Here’s my thing with John Calipari. You can say that he doesn’t recruit right and that many of his wins have been vacated after he’s left a school, but the man can still coach. You don’t get as far as he has without being a good basketball coach. That’s just the bottom line.
However, he’s had plenty of good chances at winning a national title, and he’s come up short every time. So, does this mean that he can’t win titles? Is he like the Roy Williams of baksetball (pre-UNC)?
I think he might be.
Let’s look at how hard it was for Rick Pitino to win at Kentucky. He needed a few chances before he could get it done. He’s been close at Louisville, but no cigar. That should tell us something.
Everybody has about the same chance to win a national title as everyone else. Calipari is part of the movement that basically created parity in college basketball. When he was winning with UMass and Memphis, that was pretty much it for only major conferences having a shot.
Now that the Big East features a zillion teams who can win, and with every mid-major seemingly putting a team in the Elite Eight on a rotating basis, there’s no reason we can assume anybody will win more titles except Coach K (since he’s already got four and he’s been to a ton of final fours.)
Does Calipari have it in him to win a national title? Of course he does. He’s a really good coach.
Can he win one in the near future? I don’t think so. He takes lots of kids who are one and done. Plus, every time he has to rework his team because of that situation, he gets a little farther behind the eight ball.
Meanwhile, Butler is going to back to back title games. I figure that the Butlers of the world have had their time come, and Calipari might be on the outside looking in when they get their due.
