John Calipari entered this season under more pressure than he's ever faced from Kentucky fans because he A) lost to Saint Peter's in the first round of the NCAA Tournament last March, B) produced the worst season in modern UK history two years ago, C) hasn't made a Final Four since 2015, and D) still has just one national title in 13 years at UK despite regularly enrolling recruiting classes that rank tops nationally.
Things have only gotten worse 12 games into this season.
"They beat us pretty good," Calipari said following Wednesday night's 89-75 loss at Missouri that dropped Kentucky to 8-4 and 40th in the NET after being No. 1 in KenPom.com's preseason rankings.
Yikes.
More troubling than the 8-4 record is that the Wildcats are 0-4 against top-45 KenPom teams and just got blasted — they were down 21 in the second half — by a Missouri program that finished 12-21 last season. On that note, shouts to Dennis Gates. The first-year Mizzou coach inherited a mess of a situation but loaded up via the transfer portal and now has a team that's 12-1 with the lone loss coming to Kansas.
Missouri looks good. Gates seems great.
The big national headline, however, is still that Kentucky will enter January with zero Quadrant 1 wins and even less of an identity. Calipari has neither the type of overwhelming NBA talent he's normally had at UK, nor an obvious understanding of how to maximize the pieces actually in the program. That's a bad combination that's led to a rough start to this season and the removal of the Wildcats from Thursday morning's updated CBS Sports Top 25 And 1 daily college basketball rankings.
Calipari has always had his critics, sure, but the concerning thing for him now is that his most intense critics are diehard fans of the program he's running, and that's never really been the case for him at the collegiate level since he began his head coaching career more than three decades ago.
Is there still time to get things right?
Of course.
But history tells us once your own fans turn on you to this degree it's difficult to completely win them back over, and the fact that KenPom is now projecting Kentucky to lose eight more times before Selection Sunday suggests that Big Blue Nation will likely spend the next three months just growing more and more disgruntled with a very expensive coach who is finding it harder than ever to meet expectations.
Top 25 And 1 rankings
Rk | Teams | Chg | Rcrd | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  | Trey Kaufman-Renn finished with 24 points and two assists in Wednesday's 74-53 win over New Orleans. The Boilermakers' next game is Thursday against Florida A&M. | -- | 34-5 |
| 2 |  | Jordan Hawkins finished with 22 points and seven rebounds in Wednesday's 74-66 win over Villanova. The Huskies' next game is Saturday at Xavier. | -- | 37-3 |
| 3 |  | J'wan Roberts finished with 15 points and nine rebounds in Wednesday's 89-50 win at Tulsa. The Cougars' next game is Saturday against UCF. | -- | 32-5 |
| 4 |  | Azuolas Tubelis finished with 26 points and nine rebounds in Thursday's 93-68 win over Morgan State. The Wildcats' next game is Saturday at Arizona State. | -- | 27-9 |
| 5 |  | Jalen Wilson finished with 21 points and six rebounds in Thursday's 68-54 win over Harvard. The Jayhawks' next game is Saturday against Oklahoma State. | -- | 23-11 |
| 6 |  | Marcus Carr finished with 41 points and four assists in Tuesday's 97-72 win over Texas A&M-Commerce. The Longhorns' next game is Saturday at Oklahoma. | -- | 21-13 |
| 7 |  | Drew Timme finished with 18 points and seven rebounds in Wednesday's 120-42 win over Eastern Oregon. The Zags' next game is Saturday against Pepperdine. | -- | 27-8 |
| 8 |  | Marcus Sears finished with 20 points and three assists in Wednesday's 78-67 win at Mississippi State. The Crimson Tide's next game is Tuesday against Ole Miss. | -- | 25-12 |
| 9 |  | Armaan Franklin finished with 20 points and two rebounds in Wednesday's 66-46 win over Albany. The Cavaliers' next game is Saturday at Georgia Tech. | 1 | 23-11 |
| 10 |  | Keyonte George finished with 21 points and four assists in Wednesday's 85-56 win over Nicholls. The Bears' next game is Saturday at Iowa State. | 1 | 24-11 |
| 11 |  | Santiago Vescovi finished with 22 points and two steals in Wednesday's 63-59 win at Ole Miss. The Vols' next game is Tuesday against Mississippi State. | 1 | 27-9 |
| 12 |  | Jaylen Clark finished iwth 18 points and 11 rebounds in Wednesday's 81-54 win over UC Davis. The Bruins' next game is Friday at Washington State. | 1 | 16-17 |
| 13 |  | Isaiah Wong finished with 24 points and six rebounds in Tuesday's 66-64 win over Virginia. The Hurricanes' next game is Friday at Notre Dame. | 1 | 15-17 |
| 14 |  | Tamar Bates finished with 19 points and two assists in Friday's 69-55 win over Kennesaw State. The Hoosiers' next game is Jan. 5 at Iowa. | 1 | 19-14 |
| 15 |  | Steven Crowl finished with 15 points and five rebounds in Thursday's 78-56 win over Lehigh. The Badgers' next game is Friday against Grambling State. | 3 | 22-14 |
| 16 |  | Duke missed 19 of the 27 3-pointers it attempted in Tuesday's 81-70 loss at Wake Forest. The Blue Devils' next game is Saturday against Florida State. | 3 | 27-9 |
| 17 |  | Jack Nunge finished with 23 points and 12 rebounds in Wednesday's 84-79 win at St. John's. The Musketeers' next game is Saturday against UConn. | 3 | 16-18 |
| 18 |  | Kobe Brown finished with 30 points and six rebounds in Wednesday's 89-75 win over Kentucky. The Tigers' next game is Wednesday at Arkansas. | NR | 8-24 |
| 19 |  | Kedrian Johnson finished with 18 points and three steals in Thursday's 75-64 win over Stony Brook. The Mountaineers' next game is Saturday at Kansas State. | 2 | 9-23 |
| 20 |  | Arkansas missed 21 of the 25 3-pointers it attempted in Wednesday's 60-57 loss at LSU. The Razorbacks' next game is Wednesday against Missouri. | 11 | 16-17 |
| 21 |  | Armando Bacot finished with 26 points and five rebounds in Wednesday's 80-76 win over Michigan. The Tar Heels' next game is Friday at Pittsburgh. | 1 | 29-8 |
| 22 |  | Brice Sensabaugh finished with 19 points and seven assists in Wednesday's 95-61 win over Maine. The Buckeyes' next game is Thursday against Alabama A&M. | 1 | 22-14 |
| 23 |  | Hakim Hart finished with 20 points and two steals in Thursday's 75-45 win over Saint Peter's. The Terrapin's next game is Thursday against UMBC. | 1 | 16-17 |
| 24 |  | Jaelen House finished with 26 points and five assists in Wednesday's 88-69 win over Colorado State. The Lobos' next game is Saturday against Wyoming. | 1 | 26-10 |
| 25 |  | Matt Bradley finished with 27 points and three rebounds in Wednesday's 71-55 win over Air Force. The Aztecs' next game is Saturday at UNLV. | 1 | 26-11 |
| 26 |  | Trae Hannibal finished with 19 points and six rebounds in Wednesday's 60-57 win over Arkansas. The Tigers' next game is Tuesday at Kentucky. | NR | 17-16 |
