Brown: John Calipari still best coach for Kentucky despite recent NCAA Tournament failures

There may come a time when Kentucky needs to detach from coach John Calipari and search for a new leader for the program.

Now is not that time.

Yes, there’s plenty of frustration to go around due to the Wildcats’ postseason results — or lack thereof — since 2020. To have only produced one SEC Tournament win and one NCAA Tournament win over four seasons would get most UK coaches fired.

And no, Big Blue Nation doesn’t want to hear Calipari tout the latest crop of five-star freshmen recruits coming to campus. What used to be a calming point for tough season-ending losses has now become a signal for everything that is wrong with Calipari’s approach.

On his season-ending radio show Monday, Calipari said he will meet with UK athletics director Mitch Barnhart in the coming days. Calipari did not sound like a coach who has grown tired of the spotlight and is about to tender a resignation. He said he turned his phone off two days after their 80-76 loss to Oakland in the NCAA Tournament's first round.

So, unless Barnhart has become impatient and found the money for a buyout, Calipari will be back.

"This is like wearing a coat, it never goes away, but I love it," Calipari said on his show. "This is what I want, this is what I wanted, that's why I never left. This is it."

Calipari again famously talked about making a tweak this season. Now he needs to do so with his coaching style to get Kentucky back competing for championships.

The way he builds his rosters needs to have three components: one-and-done level talent, transfer portal veterans and players who can be developed.

That’s how he composed the team he had in 2021-22. Unfortunately, what those Cats are remembered most for is losing to No. 15 seed St. Peter’s in the NCAA Tournament’s first round in what many call the worst loss in the program’s tournament history.

Here’s what you might have forgotten.

The most talented freshman on the team never actually played a game. No need to relive the entire Shaedon Sharpe saga, but needless to say, the seventh overall pick of the 2022 NBA Draft would have taken the team to another level.

UK handily beat both teams that played for the national title. The Cats handled North Carolina 98-69 in Las Vegas. And they beat down future national champion Kansas 80-62 at Allen Fieldhouse.

That not carrying over to the NCAA Tournament was largely due to Kellan Grady and TyTy Washington having to play through injuries.

Calipari hinted on the radio that he has to bring in some veterans to supplement his roster. That's a change from his process of relying heavily on elite-level freshmen as the formula for winning. Duke in 2015 was the last freshmen-laden national championship team. Now most title winners barely have one freshman in the starting lineup.

This past version of the Cats were a bit lucky that forward Tre Mitchell fell into their laps in June when West Virginia coach Bob Huggins resigned. And Antonio Reeves decided to return after testing the NBA waters.

Calipari has to realize it will never be like it was during his first six seasons. UK was a juggernaut with four Final Four appearances including winning the 2012 national title.

The game has changed since then. It’s older, thanks in part to name, image and likeness (NIL) keeping players who might have otherwise turned professional around for more seasons. The transfer portal has simultaneously made it harder to keep roster continuity from year-to-year, but easier to build a team quickly.

UK already has the makings of a top-ranked team for next season. Its recruiting class is ranked second overall by 247 Sports. Should rising juniors Adou Thiero and Ugonna Onyenso return, the only thing left is for Calipari to use the transfer portal to fill remaining holes.

Let’s not act like losses in a single-elimination tournament all of a sudden mean Calipari has lost it.

He hasn’t.

And let’s not act like Kentucky is so far removed from being able to compete at the highest level.

It isn’t.

The beauty of Calipari having nearly a $35 million-plus buyout is it ensures nothing will be done out of haste. Otherwise, Calipari may have had to stay in his childhood home in Pittsburgh after the Cats were upset by Oakland last week.

Sometimes, doing nothing is the best move to make. Calipari only needs to change his ways to get UK back competing for national title. He belongs in Lexington.

Reach sports columnist C.L. Brown at clbrown1@gannett.com, follow him on X at @CLBrownHoops and subscribe to his newsletter atprofile.courier-journal.com/newsletters/cl-browns-latest to make sure you never miss one of his columns.