SAD NEWS: Kentucky’s Talented star Announces He Is Leaving The Team Due to…..

Things were quite awful fifteen years ago when John Calipari arrived in town. By Kentucky basketball standards, Billy Gillispie left a mess in his wake. In his two seasons on the job, he had not won an NCAA Tournament, and the Wildcats were coming off a season that finished in the NIT in 2008–09—the first time UK had missed March Madness in eighteen years—while the institution was still on probation and facing a postseason ban. After the Cats’ second first-round upset in the previous three years, a defeat to Oakland last week, which extended their March misery to four postseasons with just one NCAA Tournament triumph, things are also really awful right now. Fans of Kentucky can probably easily

Remember that Calipari’s rapid turnaround in Lexington was preceded by the arrival of players who were ready to commit to him when he was still the head coach at Memphis, including as Eric Bledsoe, John Wall, and DeMarcus Cousins. These guys were one-and-done freshmen. That undoubtedly played a significant role. However, Gillispie also left a solid legacy of past and present Kentucky difference-makers. Calipari probably wouldn’t have won so many games early on without those players. A significant member of that inaugural Calipari squad that revitalized the UK fan base was Patrick Patterson. The following season, which culminated in Calipari’s first Final Four at Kentucky and broke a 13-year streak of not going that far, included starters DeAndre Liggins and Josh Harrellson.

longest such dry spell in the history of the program). The Cats probably wouldn’t have carried a new banner to Rupp Arena that season without those two. Both those teams and the one that played the following season featured Darius Miller in a significant capacity. Does Kentucky win its only NCAA title in Lexington in 2012 without Miller?

WHEN CALIPARI RETURNS, WHO WILL GO WITH HIM? Tre Mitchell and Antonio Reeves, both fifth-year veterans, will leave Kentucky regardless of what happens next. Rob Dillingham, a standout rookie, is headed to the NBA draft. It’s conceivable that Justin Edwards will go the same path. It’s probably unrealistic to expect more than one of the three 7-footers from the UK, Aaron Bradshaw, Zvonimir Ivisic, and Ugonna Onyenso, to return, even if Calipari does. That would represent a significant turnover. Kentucky supporters are accustomed to it after fifteen Calipari offseasons. Are the players on the present UK scholarship not listed there? Joey Hart, Adou Thiero, Jordan Burks, D.J. Wagner, and Reed Sheppard. This is the point at which things might become intriguing. Thiero, Wagner, and Sheppard were all important players this past season.