Kentucky fans have high expectations which sometimes may seem unrealistic to outsiders. Coach Cal quickly embraced the passion of Kentucky fans and since arriving in the Bluegrass has delivered on (almost) everything fans desired. Top recruits, dramatic wins, social networking and non-stop news. It goes unsaid the one thing he hasn’t delivered is a National Championship. Maybe this year. Maybe not?[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
Calipari and the Wildcats have a remarkable recruiting class this year. In fact, the number one recruiting class. The team this year is however less experienced than last years which is hard to believe considering the youth of the 2009-2010 class. So what could the expectations realistically be this season? For some fans they are higher than last years. For others, maybe lower. The real question is, what are Coach Cal’s expectations for this year?
Over the past several weeks, Cal may have been giving hints towards what he thought of the season. It started early on when he began asking fans to not compare Brandon Knight to John Wall. Comments about losing early in the season and in SEC play. Most recently his [URL=”http://www.nationofblue.com/coach-cal-s-letter-big-blue-nation-3252/”]open letter to fans[/URL] mentioning that they may be the worst rebounding team in basketball and commenting again about losing and a crisis being necessary to help the team improve.
On some level it may seem as if Cal is trying to gently lower the expectations. Perhaps even suggesting that he’s not confident in the early development of this team. On the other hand it could be Calipari trying to get fans to refocus their vision from the past to the present and future. There are other comments he has made to take into consideration when forming your own opinion.
He talked about the play of the team offensively in Canada, even without Enes Kanter, Eloy Vargas and Terrence Jones (for most of the trip). There have been comments about them being better than he even thought. Other comments from the Wildcat camp like when Brandon Knight said that he “thinks the team can equal or go beyond the accomplishments of last year’s squad,” keeps those expectations high.
No one really knows what will actually happen during the 2010-2011 season. They do face a tough schedule. There are still unknowns, specifically with Enes Kanter. More importantly, the season hasn’t even begun and know one knows how the players will respond on the court.
Time is nearing for us all to learn the fate of the Wildcats this season. The Blue and White scrimmage is just days away and the first game is on November 1, less than 2 weeks away. Until then, we’ll all wait with typical Big Blue Nation excitement and enjoy what the football team does against Georgia this weekend.
Go Big Blue!
