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.)

To put that in perspective, nine of Calipari’s previous 14 teams — the first 10 at UK and the last four at Memphis — finished top 10 in the country in defensive efficiency. Of those 14 teams, only the 2012-13 Wildcats — the roster that lost shot-blocking sensation Nerlens Noel to injury — finished outside of the top 40 nationally.

Of Calipari’s 24 teams in the KenPom database — the entirety of his tenures at both Kentucky and Memphis — this season’s group was his worst defensively, and by a fairly large margin.

That’s a striking stat, though probably not too surprising to anyone who has followed Calipari’s career.

His Memphis teams were gritty and tenacious, even some of the later ones that featured electric offensive players. In Calipari’s final four seasons there, the Tigers ranked in the top 10 in defensive efficiency each year. The 2008 national runner-up team was No. 2 nationally. The next year’s team — his final season at Memphis — led the country in defensive efficiency.

Calipari’s three best teams at Kentucky — the first season in 2009-10, the 2012 title squad, and the 38-1 team of 2014-15 — were all top 10 in that stat, too. At UK, he inherited DeAndre Liggins from the Billy Gillispie era. He had in-your-face Michael Kidd-Gilchrist and above-the-rim Anthony Davis for the 2012 run. The nearly perfect Cats of 2015 boasted the platoon lineup that was filled with defensive size and skill. UK had the best defense in the country that season, anchored by national defensive player of the year Willie Cauley-Stein.

That first decade in Lexington didn’t always feature the prettiest basketball — with Calipari often prioritizing bigger, longer and more athletic players over skill and shooting — but the Cats won a whole lot of games, almost always going deep in the NCAA Tournament.

His more recent teams have been lacking in many of those departments. Oscar Tshiebwe was obviously a load in the middle the two previous seasons, but others often watched as he battled for rebounds. And the guards and wings, for the most part, didn’t look like the ones of the early Calipari era.

This past season’s squad had as much offensive firepower as any Calipari team, but the players lacked physicality and general defensive ability. The Cats were beat off the dribble over and over again. They had shot-blockers at the rim — once the trio of 7-footers made their debuts — but even those players lacked the strength to bang with opponents in the paint.

Last week’s season-ending loss to Oakland began with more of the same. The 14-seeded Golden Grizzlies missed 14 of their first 16 shots of the game. The Cats could’ve been in a position to impose their will right there. But they continually got beat for those bricks, Calipari and his coaching staff growing more and more agitated on the sideline with each missed opportunity.

Oakland grabbed seven offensive rebounds in the first six minutes. By the end of that 2-for-16 drought, the game was tied up at 5-all, the Cats unable to take advantage. UK ended up winning the battle of second-chance points, it should be noted, but a smaller, less athletic team often beat them to loose balls and sometimes even bullied them around.

By the end, Oakland had won the rebounding battle 40-39.

“That can’t happen,” Reed Sheppard said in the postgame locker room.

How can Kentucky get better on defense?

What can the Wildcats do to turn around this years-long skid of defensive inefficiency?

Calipari has thoughts, and he shared some of those Monday night.

For starters, the UK coach is considering scrapping his typical summer routine and paying more attention to these points of emphasis.

Last summer, the Cats went to Canada for a FIBA exhibition tournament. The summer before that, they hit the Bahamas for four offseason games. Calipari has categorized those trips as more exercises in team-building — getting used to each other, on and off the court — than opportunities to truly evolve in particular aspects of the game.

“What about — in the summers — instead of a Bahamas or a Toronto, we’re really back to where we’re grinding. And we’re working on our physicality. And we’re working on defense. And we’re trying to set a foundation of who we’re gonna be,” Calipari said.

The UK coach said one reason he doesn’t go too hard on his players in the summer is he doesn’t want to have them worn down by the end of the season, which features a tough preseason practice regimen, an 18-game slate in the physically demanding SEC and plenty of nonconference games against difficult opponents.

Calipari implied that the positives of early attention to defense (and physicality) would outweigh the negatives, adding that he also plans to evaluate the program’s weight training and strength and conditioning programs in the run-up to the next season.

“But if you really go at ’em in the summer, is that gonna take away at the end?” he said. “That’ll be something we gotta keep an eye on.”

Calipari said there could also be staff personnel changes. Kentucky didn’t show much improvement from November to March, making the same defensive mistakes at the end of the season that they were making at the beginning. Was that an overreliance on freshmen who were ill-equipped to handle the responsibility? Or the principles that UK’s coaches were trying to teach not getting through? Probably some of both.

Of course, the players on the court will matter most when the 2024-25 season begins, and Calipari has already said he plans to scour the transfer portal for defensive-minded additions this offseason.

“We gotta say, ‘Here’s what we’re doing going forward.’ Can we get back to that defensively? How do you get back to that?” he said Monday night. “Some of it is, you gotta change people. Some of it is, when you’re talking the portal — is that what we need? This guy or that guy? The other side of it is — what do you do in the summer?”

Will UK have defenders on its 2024-25 roster?

The stay-or-go decisions that the current Wildcats make in the coming weeks will, at least partially, dictate what kind of players Calipari prioritizes in the portal this spring.

Sophomore guard Adou Thiero — 6-foot-8, possibly still growing and a superb athlete — would be an ideal returnee. Thiero, more than anyone on this past season’s team, was willing to initiate contact, even with much bigger opponents. His physical play often set the tone and energized his teammates. He now has two years of experience in Calipari-run practices. That could be invaluable if it’s another group of mostly new faces.

Freshman point guard D.J. Wagner proved to be a relentless on-ball defender — even if he did get beat off the dribble at times — and is another possible returnee who can play physically. The youngest player on the team, another offseason should only benefit him there.

If Calipari can get even one of his three 7-footers — Aaron Bradshaw, Zvonimir Ivisic or Ugonna Onyenso — to return, it should be a plus defensively. None were particularly physical — especially Bradshaw and Ivisic — but they all have potentially elite shot-blocking skills and could be complementary defensive players to others with more bulk and strength.

Obviously, Sheppard’s return would be welcomed for many reasons. He’s not overly physical either, but his defensive instincts (2.5 steals per game as a freshman) would be a huge addition to next season’s roster. It will be difficult for the Kentucky native to turn down the NBA draft this offseason, but — until a final decision is announced — fans (and coaches) will continue to dream.

Calipari has six high school recruits coming in, but not much should be expected there from a defensive or physicality perspective. Of that bunch, New Jersey star Billy Richmond — a 6-5 shooting guard — is best equipped to make an impact defensively.

Others project as highly competitive players, but it would be a stretch to expect an above-average defensive impact at their positions. Somto Cyril — a 6-10, 252-pound center with a 7-7 wingspan — is physically imposing, but his overall game needs refinement and he’ll likely need more work to transition his shot-blocking and rebounding skills to the college level while keeping fouls down.

While getting Thiero and some others back would help — Jordan Burks is another freshman who showed fight in year one — Calipari’s biggest defensive difference-makers could come via the transfer portal.

UK has already made contact with Rutgers center Clifford Omoruyi, a 6-10, 240-pound player with four years of Big Ten experience. Omoruyi was a Kentucky target as a high school recruit and averaged 2.9 blocked shots and 8.3 rebounds per game as a senior this past season. He’s certainly the type of player that could bolster the Wildcats’ physicality.

While it’s next to impossible to acquire sure-thing, NBA-level talent in the portal — those types of players enter the draft and stay there — there are high-level defenders to be found, at all positions. And Calipari will need at least one or two (or more) to get where he wants to go.

Throughout Monday night’s radio show finale, Calipari stressed that he didn’t want to get away from the electric offense that defined his team this season. He said he enjoyed coaching that style, and he acknowledged that the fans loved it.

“So, I don’t want to change that. But I know — and I’ve always known — that your defense steadies you when you’re not making shots. Or you get a little anxious. And you’re turning it (over). You’re missing shots you don’t usually (miss). Your defense settles you. …

“We gotta get back to that.”

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