As Kentucky fans, brace ourselves each year to see replays of “The Shot” throughout the tournament, but John Calipari just went and brought it up on the podium when asked about the first NCAA Tournament he coached in. In 1992, Calipari’s UMass team lost to Kentucky at The Spectrum in Philadelphia, which was the game before Kentucky faced Duke in the infamous classic. Calipari said in that game, Rick “should have had a guy on the ball,” but didn’t, and as a result, Kentucky fans were scarred for life.
“That game, by us losing, led to Christian Laettner’s catch against Kentucky when Rick should have had the guy on the ball and he took that guy off the ball and they threw it deep and the guy turns and scores.