Kentucky Didn't Cut The Nets Down After Winning The SEC #PowerMovesOnly
WashPo – Kentucky comes into the NCAA tournament with a 34-0 record, the No. 1 overall seeding and a sense that this just might be their year.
They’re in such a zone, in fact, that they did something odd: After winning the SEC tournament on Sunday, they busted out of Nashville so quickly that they didn’t take time to celebrate by cutting down the nets at either end of the court. It was unusual, but Coach John Calipari swears that it wasn’t any sort of psychological ploy.
“Can I tell you honestly?” he told ESPN. After a bit of sparring over whether an honest answer was desired, he added with a shrug, “Honestly, we all forgot. We forgot. We walked off the court and someone said, ‘You forgot to cut down the nets.’ I said, ‘Dudes, what are we going to tell the media because you know they’re going to make a story?’ “Ah, tell them we’ll worry about the other nets.’ Literally, forgot. Walked off the court.
“Really, we were trying to get on the plane to get back to the house [for the Selection Sunday show].”
But players offered opposing reasons for the decision.
Karl-Anthony Towns, who was wearing one of the nets in the locker room after the game, said players didn’t want to cut them down.
“We all looked at each other, and we all said that this is not over,” said Towns, who added that he wasn’t sure how he had acquired the net he wore around his neck. “We have a lot more to strive for.”
Biggest non story ever. At least that’s what I thought when I saw this Calipari interview yesterday, but judging from websites and social media today the majority doesn’t agree. I mean Cal is getting crushed for this. CRUSHED. For not cutting the nets down after winning the SEC tournament by 1 billion points. Guys let’s have real talk for one second. Kentucky just went 34-0. They had like 3, maybe 4 scares throughout that span.They’re the best team by a light year. They just steamrolled through the SEC tournament with these results:
Not even remotely a challenge. They’re freaking EVEN MONEY to win the national championship against the entire field. So am I going to give them shit for not really caring about cutting some nets down after that accomplishment? The answer is no, no I’m not. Nets man, we’re talking about nets.
I guess you can sort of be annoyed with Cal for lying like that, because they obviously knew what they were doing. Not sure why he couldn’t just admit it and say what Towns said which is 100% more respectable. But this is what Cal does, it’s what makes him the best recruiter in the game and a guy that ends up with 15 pros on his team year after year, and if you haven’t learned to accept that yet you’re never going to.