Kentucky basketball needs a change. Is John Calipari willing to alter his ways? | Toppmeyer

• John Calipari says it will be 'hard for me to change' how he builds Kentucky teams. Too bad. UK needs a change in course, if not a firing.
• Kentucky's ballyhooed freshmen struggled in loss to Oakland, while Oakland veterans poured in key buckets.
• Top teams are using transfer portal. Why not John Calipari?

John Calipari made an alarming comment after Kentucky’s NCAA Tournament flameout.

“It's going to be hard for me to change,” Calipari said of how he builds his roster.

Rarely is change easy, but it's necessary after UK's second first-round flop in a three-year span.

Kentucky either needed to make a coaching change, or Calipari must change his hesitance to embrace transfers as a way to complement his roster with veterans built to withstand March Madness' pressures.

Kentucky decided against firing Calipari.

UK athletics director Mitch Barnhart announced Tuesday night that he's retaining the veteran coach.

I don't dislike the idea of Kentucky giving this one more go – as long as Calipari is willing to adapt.

John Calipari sees a problem, but will he change his ways?

In one breath Thursday after Kentucky’s 80-76 loss to 14th-seeded Oakland, he noted that he lost with a lineup of teenagers while Oakland rode the coattails 24-year sharpshooter Jack Gohlke, a Division II transfer.

In the next breath, Calipari said modifying how he builds his rosters wouldn’t come easily. He stockpiles blue-chip high school recruits who make Lexington a pit stop en route to the NBA.

That worked well throughout the first half of Calipari's tenure. He staked his place at the head of the one-and-done revolution. Other programs couldn’t rival UK for five-star signees, so they nabbed juniors and seniors out of the portal. The transfer revolution gained more fuel after a 2021 rule change allowed immediate eligibility to all transfers.

“I’ve done this with young teams my whole career,” Calipari said after Thursday's loss that rivaled his 2022 first-round debacle to No. 15 Saint Peter’s for the worst loss of his career.

“It’s going to be hard for me to change that. . . . I don’t see myself just saying, ‘OK, we’re not going to recruit freshmen.’ ”

No one asked Calipari to stop recruiting freshmen. He assembled another star-studded class of teenagers for next season.

But, look around, Cal, at some of the NCAA Tournament's top remaining teams.

Top-seeded UConn’s starting lineup features Stephon Castle, a five-star rookie who could be one-and-done. Castle is a projected first-round NBA draft pick — but he ranks fifth on UConn in scoring. He’s UConn's only freshman starter. Its top two scorers are transfers, and neither came from a blue blood. UConn point guard Cam Spencer is playing for his third team in as many seasons.

Dan Hurley’s UConn roster features that modern mix we see from championship programs, blending a talented freshman or two with a couple of sign-and-develop veterans and a few high-impact transfers.

Houston coach Kelvin Sampson mastered this formula, too. His Cougars are in the Sweet 16 for the fifth consecutive time. They don’t start a single freshman. Top scorer L.J. Cryer transferred in from Baylor before this season.

Tennessee, the SEC’s best team this season, is led by super-scorer Dalton Knecht, whose journey was more blue collar than blue chip. Knecht detoured through junior college and Northern Colorado before reaching the Sweet 16 with the Vols.

Kentucky's young lineup fizzled in March Madness loss

While Oakland's veterans poured in clutch buckets, Kentucky’s star freshman, Reed Sheppard, wilted. Fellow freshman Rob Dillingham seized up, too.

Fifth-year senior Antonio Reeves carried UK with 27 points. He transferred to UK from Illinois State two years ago. UK's second-leading scorer on Thursday, Tre Mitchell, also joined the program as a transfer. Hmm . . .

Even Reeves, though, contributed a costly turnover with a minute and a half remaining.

“I thought they were anxious,” Calipari said of his team.

If Calipari wanted to be stubborn, he could dig in and say, “If you don’t like how I do things, I’ll take that $35 million severance package and join Jimbo Fisher at Buyout Ranch, where drinks are served by suckers.”

Calipari, though, doesn’t sound like he welcomes the sweet relief of failure money. He spoke passionately during a radio appearance this week about re-establishing Kentucky to its lofty standard. He convincingly reaffirmed his desire for this job and all of the pressure and criticism that accompany it.

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Wanting something and being willing to adapt are two different things, though.

Kentucky 'may not need' transfers? Think again

After the loss, Calipari acknowledged a flaw in his plan.

You “don’t know how (freshmen) are going to respond to” March Madness, he said.

He spoke of a need for more toughness and physicality.

Sounds like attributes a few veteran transfers might provide, no?

Fixing the problem, though, requires an appetite for change. There’s the rub.

“We got this transfer stuff going on,” Calipari said. “We may not need it.”

If Calipari truly thinks that, then he’s not serious about making necessary adjustments. Calipari sounded more willing to evolve his thinking a few days later, when he said on his radio show that Kentucky must "get older," a nod to the transfer portal. Now, follow through with it.

A loss like Thursday's demands change — if not a coaching change, then a change in Calipari's philosophy.

Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network's SEC Columnist. Email him at BToppmeyer@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter @btoppmeyer.

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