Yahoo! Sports had a flashy headline earlier that read “Another year, another NCAA choke job by Kentucky.”
In the associated article, Jeff Eisenberg essentially roasted John Calipari and the Wildcats.
Here’s a look at the homepage of Yahoo! Sports earlier tonight:
Eisenberg has since backed off the catchy title and changed the headline to “For second straight year, Kentucky squanders favorable path to Final Four.”
Here’s an excerpt from the article:
Frustrating as Sunday’s loss surely was for Kentucky, it doesn’t compare to the opportunity the Wildcats let slip through their fingers last March. They had a chance to reach the Final Four without facing an opponent seeded eighth or better, but they fell in the Sweet 16 to a ninth-seeded Kansas State team playing without forward Dean Wade.
Thanks to the Kansas State loss last March and Auburn’s upset on Sunday, Kentucky’s Final Four drought has now reached four years. Prior to 2016, the Wildcats had reached the Final Four a remarkable four times in six seasons under Calipari, perhaps giving the false impression that making annual deep runs in a single-elimination tournament is easy.
While Calipari deserves some criticism on Sunday for leaving multiple timeouts on the board and for not making more adjustments down the stretch, it’s worth noting that this season has been one of his best coaching jobs overall.
A freshman-laden Kentucky team with zero top-10 picks on its roster had its doors blown off against Duke in the season opener and suffered confidence-shaking losses to Seton Hall and Alabama over the next two months. Calipari and his staff held things together, developed Washington into a star and coaxed significant improvement out of Herro and Hagans, helping the Wildcats win 30 games and contend for the SEC title.
Was this Kentucky season a huge success? No. But it wasn’t a failure either.
It was a solid year for the Wildcats that ended with a second straight missed opportunity.
