LEXINGTON, Ky. — There is an awful lot to like about the 2022-23 Kentucky Wildcats men’s basketball team.
Coming off back-to-back seasons that yielded the worst year (9-16 in 2020-21) in the modern history of the UK basketball program and the worst NCAA Tournament loss (to No. 15 seed Saint Peter’s in 2021-22), by seeding, in school history, John Calipari has the Big Blue empire poised to strike back.
Through four summer exhibition games, a public intrasquad scrimmage, two exhibitions vs. NCAA Division II teams and Monday night’s season-opening 95-63 blowout of overmatched Howard by a UK team with only eight scholarship players available, the Cats’ roster appears to have a lot of answers for the questions a team has to surmount to produce in March.
— Outside shooting. Check. Transfers CJ Fredrick and Antonio Reeves give Kentucky not one, but two knock-down marksmen.
— Veteran guards. Check. Fredrick is a fifth-year college player. Reeves and point guard Sahvir Wheeler are fourth-year players. That level of experience in the backcourt is what has been winning NCAA titles since 2015.
— Defensive length. Check. Unlike last season, when Kentucky could not lock down opposing guards (see Banks, Daryl; and Edert, Doug), the 6-foot-5 Reeves, 6-4 Cason Wallace and 6-6 Chris Livingston, both freshmen, give UK the length and athleticism on the perimeter that Kentucky teams of the early, more-successful part of the Calipari coaching era featured.
— Low-post presence. Check. Once Oscar Tshiebwe returns from his knee procedure, the reigning National Player of the Year will demand defensive focus on the block.
— Rim protection. Even the one quality Kentucky appeared to lack — a shot-blocking presence near the basket — it appears to have added in late-signee Ugonna Onyenso, a 6-11 shot-swatting menace.
So, that area, too, could be a check.
If all that isn’t enough, it is possible UK carries another edge into 2022-23 — one that is derived from how the previous Wildcats season ended.
UK’s 85-79 overtime defeat at the hands of the plucky Peacocks from Saint Peter’s in last year’s NCAA tourney may have been a low point in Kentucky’s regal hoops history.
Yet, based on how other programs with elite men’s college hoops brands have fared in the immediate years after taking NCAA Tournament upsets of similar magnitude, what happened to the Cats last March in Indianapolis may ultimately provide a boost.
Consider this history:
KANSAS
— Bad endings: In 2005, Bill Self’s No. 3-seed Jayhawks were upset by No. 14 Bucknell, 64-63, in the round of 64. The following season, No. 4-seeded KU was beaten, 77-73, by No. 13 Bradley.
— The big bounce-back: Two seasons after the second of the back-to-back defeats to Bucknell and Bradley, Self and KU won the 2008 NCAA championship.
KANSAS (again)
— Bad endings: In 2010, as No. 1 overall seed, KU was bounced in the round of 32 by No. 9 Northern Iowa, 69-67. The following season, the No. 11-seeded VCU Rams rocked No. 1-seed Kansas 71-61 in the round of eight.
— The big bounce-back: One season after the second of the back-to-back defeats to Northern Iowa and VCU, Self and KU reached the 2012 NCAA championship game.
LOUISVILLE
— Bad ending: In 2011, as a No. 4 seed, the Cardinals were shocked by intrastate foe and No. 13 seed Morehead State, 62-61, in the round of 64.
— The big bounce-back: Over the following two seasons, U of L reached the Final Four (2012) and won the NCAA championship (2013), although both achievements were subsequently vacated by the NCAA due to rules violations within the Cardinals program.
DUKE
— Bad endings: In 2012, as a No. 2 seed, Duke was upset by No. 15 Lehigh, 75-70, in the round of 64. Two years later, as a No. 3 seed, the Blue Devils fell to No. 14 Mercer, 78-71, in the first round.
— The big bounce-back: One season after the loss to Mercer, Duke gave Mike Krzyzewski his fifth and, as it turned out, final NCAA championship in 2015.
VIRGINIA
— Bad ending: In the mother of all NCAA Tournament debacles in 2018, Virginia became the first No. 1 seed ever to lose to a No. 16 seed in the men’s tourney when the Cavaliers were demolished, 74-54, by the University of Maryland-Baltimore County.
— The big bounce-back: The very next season, Virginia won a series of dramatic, heart-pounders along the tournament trail en route to giving Tony Bennett the 2019 NCAA championship.
The good news for Kentucky backers in all this is that there is no evidence that being on the wrong end of a tournament-defining upset in March Madness does any long-term damage to a program’s brand.
Based off the history of such defeats, it is possible that such a loss might even provide the impetus that leads to future achievement.
