‘Big month for UK disappearing acts.’ See memes, hot takes from Wildcats’ upset loss

Christopher Leach
Silas Walker/swalker@herald-leader.com

Almost like clockwork, Kentucky’s upset loss to 14-seeded Oakland in the first round of the NCAA Tournament Thursday night made for a popular discussion point on social media immediately after the defeat.

Included in the viral reaction to the March Madness opening day shocker were posts celebrating Jack Gohlke’s incredible performance, disappointment in the end to Kentucky’s season and frustration aimed towards Head Coach John Calipari.

What’s next for John Calipari?

Included in the postgame social media reaction was heavy criticism towards Calipari.

In a postgame show on CBS, national championship winning head coach Jay Wright suggested Calipari’s philosophy of recruiting and playing talented, younger players might not fit in today’s college basketball landscape.

“The era of taking these young freshmen and trying to play against older players is over,” Wright said on CBS. “I think he did a phenomenal job with these guys all year, getting them to be as successful as they were. 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.”

Senior college basketball writer for CBS Sports Matt Norlander suggested Calipari’s tenure as Kentucky’s leader could be coming to an end after the loss.

“The college basketball industry will now start to buzz because Kentucky has been an underachieving team in March in kind of a bigger picture for quite awhile now under John Calipari,” Norlander said on a CBS Sports postgame show. “... I do think there is a chance, a real chance — I’m not saying it’s a guarantee, I’m not predicting that it will happen because we have to wait for these things to play out — but I do think there’s a chance John Calipari has coached his last game at Kentucky.”

Kentucky Sports Radio founder Matt Jones said the program is now at an inflection point with Calipari after the loss. He added Kentucky isn’t winning enough with Calipari at the helm.

“It’s a relationship that has been great for a lot of it but has reached the point that I think there probably needs to be a separation,” Jones said on his postgame radio show after the game. “I don’t know how the UK fan base can get into another year of being excited but also dreading what’s to come.”

Tony Delk, who played for Kentucky’s national championship winning team in 1996, suggested Calipari needs to be held accountable for coaching the way he coached his team this year.

“If you Mitch Barnhart and you gave him a lifetime deal, what do you do when you get back to Lexington? What decision would Mitch Barnhart have to make?” Delk said on SiriusXM College Sports.

Renowned sports broadcaster Dick Vitale said that he was hurting for his friend.

“No one in sports tonight hurts as much as he does,” Vitale said in a post on X. “To ALL the naysayers-WE SHOULD ALL HAVE A CAREER LIKE HE HAS HAD!”

If Kentucky were to move on from Calipari, it would cost the program roughly $33 million just to pay the remainder of what he’s owed in contract. A bracketologist on X compared Calipari’s contract figures to Oakland’s total endowment fund.

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