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Brooke Pryor, ESPN writer
PITTSBURGH — Sitting on the dais at his hometown stadium, Kentucky men’s basketball coach John Calipari was almost in shock after his No. 3 Wildcats’ improbable 80-76 loss to No. 14 Oakland .
Now 1-4 in its last five NCAA Tournament games, tying the program’s worst five-game stretch in the tournament, Calipari considered what Thursday night’s loss could mean for its focus on building of the team’s roster.
“I’ve done this with young teams my entire career and it’s going to be hard for me to change that, because we’ve helped so many young people and their families that I don’t see myself just saying, ‘Okay, we’re not going to recruit freshmen.’ “Calipari said.
Of Kentucky’s 15 players, eight were freshmen and three were sophomores. Meanwhile, Oakland has a freshman and a pair of redshirt freshmen. Five of the Grizzlies players were seniors or graduate transfers.
Entering 2022, Kentucky was 19-0 against a 14 seed or lower in the NCAA tournament, according to ESPN Stats & Information research, but has since gone 0-2 in games, including the 2022 loss to the top seed No. 15 Saint Peter’s. The Wildcats were 13.5-point favorites Thursday night.
“I’ll look at other ways we can do things, but, you know, there’s something here, it’s a different animal,” Calipari said. “We’ve been able to help a lot of kids and win so many games and Final Fours, national titles and all that, win league championships with young guys.
“He’s changed on us. He’s suddenly gotten very old. So we play teams with our average age of 19, their average age is 24 and 25. So do I change because of that? Maybe add a couple of guys older. to supplement.”
The rebuilding process after another departure in early March begins immediately after losing to Oakland, Calipari said.
“We’ve got to figure out who’s coming back and who’s not. We’ve got this transfer thing going on,” said Calipari, who has been in charge of the Wildcats since 2009. “Maybe we don’t need it. We have an incredible group that I’m coming up with. I feel very good.
“We added some guys and they stay. I mean, you know, I’m meeting them tonight. I talked to them afterwards. But I’m meeting them in my room tonight, and these guys took it very seriously. I want I mean, they took it very seriously, and I took it very seriously.