John Calipari got good news on Saturday morning. Then, he and his team celebrated with an easy victory.
Calipari was notified earlier Saturday that he is a finalist for the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. Then, Calipari watched his Kentucky Wildcats crush the South Carolina Gamecocks 77-43 at Rupp Arena. The win made Kentucky 25-0 on the season, matching the best start in school history (by the 1953-54 Wildcats).
Meanwhile, the bigger news for Calipari was that he was named one of 12 finalists for basketball’s Hall of Fame, an award he is certainly deserving of winning.
Calipari’s history has been dogged by NCAA investigations of his UMass Minutemen and Memphis Tigers teams. However, there was never any proof that Calipari had anything to do with the violations involving Marcus Camby (UMass) and Derrick Rose (Memphis).
Due to those investigations and the resulting penalties, the Final Fours that Calipari’s UMass and Memphis teams participated in were officially vacated. He has coached in five Final Fours overall.
At Kentucky, Calipari has been to three Final Fours in five years, and may have his best Kentucky team this season. Kentucky could give Calipari his second national title in the Bluegrass in a matter of two months.
On the court, Calipari has taken three schools to the Final Four, has won over 600 games and shows no signs of slowing down. He’s also embraced the NBA’s so-called one-and-done rule that requires high school players to play one year in college before playing in the league. Rather than shy away from such one-and-done players, Calipari recruits them, sees them play at Kentucky for one season, then go to the NBA, only to be replaced by another set of McDonald’s All-Americans.
Calipari has produced 30 NBA Draft picks, including 19 during his first five seasons at Kentucky. More than that, he continues to recruit and coach at a high level.
John Calipari is very deserving of the Hall of Fame nomination he received on Saturday. Adding a 40-0 season to his resume might be the icing on the cake.
Tim Letcher is a Featured Writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @TimLetcher , on Facebook or add him to your network on Google.
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