There have been a lot of takes on what reception John Calipari will receive when he returns to Rupp Arena Saturday night as the head coach of Arkansas. While most of Big Blue Nation shares the idea that they have only known being a Kentucky fan, only a small group of us share having only been a John Calipari fan. My first memory of Kentucky basketball is John Wall dancing in the rafters of Rupp Arena at Big Blue Madness then hitting a buzzer beater to beat Miami (OH) in the second game of the season. I’ve watched Jodie Meeks replays a million times, but he and Billy Clyde have no permanent spot in my brain.
This means I still overrate freshmen in the offseason, I still always think we can handle a run to save a timeout, and I still think the only thing that matters is March. Calipari gave me a championship, something a lot of fans can’t say for any of their teams. Our coach played 2015 regular season games on a projector during middle school basketball practice so we could see if they would stay undefeated. Malik Monk and De’Aaron Fox made me try to become a guard so I could play like them (it didn’t work). I knew and admitted I was wrong but a couple of days after the loss to Oakland I started talking myself into the pieces working for what would have been this season’s team. Calipari is everything good I know from being a Kentucky basketball fan and that makes it tough to decide what I’m going to do Saturday when he’s introduced.
If you have seen any shows that I’ve been on you know I’m a self-proclaimed nerd that uses analytics too much when projecting or recapping a game. Do we see the problem? While Calipari was everything good I know about Kentucky basketball, he is also everything bad I know about Kentucky basketball. Wisconsin, UCONN, Auburn, Kansas State, St. Peters, and Oakland were all him too. There is no way around it, he is dead wrong about how basketball is supposed to work yet he lectured us and paraded wins that were an exception to his coaching trends.
So now I have to choose whether to boo the only coach that has ever won a championship for my team or cheer the coach that teaches bad basketball to spite the fanbase I am a part of.
I WANT to boo. I have been vocal about my desire to boo him since the day he left for Fayetteville. At the end of the day he breached his contract, begged to come back, walked his dog in a stroller down Richmond Road, and then left for a conference rival. I’ve booed every other opposing coach from relevant programs, and I would’ve normally given the Arkansas coach one of my top 3-5 boos of the season. As we have gotten closer to Saturday I have started to flip. Maybe it was Pitino’s video, maybe it’s just because they are bad, but once it became the “next” game I started losing the frustration I was ready to let out tomorrow night.
I do know a few things for certain: I will be yelling “he sucks too” with the student section when he’s introduced, I will be videoing everyone else’s reaction and (internet permitting) will post it to @BleedBNetwork on X, and I won’t even consider booing the players. If I could draw it up, I would want Adou, DJ, and Big Z to each score twenty in a 160-60 Kentucky win, and I haven’t received enough resistance on that stance to make me believe any different. As for Cal, I think Rupp Arena will be heavily intoxicated by the 9PM tipoff time which will make a few angry fans try to boo immediately, but eventually a cheer just loud enough to drown it out will form. As for me, I’ll probably do nothing, but I will be quick to join a boo if it erupts in a way I won’t join an applause.
One day Rupp will go insane when John Calipari is introduced, but not tomorrow. Not as the Arkansas coach.
Photo Credits to TMarkwith14 on X
