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Posted by catmandoo (Member # 1284) on 05-07-2021, 01:29 PM:

“Enjoy your time now. Next year’s gonna come soon enough.”

Those were the parting words from John Calipari the last time we heard his voice, back in mid-March at the conclusion of his final call-in show to wrap up the worst season of his career, maybe the worst in Kentucky’s storied history. Beaten down and out of the NCAA Tournament before it began, Calipari told the Big Blue Nation, “There are things that happened that I’m not happy about, and it’s unacceptable to me.”

Since then, Calipari hasn’t spent a lot of time in Lexington or been visible to the fan base outside of press releases and tweets, and his heartfelt words on the passing of Terrence Clarke. His neighbors haven’t seen much of him, his SUV has been noticeably absent from the curb outside the Joe Craft Center, and he hasn’t been rolling down the family trash bins on your Instagram feed. I even heard the Dunkin’ Donuts near campus sets a cup of coffee with one cream and one Splenda on the counter every morning, in hopes he’ll come home.

But Calipari has been away recharging his batteries, grieving the unimaginable loss of a “son,” and reevaluating the state of the Kentucky Basketball program. The latter has led to an overhaul of his coaching staff and a wide net around potential backcourt options for next year—all because what happened last year, can never happen again.

Near the top of Calipari’s offseason must-do list, he knew he needed to add shooters. I tend to believe Calipari is a smart man and could see with his own two Hall of Fame eyeballs that he needed shooters; but just in case he didn’t see it, every single person in the fan base has been begging for shooting help since last Christmas, so he probably got the message somewhere along the way. Whatever the case, Calipari looked around the sport and deep within himself, and he prioritized perimeter shooting help from the transfer portal. He went after “makers”… because if he didn’t, we’d need more Maker’s.

Coach Cal got his first maker in Kellan Grady, the transfer from Davidson with over 2,000 career points and four straight All-Atlantic 10 selections. The first major piece of Calipari’s plan to fall in place, Grady committed to Kentucky in late March and will bring experience and scoring versatility to a team that didn’t have enough of either last season.

“Kellan has established himself as one of the best players in the country,” Calipari said of Grady’s game once the commitment was announced.

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