This is Not Last Year's Kentucky

Last year coach John Calipari watched his team win their first 18 games, and now his team is 14-4 in their first 18. They have already equaled the amount of SEC games they lost last year in their first four, with two. Last night they lost to Alabama, a team that had a losing streak at the hands of Kentucky since Billy Gillespie was there, and had won eight of the last nine in the match up.

This is their second loss on the road, and the frustration of their inconsistency, and lack of toughness is showing. It boiled over when Calipari gave a tongue lashing to freshman Terrence Jones that was caught by cameras. In response, the coach tweeted and apology for the lapse in judgment.

"UKCoachCalipari: First of all I want to apologize for my language at the end of the game. I got caught up in the emotion of the game, but that's no excuse."

The problem was his next tweet for me though, apologizing for it being on national television.

"UKCoachCalipari: Sometimes you don't realize in the moment that what you're saying is on national TV. The BBN deserves better and so do my players."

I am not a fan of his clarifying that it was on national TV. Here is an idea Cal, calm down and realize you are acting like a psycho on the sideline ALL THE TIME, and that you went on a verbal tirade against your best player. Who cares that it was on TV? You obviously do not mean the apology if it is being noted with that statement. But that is really a whole different issue, the fact is that this year's Kentucky team is not the team Calipari wants them to be right now, obviously.

So that begs the question, why are people acting as if they are? A couple of weeks ago people were assuming they were going to go undefeated in the SEC. Why? Also that after going undefeated they would end up with a number one seed again. Why? That they are a team that you can expect to see in Houston. Why?

I understand that this team has talent, Terrence Jones is an incredible scorer, and Brandon Knight, Doron Lamb and Darius Miller are extremely lethal from behind the arc. They have not really proven it against people yet though. They lost to North Carolina, who may not even be a tournament team at this point. They lost to two teams from the SEC that few thought had a chance to make it to the big dance, but with those wins are definitely in the conversation.

Does Kentucky have the players and talent to make it to the Final Four? Yes, they absolutely do, especially given a good seed and path. Last year's team though, with all of those first round draft picks, they were a number one seed and expected to make it there. So can we please distinguish that these two teams are different? Not lump them together as "Kentucky" and just assume they deserve to be up in the elite of this year's basketball world yet. Maybe they will be, but let's stop talking about them being there, and let the young team grow into it.