011-2012 team:

You remember this season as well as I do.  I mean, it’s not like I have a schedule rewatching of that tournament run once a month.  I totally don’t do that.  But even if it goes without saying, this team only had two losses.  One late in the season to a Vandy team they had beat twice already, and one to Indiana early.  You may remember the Indiana loss as the one that made IU in to IULOL (h/t Fake Gimel) for how they took a buzzer beater and made it in to a program identity.  But I prefer the rematch in the tournament.  One of the most exciting offensive games of the year, especially in an era of College Basketball that really favored defense.   To their credit, Indiana played a great game – Kentucky was just excellent.  Revenge complete on the way to the title.

2012-2013 team:

This was honestly a season to forget, save for a few outstanding moments.  Mostly surrounding Nerlens Noel.  That said, even this Calipari team managed to not get swept by any SEC opponents.  They had losses against A&M, Alabama, Florida, Tennessee, Arkansas, Georgia, and Vanderbilt in the SEC season/tournament.  They only got a second crack against A&M and Florida, but managed to beat both of them, but they split with Tennessee and had two wins already against Vanderbilt.

2013-2014 team:

The story is still unwritten.  With three ‘revenge’ games coming up, can one of the three be the first SEC team to sweep Kentucky in the Calipari era?  Could Baylor, Michigan State or North Carolina end up matched up against Kentucky in the tournament?  The revenge tour starts tomorrow, and if past performance is any indication, look for the Cats to throttle LSU in Rupp.

Final takeaway:  It’s pretty crazy and impressive that Calipari teams have yet to lose twice to any SEC team in a given season – but they also haven’t gone up against a team as talented as this years Florida.  That would be the game I would be circling if I were you.  It’s going to be tough for Kentucky to win at Florida in the final game of the regular season, but it’s certainly not impossible.

Keep the streak alive.  It starts tomorrow.