This summer, John Calipari wanted some information. The Kentucky basketball coach tasked his staff with looking back over his previous 13 seasons in the job and figuring out the key to the program's biggest successes during that time. Calipari noted that he threw out the 2020-21 season — “the COVID year,” as he often refers to the 9-16 slog that included very little practice time for a young UK team that never found its footing. With that exception, he wanted to dig into the stats and see what made his Wildcats click.
“One thing stood out,” he told reporters in the Bahamas last week. “Blocked shots.”
Indeed, the numbers are glaring.
In Calipari's first six seasons at Kentucky — when the Cats went to four Final Fours, just missed a fifth and won a national championship — UK averaged at least 5.9 blocks per game each year.
Walter Cornett, of Glendale, Kentucky, is the owner and operator of Walter's Wildcat World. He founded WildcatWorld.com in 1998 making it one of the oldest Kentucky basketball fan sites in operation today.
On This Day In UK Basketball History
- On March 18, 1966, Louie Dampier joined the 1,000-point club. He did it in 53 games.
- On March 18, 1966, Kentucky, the No. 1 team in the nation, faced off against No. 2 Duke in the 1966 NCAA Final Four. Louie Dampier (23 points) and Pat Riley (19) led the top-ranked Cats past No. 2 Duke in front of 14,253 at the Cole Field House in College Park, Md.
- On March 18, 1972, Adolph Rupp coaches his last game at UK, a 73-54 loss to Florida State for the Mideast Region title in the NCAA Tournament.
- On March 18, 1978, in the 1978 NCAA Tournament round of eight, sophomore point guard Kyle Macy scored nine points in the final 6:16 to rally the Wildcats past Michigan State and freshman star Earvin “Magic” Johnson before 13,485 at the University of Dayton Arena.