Yahoo’s Pat Forde writes an odd love letter of sorts, to John Calipari, asking may you have this dance? He basically says its now or never for Coach Cal and suggests all he has to do is stroll down to New Orleans and accept the crown. And if he doesn’t, the fans of UK will stretch their cold blue hands and sweep him out of town. Here’s an exerpt.
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[I]It’s your Dance, John Calipari.[/I][/FONT][/COLOR][COLOR=#111111][FONT=arial][I]This is your NCAA tournament. All you have to do is win it – nothing more, and especially nothing less.[/I][/FONT][/COLOR][COLOR=#111111][FONT=arial][I]It’s not necessarily now or never. But it’s absolutely now. In 20 years as a college head coach, you’ve never had a better chance to win a national title.[/I][/FONT][/COLOR][COLOR=#111111][FONT=arial][I]Wednesday, you named off the great teams you’ve coached –[URL=”http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/teams/mak/”]Massachusetts[/URL] 1996, [URL=”http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/teams/map/”]Memphis[/URL] 2008, [URL=”http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/teams/kaf/”]Kentucky[/URL] 2010 and ’11. All came close to winning it all. None finished the deal. None had the advantages this one enjoys.[/I][/FONT][/COLOR][COLOR=#111111][FONT=arial][I]You have the best team, which is the most important thing of all.[/I][/FONT][/COLOR][/LEFT]
[I][LEFT][COLOR=#111111][FONT=arial]Your seven-man rotation is nothing but NBA prospects, one through seven, including a couple of top-five picks. Don’t bother with the “young team” line because every coach in America would love to be burdened with the youth of Anthony Davis and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist…
…[/FONT][/COLOR][COLOR=#111111][FONT=arial]You took a loss at the right time, in the SEC tournament final. I suggest sending [/FONT][/COLOR][/LEFT]
[URL=”http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/teams/vac/”]Vanderbilt[/URL][LEFT][COLOR=#111111][FONT=arial] coach Kevin Stallings a fruit basket for doing you the favor. If there was any false sense of security in your locker room, it should be gone after that. With single elimination ahead, there’s no better time for a team to be aware of its mortality. And the pressure of a bloated winning streak is gone as well.[/FONT][/COLOR][/LEFT]
[/I][LEFT][COLOR=#111111][FONT=arial][I]So the planets have aligned. Hard work, sustained excellence and good fortune have all intersected here and now. With that comes the towering expectations of your passionate fan base – and with those expectations comes pressure.[/I][/FONT][/COLOR][COLOR=#111111][FONT=arial][I]You were asked whether simply enjoying the ride will be enough for everyone this season. You said it would.[/I][/FONT][/COLOR][COLOR=#111111][FONT=arial][I]“It’s going to be enough for them and for me,” you said. “Let’s go for it. Let’s play and let’s do our best. Let’s play – play great. If we play great and that’s not good enough, what? What?”[/I][/FONT][/COLOR][COLOR=#111111][FONT=arial][I]Here’s what: The worm will turn. The three-year love-in between fans and coach will get a little frosty.[/I][/FONT][/COLOR][/LEFT]
I don’t think I’ve ever heard a national writer address a coach in such a first person, off the cuff fashion. I don’t think we’ll hear a response from Cal either (hopefully because on April 2nd Cal will make this all a moot point).
For the rest of the article, click [URL=”http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/news?slug=pf-forde_kentucky_south_region_advance_031512″]here[/URL].
