The college basketball season ended without one shining moment; for anybody. For John Calipari and the #8 Kentucky Wildcats, it ended without any postseason at all. In the wake of the coronavirus outbreak, and all the fear it’s causing, extreme caution was used and everything got cancelled, officially, today

The Wildcats end the 2019-20 season 25-6, SEC champions, and the #1 seed in a SEC conference tournament that didn’t happen. We’re all really sad to see college basketball end like this, and on this the season’s final day (almost a week before St. Patrick’s Day) John Calipari sent out a statement of reflection.

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The #6 Kentucky Wildcats, prior to their late Senior night tip against the un-ranked Tennessee Volunteers, moved up into the #2 seed line in some NCAA Tournament projections. Having already clinched the SEC regular season title, for the first time since 2017, they entered the home finale having already accomplished a lot this season.

Up double digits for more than half the contest, it looked like win #25 was just a matter of when, not if. With a 51-34 lead with 16:26 to go, the ESPN win probability index, gave them a 97.7% chance of closing the deal. Well, so much for that, as the Cats collapse was totalitarian, and UK fell to the Volunteers 81-74. So after that 25 point pendulum swing, where do the Kentucky Wildcats go from here?

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With a 79-76 win at LSU last night, Kentucky basketball has the inside track to winning their first SEC title since completing their conference championship three-peat from 2015-17. The Wildcats are now 1.5 games up on Auburn in the conference standings, two games ahead of Florida and LSU.

They also have three games left against the top league title contenders so they won’t really need any help in order to close the conference title deal and restore their SEC complete hegemony. Of course, it won’t be easy, to say the least.

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Part one of two long form on Kahlil Whitney (part two exclusive interview coming Thursday)

John Calipari, head coach of the #17 Kentucky Wildcats said that the guy who cheered hardest for their signature win over arch-rival and then #3 Louisville was freshman forward Kahlil Whitney.

“I looked over because I wanted to see the bench, and he went nuts,” said Calipari. “He was so happy, and he only played two minutes. It shows what kind of kid he is. Now we’ve got to get him to break through with us still winning, but he’s getting closer.”

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Perhaps this is Nick Richards truly “taking the leap” now? In #17 Kentucky’s 71-59 win over Missouri today, the SEC opener for both teams, the Kingston, Jamaica (by way of Hillside, New Jersey) native and Patrick School alum was 7-10 shooting, with 17 points and 8 rebounds in the first half.

Although he fouled out with 3:51 to go, the junior center finished with 21 points and 12 rebounds in 29 minutes played. It was his sixth double double this season, giving him seven for his career. In his first 74 career games, he had one double double. Now he has six in 13 games this season.

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We’re five days into the new year, so it’s a time for fresh starts. Perfectly embodying this motif is the tip off of the Southeastern Conference season which saw the #17 Kentucky Wildcats defeat the Missouri Tigers 71-59.  As expected, Kentucky entered SEC play as the heavy favorite to win the league, but the other teams won’t be intimated by the blue blood program from the blue grass state.

“There are so many veteran teams,” said Kentucky Assistant Coach Tony Barbee, “veteran coaches in this league that when teams go on the road, they’re not intimidated by, say, our arena or our atmosphere or our tradition because they come here every year, as opposed to non-conference play.”

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