Jay Wright explains why John Calipari’s teams keep losing in NCAA Tournament

“The era of taking these young freshmen and trying to play against older players is over,” Wright said after Kentucky’s 80-76 loss. “I think he did a phenomenal job with these guys all year. You can see, they’re playing against grown men. The guys on Kentucky will be far better pros than any of these guys on Oakland or any of these guys in the tournament. But they’re not as good college basketball players. At this point in their careers, they’re not as disciplined yet as the guys for Oakland.

“It’s not Cal’s fault. It’s they’re 18 years old and they’re in this era where everyone is telling them how great they are. Just show up in college and you’re going to win. It doesn’t happen that way. And the more guys stay in college because of NIL, it’s going to be tougher for young teams like this to be successful.”

Calipari has long pursued a strategy of pursuing top recruits to build massively talented teams, even while knowing that few of his recruits will stay for more than one season. He has always defended this strategy, even as results have worsened in the last few years.

If Calipari measures success by sending players to the NBA, he remains elite. Kentucky fans, however, want to see championships. Calipari has only delivered one, and it has now been five years since he guided one of his teams to the second weekend of the tournament. That will never be good enough in Lexington.