This season more than ever before, Kentucky has had to fight against fierce one-and-done critics. With a team whose core relies heavily on freshmen, inexperience was being used as an excuse for poor performances. And John Calipari was sick of it.
“I said today before the game, we’re no longer freshmen,” Calipari said after the Cats’ dominating 90-61 victory over rival Louisville. “I’m not saying it anymore – we’re not freshmen now. We’re 10 games in, 11 games in, we are not freshmen.”
And they listened to him. Today, for the most part, Kentucky did not play like freshmen.