SEC: Why Do People Love To Hate The Kentucky Wildcats?

Terrible college basketball referees, missed assignments on coverages, blown layups, Sam Dekker and Frank Kaminsky. All of these were factors that played into one of the biggest upsets in college basketball history.

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The Kentucky Wildcats were 38-0. After the 71-64 loss to the Wisconsin Badgers they are now 38-1. Kentucky will not be playing in their second straight national championship game.

They will not become the first team since the 1976 Indiana Hoosiers to go undefeated. Now we can collectively say that Kentucky will not compete for the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs in the NBA. More importantly, they will not defeat the New York Knicks in a three-game series.

Instead, Kentucky will have to hold their heads high and think about what they’ve done this season, and how they captivated a country because of the way that they played basketball.

With the end of that game, the Kentucky Wildcats might have not accomplished the ultimate goal that they strove for at the beginning of the season, but they still accomplished a lot.

In spite of the level of success that Kentucky has achieved during this season, and more so during the decade, there’s still a lot of hate and shade being thrown their way. With that being said why do people love to hate the Kentucky Wildcats?

Reasons Why People Love to Hate Kentucky 

1. The Grand Composer: The mastermind behind the Kentucky Wildcats is none other than their beloved head coach John Calipari. This season Calipari has done a masterful job with his team helping guide them through the rigors of the SEC, and ultimately to their second straight Final Four.

What’s been more impressive is how Calipari has created a culture where African-American athletes can come to his program, seek refuge from their dire situations, and become multi-millionaires under his tutelage. People look at Calipari’s program as a virtual pipeline to the NBA, and it’s not well received because it loosely downplays the idea of the NCAA’s proverbial “student-athlete” label.

Calipari understands the business behind the NCAA and the NBA and he’s one of the most honest coaches when it comes to speaking on the subject of money.

It was during the press conference of the final four where Calipari spoke to reporters he said this:

“Well, you have to understand, one, where the kids come from. I’m not saying they’re all poor, but many of them are. They struggled, their family. Their family needs to breathe. They finally get a chance to breathe in life, to put their toes up …

“These kids have a genius just like anyone else on our college campuses who can leave and go start a business and become Twitter, become Bill Gates, become Steve Jobs. They’re no different. It’s not size and athleticism. If they didn’t have a mind, there’s no way they’re going to make $250 million. You have to have the mind for it, too. These kids have a genius. We try to respect that.”

Outside of the business of the game, let’s not also forget that he’s one of the best coaches in college basketball. Some could make the case outside of Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski he’s the second best coach in college basketball. The fact that coach Calipari finally won the AP Coach of the Year isn’t something that should be de-emphasized, it’s a true testament to his coaching genius.

2. The Talent: Even with the devastating loss to Wisconsin, at the moment guess who has the No. 1 recruiting class in the country? Yeah, it’s the Kentucky Wildcats. In fact (depending on opinions) since 2009 Kentucky has had either the best or second-best recruiting class in the country. They say that the rich keep getting richer, and no program personifies that more than Kentucky basketball.

The school has always been a hotbed for basketball talent and each season there are at least four professional basketball players on its roster. It’s one thing to have LeBron James watching from the press box like he did when Kentucky played against Notre Dame. It’s another thing to have Drake show up at Midnight Madness and shoot in the layup line with the team.

People can claim how unfair of advantage it is that Kentucky year after year gets the top recruits in college basketball, but its popularity is unmatched in college basketball, and that’s a reason for the hate. Let’s just look at what Calipari’s done during his tenure.

John Wall, DeMarcus Cousins, Patrick Patterson, Eric Bledsoe, Daniel Orton, Brandon Knight, Josh Harrellson, DeAndre Liggins, Anthony Davis, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, Terrence Jones, Doron Lamb, Marquis Teague, Darius Miller, Nerlens Noel, Archie Goodwin, Julius Randle, and James Young have all become NBA players during his short time.

You could arguably put together two teams from that roster that could defeat a current NBA team. We haven’t even mentioned how this year alone Kentucky can arguably boast and say that they have as many as 10 future professional athletes on the roster.

3. Arrogant Perception vs. Humble Reality: The game against Wisconsin might have not ended in Kentucky’s favor, and that’s the way that most of the country wanted it to happen.

A lot of people thought that this team was arrogant, brash, and not deserving enough to advance to the national championship game. Those same people couldn’t be more wrong.

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This Kentucky team played their tail off. They played with heart, passion and they played to win the game but they ultimately couldn’t get the victory. The team that they lost to was a more experienced, and hungry team. The revenge factor for Wisconsin was strong and they wanted to avenge their loss in last year’s Final Four.

This Kentucky team got humbled, and it sucks because they weren’t the most prideful bunch. Kentucky the entire season lamented that the goal of the team wasn’t to go undefeated, it was to win a national championship. During the course of the season they almost accomplished both feats.

A lot of people were happy that Kentucky didn’t win the national championship or even make it to the championship game.

But then again who loves anything that’s perfect?

Next: SEC: The NCAA Tournament Turned Andrew Harrison Into An NBA Player Overnight

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