Less than sixty two months ago, the University of Kentucky hired John Calipari to lead the men's basketball program back to prominence. Five seasons later have produced:
2010: Elite 8 - Unexpected loss to West Virginia when Team could not make an outside shot.
2011: Final 4 - Loss to UConn fell 2 wins short of a National Title Despite NCAA never allowing Enes Kanter to play a single minute of a single game.
2012: National Championship and one of the most dominant teams in UK history. The Championship run included wins over Indiana (Sweet 16), Baylor (Elite 8), Louisville (Final 4), and Kansas (Championship game).
2013: A season gone awry after first round draft pick, freshman Nerlens Noel goes down for the season, ripping the team's heart and soul apart
2014: Loss to UConn in the National Championship game despite having 7 freshmen and two sophomores in the top 9 rotation, and Losing Sophomore Willie Cauley-Stein to a stress fracture during the Sweet 16 game against Louisville. In successive NCAA Tournament games, the Cats beat undefeated, #1 Seed Wichita State (2013 Final Four Team), Louisville (2013 National Champion), Michigan (2013 National Runner up), and Wisconsin in the Final Four.
2015: With a roster that will possess rare championship level experience that runs 8 deep, and another banner freshman class, the 2014-15 Cats have already been proclaimed a 4:1 favorite to win another championship.
Looking back, the vision is better than 20/20, and it is clear that Coach Calipari has restored this program to the top of the sport, and all others are now looking up to measure the distance between themselves and Calipari's Cats. However, 61 months ago, Gregg Doyel saw what would occur, and wrote about it. Read it at the following link in its entirety. To wet the appetite, here is just a snippet of what Gregg Doyel saw coming on March 31, 2009, before the ink had completely dried on the Calipari-UK contract.
So what happens now that John Calipari is coaching Kentucky?
I'll tell you what happens. Kentucky will win like it's the Boston Celtics.
John Calipari will prove himself worthy of Kentucky fans' applause. College basketball as you know it? It's over. That sport doesn't exist anymore, because that sport had a semblance of parity. One year North Carolina is the dominant program. One year it's UConn. One year it's Duke or UCLA or Florida. Maybe those teams don't win the national title the year they're dominant, or maybe they do. Either way, every year there is a team that, on paper, is the dominant program in college basketball. And every year it's a different team.
Until now. Until John Calipari merges with Kentucky.
Once Calipari gets Kentucky rolling -- and it won't take him long -- Kentucky will be that team. That dominant team. Every year?
Four More Kentucky Players Drafted by NBA !!!! Enes Kanter #3-Utah
Brandon Knight #8-Detroit
Josh Harrellson #45-New York
Deandre Liggins #53-Orlando
Who will be Taken From the 2011-12 Cats'?
2011 Recruiting Class Shaping Up As
Calipari's Third Consecution #1 Recruiting Class
In 3 Years at UK: Michael Gilchrist-Consensus Top 5
Anthony Davis-Consensus Top 5
Marquis Teague-Consensus Top 10
Kyle Wiltjer-Consensus Top 25
2010 Recruiting Class
Calipari's Second Consecutive #1 Class: Brandon Knight
Terrence Jones
Doron Lamb Enes Kanter[Never Permitted To Play by NCAA Edict]
Stacey Poole
Eloy Vargas-JUCO
Five Kentucky Players Drafted in NBA First Round!!!!
First Time Ever John Wall #1-Washington
DeMarcus Cousins #5-Sacramento
Patrick Patterson #14-Houston
Eric Bledsoe #18-Oklahoma City
Daniel Orton #29-Orlando
The College Basketball World has already felt the initial shock waves that Kentucky's hiring of John Calipari created. Their seismographs have registered the quake that has caused the under water hidden landscape to shift along a major fault line. These guys are now standing on their highest ground looking out to sea to see how high the tidal wave will be when it inundates their shores.