“Enjoy your time now. Next year’s gonna come soon enough.”
Those were the parting words from John Calipari the last time we heard his voice, back in mid-March at the conclusion of his final call-in show to wrap up the worst season of his career, maybe the worst in Kentucky’s storied history. Beaten down and out of the NCAA Tournament before it began, Calipari told the Big Blue Nation, “There are things that happened that I’m not happy about, and it’s unacceptable to me.”
Since then, Calipari hasn’t spent a lot of time in Lexington or been visible to the fan base outside of press releases and tweets, and his heartfelt words on the passing of Terrence Clarke. His neighbors haven’t seen much of him, his SUV has been noticeably absent from the curb outside the Joe Craft Center, and he hasn’t been rolling down the family trash bins on your Instagram feed. I even heard the Dunkin’ Donuts near campus sets a cup of coffee with one cream and one Splenda on the counter every morning, in hopes he’ll come home.
But Calipari has been away recharging his batteries, grieving the unimaginable loss of a “son,” and reevaluating the state of the Kentucky Basketball program. The latter has led to an overhaul of his coaching staff and a wide net around potential backcourt options for next year—all because what happened last year, can never happen again.
Near the top of Calipari’s offseason must-do list, he knew he needed to add shooters. I tend to believe Calipari is a smart man and could see with his own two Hall of Fame eyeballs that he needed shooters; but just in case he didn’t see it, every single person in the fan base has been begging for shooting help since last Christmas, so he probably got the message somewhere along the way. Whatever the case, Calipari looked around the sport and deep within himself, and he prioritized perimeter shooting help from the transfer portal. He went after “makers”… because if he didn’t, we’d need more Maker’s.
Coach Cal got his first maker in Kellan Grady, the transfer from Davidson with over 2,000 career points and four straight All-Atlantic 10 selections. The first major piece of Calipari’s plan to fall in place, Grady committed to Kentucky in late March and will bring experience and scoring versatility to a team that didn’t have enough of either last season.
“Kellan has established himself as one of the best players in the country,” Calipari said of Grady’s game once the commitment was announced.
Then yesterday Calipari added another proven maker in CJ Fredrick, the standout 3-point shooter from Iowa. Fredrick was dinged up late last season in his redshirt sophomore year for Fran McCaffery’s Hawkeyes, but he still started every game he was available and comes to Kentucky with a 47 percent 3-point shooting percentage on almost 200 career attempts. For a little perspective, he’d rank third in UK history in career 3-point percentage, only fractions of a percentage behind Doron Lamb and Cameron Mills on the all-time list. Those two guys won championships by the way.
Fredrick is also a 2-for-1 for Calipari because he checks the ‘local kid’ box too. A large segment of the fan base wishes Calipari would pay closer attention to homegrown talent, and though Fredrick comes from across the Ohio River, he played his high school basketball at Covington Catholic and won the KHSAA State Championship in 2018. During CovCath’s championship run his senior season, Fredrick averaged 27.8 points per game and was named the MVP of the Sweet 16, so he already knows how to win in Rupp.
With a couple of shooters on board, Calipari turns his attention to point guard where he currently has zero players on the roster at that position. He lost last year’s starter to transfer in a move no one tried to stop, and just last week his one point guard commitment made a surprise decommitment and was released from his Letter of Intent.
No problem for Calipari, he is likely to upgrade his incoming freshman point guard with a commitment from TyTy Washington. Washington is the third-ranked point guard in the graduating high school class, one spot ahead of Nolan Hickman, last week’s decommit. Washington will announce his decision on May 15 and Kentucky is expected to be the pick.
Helping finalize the recruitment of Washington are two new employees of the University of Kentucky: first-time Kentucky assistant Chin Coleman, and back like he never left, new associate coach Orlando Antigua. Announced together earlier today as they both leave the Illinois sideline (sorry about that, Illinois), Antigua and Coleman are home run hires to replace Joel Justus and Tony Barbee, who received conveniently-timed promotions shortly before Antigua and Coleman were hired.
Coleman is a new name to most Kentucky folks. He’s a Chicago guy who got his start coaching Chicago youth leagues after his pro career ended overseas. He worked his way up to coaching the Mac Irvin EYBL team, then from there bounced around as a college assistant before becoming a star recruiter and developer at Illinois. He helped Illinois tap back into Chicago’s talent, and he is credited with the recruitment and development of Ayo Dosunmu, Illinois’ All-American point guard who will be in the NBA next season.
Of Coleman’s hire, Calipari said, “You are talking about another upbeat, positive coach who is going to bring the spirit that has always been a part of our culture. He has earned his stripes through hard work and building relationships around the country. Chin is a grinder, someone who relishes that time in the gym with the kids to help add value to your current players, yet he never takes his eyes off the lifeline of our program, which is recruiting.”
Calipari said Coleman is from the same mold as Orlando Antigua, the biggest offseason addition of them all.
Antigua was a fan favorite his first time around at Kentucky, back when he was on the sideline from the beginning of the Calipari era with John Wall through Aaron Harrison’s tournament magic. Even then as he is now, Coach O was considered one of the top assistants in the entire country and he has a 2012 national championship ring to show for it.
Or that time he took the whole ass trophy to a Cincinnati Reds game:
(Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images)
The perfect hire in my opinion, Antigua is an outstanding recruiter, a winner at Kentucky, a voice Calipari will listen to and trust, and the best name Calipari could’ve gotten to excite the fans who long for a return to the success of his earlier years in Lexington. Throw in Jai Lucas, who has only been on the job for nine months, and Calipari has a staff that is second to none across the country, the way it should be at Kentucky.
So (1) the coaching staff revamp was done in a timely manner with three ace recruiters to finish out next season’s roster construction and beyond; (2) the shooting help is already on its way with Fredrick and Grady locked in to join Dontaie Allen; and (3) the path of the point guard situation is becoming clearer with Washington’s announcement next week plus other available options in the transfer portal and the NBA draft, including a potential return of Davion Mintz.
Those are three major changes and upgrades fans hoped Calipari would deliver on this offseason, and in less than two months he checked off two of the three in a big way while the third is still processing.
His haters should enjoy their time now. Next year’s gonna come soon enough.
