There's no question what ruined this Kentucky basketball season. Can John Calipari fix it?

LEXINGTON, Ky. — There were serious questions about it before a single Kentucky basketball game was played this season. There were legitimate concerns about it soon after the Wildcats hit the court. A few months later, the NCAA Tournament began with trepidation that it might spell doom for one of the most exciting UK teams in memory.

“What was our Achilles’ heel?” John Calipari asked aloud on his final radio show Monday night.

It’s not even a question. Defense, defense, defense.

Kentucky’s play on that side of the court was bad at the beginning of the season, bad at the end of the season, and there were only a few bright spots in between. Calipari also lamented the Cats’ lack of “physicality” during his final radio appearance of the 2023-24 season, another months-long talking point for improvement that ended up being all talk in the end.

His team struggled mightily to guard anybody, many of his players shied away from contact or avoided it altogether, and defense and rebounding — two hallmarks of Calipari’s best teams over the course of his Hall of Fame career — suffered as a result.

“We worked on it. And we tweaked it,” Calipari said. “And the physicality part — it’s hard to get maturity (with young players). But I will say, this team — as it unfolded — was an offensive team. One of the better shooting teams, one of the best playmaking (teams), free throws — but, we knew what that Achilles’ heel was. And we were trying to make sure we (were) covered. And there were games this year that all we tried to do was outscore people.

“And I know, for us to get where we’re trying to go, we’ve gotta get back to who we’ve been defensively. And with that physicality.”

That could be easier said than done, if recent results are any indication.

Calipari’s history as a defensive coach

None of Calipari’s past five Kentucky teams have finished better than 35th nationally in defensive efficiency, according to the KenPom ratings, and his last four have gotten worse each year. The 2020-21 squad was 35th, the 2021-22 group was 36th, the 2022-23 team was 68th and this season’s Wildcats were 112th in the country. (Kentucky was 52nd nationally in 2019-20.)

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