Kentucky players may be NBA-bound, but not coach

Kentucky players may be NBA-bound, but not coach

Speculation has popped up that John Calipari is a candidate for the New Jersey Nets coaching job.

The rest of the SEC can only hope.

Sorry, folks, but Calipari isn't going anywhere. And that's bad news for the competition.

Calipari has settled in at Kentucky and done exactly what many of us expected when he was hired last April. He has dominated the SEC from Day One.

First, he assembled a recruiting class that rivaled the Fab Five of Michigan in 1991 as the best ever. Then he found a way to mold three likely one-and-done freshmen with some older players to position his team among the nation's elite.

By beating Tennessee 73-62 on Saturday night, the Big Blue enters the final three weeks of the regular season with a 24-1 overall record and a one-game lead over Vanderbilt in the SEC East.

Just how good is Kentucky? The 'Cats face a challenging week with games at Mississippi State and Vanderbilt. After that, it remains to be seen how far Kentucky can go in the NCAA Tournament with a team that relies so heavily on freshmen.

"We got too many guys acting like freshmen, because they are," Calipari lamented after the win over UT.

True, but these aren't ordinary freshmen. Many long-time basketball authorities consider John Wall the best pure point guard in the college game since Jason Kidd. And Wall is only marginally better than fellow freshman Eric Bledsoe, whose back-to-back 3-pointers fueled a 20-4 run that undid Tennessee.

Give Calipari credit for a user-friendly system that allows freshmen to make immediate impacts if their skill sets are up to speed. It is part of his genius. And it's one of the reasons his coaching style is better suited to the college game than the pros.

So, no, he's not going anywhere. Why deal with the draft and so many other variables of the NBA when you can control your roster via recruiting?

Of course, speculation about various jobs — both college and pro — has followed Calipari for years. When he was coach at the University of Memphis, the Commercial Appeal occasionally ran what it called a Cal-culator — a list of the various jobs to which he had been linked and the salary increases or contract enhancements that resulted from the speculation.

For the record, Calipari has denied any interest in taking a second stab at the NBA. He coached the Nets in 1996-99. He was fired after a 3-17 start in the '99 season.

"I'm happy," Calipari said at a press gathering. "This school is committed. As long as they're committed to me and this basketball program, where would I want to go?"

Of course, it's always dangerous to take a coach at his word. When the Kentucky job opened up with Billy Gillispie's ouster last spring, Calipari famously said he was content to remain at Memphis.

"This is where I want to coach," he said.

A few days later, he was introduced as Kentucky's new coach.

Now, though, Calipari has found a home. He's content to watch his players go to the NBA, not himself.

http://www.tennessean.com/article/20100215/COLUMNIST0202/2150348/2072/SPORTS