John Calipari looks ahead to next season’s roster. And teases the return of current Cats.
The reputation of John Calipari since he arrived at Kentucky — whether true, false or somewhere in between — has been that he’s constantly pushing his five-star freshmen out the door to make room for new recruits.
A never-ending cycle of talent that has sent dozens of former Wildcats to the NBA draft over the past 15 years.
In his first public comments since UK’s basketball season ended with an upset loss in the NCAA Tournament, it was clear that Calipari fully believes he will be back with the Cats for a 16th season. It’s also clear that he wants some of his current players to come back with him.
While speaking on his weekly radio show Monday night — Calipari’s final appearance of the 2023-24 season — the Kentucky coach was joined by UK basketball legend and team radio analyst Jack Givens, who asked Calipari about the structure of his postseason meetings with current players.
Calipari meets with each of his players individually a few days after the final game of the season to talk about next steps. Those meetings have not yet taken place with the players on this Kentucky team.
“What do they look like and sound like?” Givens asked. “Do you encourage guys to come back? Do you — I know it has to go through the process, and the (NBA Combine) and all of this kind of stuff. But what do you say to these guys after what they experienced?”
On the last question, Givens was speaking of tough, season-ending losses like the one Kentucky suffered at the hands of 14-seeded Oakland on Thursday night.
“They walk in, and I stand up and hug ’em. Hard,” Calipari said. “And tell ’em how much I appreciate what they’ve done for all of us. And for me, personally. And then I tell ’em: ‘I love you. And I’m with you till the wheels fall off. Now talk to me. How are you feeling about it?’
“I want them to get some of that grief off. And I want to take it on myself. And if any of them try to take responsibility: ‘Don’t. Stop right there. We would’ve never been where we were without you. So just leave it alone. It’s time that we’re marching on.’”
Calipari said he then asks his players how he can help them moving forward and if they have a plan for what’s next in their careers. He said some players require additional conversations at later dates, implying that’s especially true of players who are weighing their NBA draft options.
“But I’m not ever telling anybody, ‘You have to leave.’ And I’m not telling anybody they have to stay,” he said. “Because, at the end of the day, they’ve gotta make that decision. And then they’ve gotta live with it.”
In the past, Calipari has acknowledged that he encourages players with particularly high draft stock to move on from college and go to the NBA, where millions of dollars in guaranteed salary await. He’s aware that rubs some UK fans the wrong way. On Monday night, he made it sound like he would not necessarily advise any of his current players to do that, if they come to him and say they want to return to Kentucky for another season.
“You know what I’m thinking right now? If someone says to me, ‘I’m coming back.’ I’m sayin’, ‘Under eight months, and we got the first game of the year. Let’s go!’ Just under eight months, and we’ve got the start of next year,” Calipari said. “Because I want this taste out of my month, and I want it to go forward. So if any of them say that, that’s what my comment will be to them.”
Kentucky’s 2024-25 schedule has not yet been released, but the Cats will start playing real games in early November, with the Champions Classic clash with Duke already set for Nov. 12 in Atlanta.
There are several members of the 2023-24 roster who could potentially be back in Lexington for next season. Antonio Reeves and Tre Mitchell are out of eligibility, and Rob Dillingham and Justin Edwards are projected as first-round picks and widely expected to stay in the NBA draft.
UK has eight additional scholarship players, all freshmen or sophomores this past season. That group includes point guards Reed Sheppard and D.J. Wagner, sophomore wing Adou Thiero, a trio of 7-footers — Aaron Bradshaw, Zvonimir Ivisic and Ugonna Onyenso — and a couple of lesser-utilized players from the freshman class: forward Jordan Burks and Joey Hart.
Not all of those players are expected to be back. Most might still depart Lexington after this season. But each remains a possibility — to varying degrees — to return next season. Sheppard, a Kentucky native, is projected as a lottery pick. Wagner and the trio of 7-footers are all viewed as possible draft picks, though none are widely projected as first-rounders.
The deadline for college players to withdraw from the draft and retain their eligibility this year will be May 29.
Givens also asked Calipari if he might pivot more toward finding a physical point guard with experience out of the transfer portal to help lead next season’s team. He had an interesting reply.
“We got one or two that could come back and solve that issue for us. Because of what they’ve been through,” Calipari said of possible point guard returnees. With Dillingham almost certainly gone, he was clearly talking about the potential for Sheppard and/or Wagner coming back for a second season with the Wildcats.
Throughout Monday’s show, Calipari talked about the “standard” of Kentucky basketball being national championships. UK hasn’t won one of those since 2012, but the Wildcats’ coach said he accepts that will remain the goal next season.
“There is a standard here. And it’s a high standard. And if you play or coach here, you’ve got to know what that standard is. And love it. And relish it. It’s hard.”
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