Reed Sheppard uncertain on future, heartbroken 'unbelievable season' with 'special group' is over

No, Reed Sheppard did not have an unfinished business epiphany in the locker room following Kentucky’s devastating loss to Oakland in the NCAA Tournament. The questions always come, certainly for a kid with the most fascinating stay/go decision in college basketball, but there aren’t any answers yet. Not when a season ends like this, one you can officially say experienced the highest of highs and lowest of lows.

“I have not thought about that at all,” Sheppard said quickly. “Right now, I’m focused on this game and this season. I have no idea.”

That’s not to say the freshman guard didn’t have a lot on his mind before finally turning those thoughts into words through tears. Choked up and visibly heartbroken, Sheppard shared love for his teammates, knowing this ride with them has officially come to a screeching halt.

“I mean, you have to give credit to Oakland. They played a really good game. It sucks losing, but it sucks losing knowing this is the last time you’re playing with this group,” he said. “This group has been unbelievable. There is no team that has been like this on and off the court. We’re all super close. It’s been a heck of a season and it’s something we’ll never forget, I know I won’t.

“Being able to play at Kentucky and having this special group of guys around me, it’s been an unbelievable season. It sucks it ends like this, but you’ve got to give credit to Oakland and how they played.”

Then came the game-specific questions. What happened? How do you only take five shots? Was it the zone? Did the coaches have you prepared? He took them all like a champ, one by one.

First, the tricky zone Oakland said would be difficult to prepare for on short notice — part of the Golden Grizzlies’ oozing confidence entering the matchup.

“I think we were prepared. We got shots we wanted, we just didn’t make them. That happens sometimes, that’s basketball,” Sheppard said. “We miss a lot of easy shots that we normally make and we didn’t make them tonight. Their zone was good, it was a funky zone and we’ve never seen anything like that before. Give credit to them for sticking with it the whole game. It’s part of it.”

Then on being limited to five attempts with one make, just one shot coming in the first half.

“That’s good on their end, they had a good zone and they were able to take some plays and shots away,” he added. “We weren’t as aggressive as we needed to, trying to make stuff happen and create shots for each other, or ourselves. That’s part of it.”

And then the big one: just how much is John Calipari to blame for all of this?

That one hit close to home for the USBWA National Freshman of the Year.

“None of that is on Coach, Coach isn’t out there playing the game. He’s not out there shooting the shots, he’s not guarding, he’s not out there doing anything,” Sheppard said. “They prepared us for the game and we couldn’t stop them defensively, didn’t make shots, had some bad turnovers. That’s not on them, he can’t shoot the ball for us. He got us open shots to do what we needed to do.

“None of this is on the coaches, I don’t care what anybody says. We have the best coach in the world. We have the best coaching staff in the world. How much we learned from them this year, they’re a great group of guys and a great group of coaches.”

He’ll admit Calipari didn’t have much to say after the loss — no one really did. Hell, even after the mandatory cool-down period before media was allowed inside the locker room, the players were mostly speechless on their end, too. That’s the nature of the beast with these things.

“There’s no easy way to put it,” Sheppard said of Coach Cal’s postgame message. “You have to give credit to Oakland, they played a good game and hit shots, outrebounded us. It’s just, there’s not much you can say after something like that.”

Of the words he was able to finally get out, he wanted to make sure the spotlight was positively placed on his teammates and just how much he enjoyed being a part of this. All of this — the good, bad and ugly. He wouldn’t have done it with any other group, one he’s crushed to know will not be back as currently constructed next year.

“You guys could tell how special we were, how close friends we were on and off the court. It sucks ending the season no matter what, but especially with this group,” Sheppard said. “We’re all really close, we’re all best friends. Knowing that you won’t play with the same group of guys next year is tough. We have a lot of memories, coaches have been unbelievable this year. Being able to be a part of this team, learning and competing against everybody is really, really awesome.”

What he hopes fans remember about this team?

“Everybody knows how much fun this team had. Everyone loved watching this team,” he added. “I loved playing for this team, but with the group of guys we had, it was an unbelievable season.

“It’s really special having a bond with all of your teammates. It sucks it’s over.”