John Calipari wasn’t lying last year when he told the world to enjoy Kentucky’s down season.
The Wildcat head coach has come back with a vengeance in 2021-22 following a nine-win stretch in 2020-21. Kentucky is 25-6 on the season and 14-4 in SEC play, sitting on a No. 5 ranking in the AP Poll and a projected two-seed in the upcoming NCAA Tournament. As a result, Calipari was named as one of 10 semifinalists for the Werner Ladder Naismith Men’s Coach of the Year Award on Thursday morning.
Calipari’s 16-win turnaround is the largest in program history, even if it is a bit deceiving considering how COVID-19 impacted last year’s 9-16 record.