Will Kentucky's disappointing season finally convince John Calipari to change?

Fair or not, Kentucky head coach John Calipari knows he will always be judged by how many championships he wins. He also knows that in recent years he hasn't been living up to the high expectations that come with being the face of the Kentucky program. 

The latest disappointment for Wildcats fans came on Friday night when the the team fell victim to the Oakland Golden Grizzlies, 80-76, during a game in which the 14-seed mostly led. This loss marks the third straight NCAA Tournament appearance in which Kentucky has failed to reach the second weekend of action, a streak that followed not making the tournament at all in 2021. And no one has to tell Calipari that a run like that is unacceptable at a blue blood program with a steam of money and a constant supply of top recruits. 

In fact, it gets even worse in terms of the last time Kentucky fans have experienced real success. The Wildcats' last Final Four appearance came in 2015 and Kentucky has since only reached the Elite Eight twice. But while multiple Final Four appearances and a couple more deep tournament runs in a span of seven years may sound like something to celebrate at most programs, Kentucky expected much more when Calipari was hired in 2009. 

To Calipari's credit, he is a Hall of Fame coach for a reason. The 65-year-old did bring a national championship home to Big Blue Nation in 2012 and has led three other Kentucky teams to the Final Four. And he has six SEC tournament titles to his credit as well. Calipari's time at Kentucky is just part of an overall coaching career that has seen him win 813 games and advance to two other Final Fours (granted those have been vacated by the NCAA). 

But as Calipari knows, Kentucky fans don't care what he accomplished elsewhere and they may not even care about how many NBA lottery picks he's responsible for. Kentucky fans want one thing – championships. And that means more SEC crowns and more than just one national title in 15 years. 

Occasional upsets are going to happen to everyone. Still, this is becoming a trend for Kentucky. Calipari explained why Thursday's loss stings a bit more than the others. 

"They shouldn't be and our team and our season, defined by that game, but it will be. This one is painful," Calipari said. "This team, I really felt this team was built for this moment, even though we were young." 

And now yet another disappointment has led to a debate if it's time for Kentucky to move on. On one hand, Calipari still consistently recruits top prospects and turns them into NBA players. On the other hand, how much does having NBA players matter without deep runs through March? 

Since veteran teams are winning championships again, even if they are built via the transfer portal, will Calipari change his ways and more so than just sprinkling in one veteran transfer to lead a group of freshman?

He's not sure. 

"I've done this with young teams my whole career, and it's going to be hard for me to change that," Calipari said, "because we've helped so many young people and their families and I don't see myself just saying, 'okay, we're not going to recruit freshman.'"

But if he won't change and his strategy isn't working anymore, what does Kentucky do to reach the pinnacle of the sport again?