There is something to be said for the struggle that this Kentucky team has shown over the course of a year of misfortunes.
The end result was as far away as anyone would have predicted in the fall, but it would be difficult to argue that the Wildcats did not put everything they had into this season of unpredictability. In the end, it all came down to general talent – and Kentucky just didn’t stand out compared to the competition.
From the restrictions on COVID-19 to schedule changes and cancellations to major injuries and any other crutches you’d like to throw around, Kentucky was put in the juicer from start to finish. A 9-16 record to close the year is a symbol of everything that has happened this season. Aside from Dontaie Allen’s 3-point potential to win the game not finding the bottom of the net on Thursday afternoon, everything the fan base expected to happen this season did not.
But despite defeats breaking out for names like Georgia Tech and Alabama, along with devastating defeats for Notre Dame, Louisville, and most of the intra-conference schedule, coach John Calipari has never witnessed his team giving up. In what has been the most difficult year in recent memory off the court, Kentucky has never stopped playing.
“My teams played historically as if they lost, they were going to the electric chair, ”Calipari said after the loss to the state of Mississippi. “This team does not. [At] Times we did. But maybe we were not physically capable of that. But you know what, here is what I would say. For them, playing as they started that game, then playing the second half the way they played, says something about them. They never give up on anything. They haven’t given up once this year. “
It would have been easy to give up too, considering the circumstances. It has been said endlessly, but this edition of the Kentucky Wildcats has been stolen from the real experience of what it means to play for blue and white. They did not receive the applause of more than 20,000 people supporting them in the stands or in the typical university lifestyle. Although this does not mean that they could not have played better on the ground, it was a minor symptom of the bigger problem: they did not have enough experience to defeat teams in the final stretch.
“This experience for them, they were deceived,” added Calipari. “But you know what, I’ll tell you something, they could have taken better advantage of the opportunity that was here in the game. I wish I had helped them more. I wish I had done more. I wish I had thought of different things. “
Calipari will have a lot of time to think about these things. The season came to an unfortunate but relieving end without an offer for the next NCAA Tournament. Looking at the 2021-22 season, the team will to have do more if you want to prevent something like this from happening again.