John Calipari better find some magic for this team. (UK Photo)
I know that the dust-up that occurred between UK coach John Calipari and freshman Cam’Ron Fletcher at the end of Saturday’s loss to North Carolina has been at the height of the sports news cycle. So much so that it has in some ways overshadowed the Wildcat’s unbelievably bad 1-5 start.
But should it. After all, it’s happened before. Actually it happened last season after Kentucky’s inexplicable 81-73 loss to Tennessee at Rupp Arena. At the end of the game, Calipari asked Ashton Hagans to check into the game. Hagans refused and instead just sat on the bench. Calipari seemed to ignore it and move on.
What Calipari said after that Tennessee loss in 2020 referring to his disagreement with Hagans was, “Look, I’ve done this before: There are sometimes I’ll go to a guy and ask him, ‘Do you want to go in?’ If he says, ‘No,’ I say, ‘OK,’ we move on,'” explained Calipari. “Some of it’s late-game stuff because I had to sit there when I played and there’s 25 seconds left in the game and you go, ‘OK, go in and get that guy.’ And then there’s the clock running down and no one does anything, and then five seconds to go you walk into the game and you walk in and he subs, so I’ll do that. We’ve got a young team that’s growing and learning and learn from every situation.”
Now, that was Calipari’s take with Hagans, “sometimes I’ll go to a guy and ask him, ‘Do you want to go in?’ If he says, ‘No,’ I say, ‘OK,’ we move on.'”
After that disagreement last season Hagans briefly left the team prior to the next game against Florida. Hagans chose not to travel with the team and play in that game. Calipari then had this to say about that Florida game, “Ashton did not make the trip with us to Florida. He and I met a couple days ago and he asked to step away for a couple days for personal reasons. I support his decision. We are going to need him at 100 percent for the postseason.”
Seems to be very understanding and forgiving. Kind of like “no big deal, work out your issue and come on back.” Now, at that point in the season keep in mind that UK’s record was 24-6 and it was trying to secure a high seed in the upcoming NCAA Tournament that was subsequently cancelled. No distractions were needed at that point in the season, so everything was pretty low-key.
Now compare that to what Calipari posted on social media about his disagreement with Fletcher. He said via Twitter, “We have asked Cam Fletcher to take some time and step away from the team. He needs to reflect and do some soul searching to get his priorities in order. Any attitude or actions that are detrimental to this team will not be tolerated. And that goes for everyone on the team. We have a culture here that’s been built over the last 11 years, AND IT WILL NOT CHANGE. Through good times and bad, the culture is meant to change individuals and change maturity levels. This hurts our team, but this is about Cam and his future.”
Seems like a little bit different than that what was tweeted by Calipari following his disagreement with Hagans last season. Now, keep in mind that the current team is 1-5 and off to the worst start by a UK team since 1926. Calipari also stated via Twitter that he had discussed the situation directly with Fletcher and his mother, Tamika Fletcher and said, “They know I care about him and I love him, but they also understand that there are changes that need to be made. It’s his job to decide whether he can perform within this culture both on and off the court.”
Quite a difference in the coach’s reaction from last season to this season. In fact, the reaction was so different that it made me think about a magician. You know, someone who can show you something with one hand while you are distracted from what is happening with the other hand. In fact, Wikipedia says it this way about magicians, “In order to create illusions, magicians present one reality to their audience while concealing another—that they are secretly performing actions that make their magic tricks work. They hide the method or mechanics of their tricks by combining two essential magic techniques.
“The first is misdirection, focusing the audience’s attention on an unimportant object or action so nobody notices the important movements happening right before their eyes. The second is the sly physical manipulation of objects with imperceptible movements, commonly known as sleight of hand.”
Not being on the bench means I could be completely wrong in both the assessment of last year’s disagreement with Hagans and this year’s disagreement with Fletcher, but I do find it interesting that one player is handled very gently after a public disagreement while the other is publicly reprimanded and removed from the team by the coach.
Whether that is a bit of sleight-of-hand to make things appear to be something other than what they are or just one of hundreds of disagreements that have occurred between Calipari and his players down through the years is impossible to know.
But I do know this — with a 1-5 record Calipari better continue to be an excellent magician if he is going to get this team to perform to the level of its perceived talent by the end of the season. If fact, he should be practicing up on his ability to pull a rabbit out of a hat … and soon.
— Keith Peel, Contributing Writer
