John Calipari 'a Moment' Away From Bluegrass Backlash

Once, that guy was Dean Smith.

Then, for years, that guy was Jim Boeheim, with Roy Williams and Bill Self dribbling closely in the rear.

Now John Calipari is that guy as the best college basketball coach never to win it all despite everything: 477 career wins at the age of 51, trips to the Final Four with programs that he built in a flash at Massachusetts and Memphis -- including that Memphis team sitting a few made free throws from a national championship -- and ridiculously talented rosters.

Consider, too, that Calipari enters this year's March Madness with a Big Blue target on his back in his first season at Kentucky.

All Kentucky coaches not named Adolph Rupp own such a fate, and Calipari even more so with a loaded team with lottery picks and standouts in general. His Wildcats also are a No. 1 seed for their opening game on Thursday night in New Orleans against East Tennessee State. And remember: The historically demanding fans of the Wildcats are loud, plentiful and occasionally vicious.

You wonder if Calipari's pipes are bursting from the pressure of it all. I mean, there was that rarity at the SEC Tournament. After Kentucky slipped past Mississippi State for the title, Calipari ordered his team NOT to cut down the nets.

Let's give Calipari the benefit of the doubt. Let's say the most pressure in his basketball world these days is provided by a full-court press.

For the moment.

A moment is all you get to breathe as Kentucky's basketball coach.

For verification, there was the shameless way that the Big Blue Nation treated Tubby Smith. Within a few years after he won a national championship during his first season at Kentucky in 1998, there were Web sites dedicated to getting him fired for keeping the Wildcats good instead of great. One of those sites even had a picture of Smith squatting on the sidelines while burning in flames.

But back to Calipari, who still has that "moment" at Kentucky to get it right. Although Kansas or some other team will win it all with more experience, less sloppiness at point guard and better shooters from the perimeter than Kentucky, let's assume this: That Calipari's no-nets-cutting thing was just his way of telling the Wildcats that they are on a mission -- you know, national championship or bust.

Joe B. Hall can relate to that.

"I remember when we beat Indiana in the finals of the [Mideast Regional] in 1975, I remember cutting down those nets," said Hall, 81, referring to an epic game that kept Bobby Knight from a likely undefeated season. That Indiana team went undefeated in 1976 with virtually the same players who lost to Kentucky the year before, which means Indiana could have won back-to-back national championships.

Speaking of national championships, Hall added, "We won it at Kentucky in 1978, and I also remember cutting down those nets, but I don't recall those kind of celebrations for winning the conference or whatever."

That's because Hall had his Wildcats on ... yep, a mission.

They never smiled. Game after game, courtesy of gifted seniors Jack Givens, Rick Robey, James Lee and Mike Phillips -- along with All-America sophomore point guard Kyle Macy -- they evolved into a joyless Kentucky team that kept marching toward the top of college basketball as assassins in sneakers.

When those Wildcats did the expected by grabbing the national championship, it was noted for the ages as a victory without celebration.

"Yeah, we said that the wins along the way were successes in a cross-country race, but you don't stop and celebrate every mile. You wait until you win the whole race before you celebrate," said Hall, Rupp's replacement, who spent 14 seasons coaching Kentucky to a 297-100 record through 1985. "We didn't celebrate each victory like it was something special. It was a goal to achieve what we were waiting for. That's why I think John Calipari's message is pretty clear. It's like, 'No, we don't have to cut down nets now. We want to cut the big nets down.' As was the case for us in 1978, each little step is only part of the big race."

This isn't 1978, though. As seasoned as those Wildcats were is as raw as these Wildcats are. Calipari has three freshmen in his starting lineup. They're all exceptional in John Wall, DeMarcus Cousins and Eric Bledsoe, but they're all still freshman. The other starters are sophomore Darius Miller and junior Patrick Patterson.

Wall epitomizes the group with strengths and weaknesses. For instance: Along the way to becoming the SEC's Player of the Year, he had so many issues with turnovers in the backcourt that he clashed with Calipari.

Plus, like most Calipari teams, this one hasn't a clue at the foul line.

Kentucky ranks 207th in the country in free-throw shooting (67.9 percent), and you just know that a foul shot or three will decide the Wildcats' fate in the Final Four or even the Elite Eight or Sweet Sixteen.

Sounds like Calipari should keep glancing over his shoulder for some of those blue-colored arrows heading his way.

"Actually, I don't think that. There's no pressure on John, and I don't think they'll ever put demands on him around here, and I don't think he ever has to win a national championship at Kentucky," said Hall, as I waited on the other end of the phone for a rim shot or something from Lexington, Ky.

Surely, the old Kentucky coach was joking.

For one, even Hall was blasted often by those in the Big Blue Nation, mostly because he wasn't Rupp. For another, Hall does a popular sports-talk radio show around Kentucky with former Louisville coach Denny Crum. So you know Hall saw all of that Tubby bashing up close and personal. You also know he saw how Kentucky fans wanted Hall's successor, Eddie Sutton, and later Billy Gillispie to gallop out of bluegrass territory on the fastest thing they could find at Churchill Downs.

Then there was Rick Pitino, without a national championship until the seventh of his eight seasons at Kentucky. Nevertheless, he remained the people's choice before he returned to coach at Louisville, Kentucky's Great Satan.

No pressure on Calipari?

"I'm serious," said Hall, refusing to budge. Then he paused, searching for the right words, before adding, "Well, Pitino didn't make the players the main show -- if you know what I mean. Calipari has let the players be themselves, and they are the show. He has so much self-confidence that he doesn't mind the competition or the adulation that the players get and the program itself gets. He feeds off of that, and he's made them fun to watch. People are entertained when they come to the games.

"I think Pitino tried to make it more of 'Let's forget the past. Let's concentrate on the present.' Do you see what I mean? Calipari has embraced the past."

Yeah, but Kentucky's past is about one thing: Seven national championships. And with apologies to Hall, Calipari will replace Smith in the midst of those Internet flames if his Wildcats don't grab an eighth before long.