By: JJ Lanier

TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services

If June 24, 2010 is the greatest day in Kentucky basketball history, according to John Calipari at least, when 5 of his players were taken in the first round of the NBA Draft then June 23, 2016 must have felt more like getting off work Friday afternoon only to realize you have to work the weekend.

It was the perfect ending to what has been an interesting few months for the Wildcats coach.

To begin with there was the comment from 2017 recruit Hamidou Diallo that Kentucky’s recruiting pitch was “just the NBA thing” while Duke’s was “It’s more than just basketball.”

Calipari seemed to be a little incensed by the whole the thing and made a few statements about how “preposterous” it would be to tell a recruit how they’ll be taken care of for the rest of their lives by alums and that he gives them the “fishing rod and lures to help them catch fish.”

(Note that while he says he gives them the equipment there is no mention of explaining to them how to actually use the equipment. Making it to the NBA is obviously important, but so is knowing how to survive once you get there, and beyond)

Besides completely missing Diallo’s point- a Duke education will benefit you after basketball, not that you’ll be sucking at the teet of an alum- Calipari’s comments seemed to backfire.

A few weeks later Marques Bolden, a five star recruit deciding between Kentucky and Duke, chose the Blue Devils. Duke’s Twitter page responded with a few emojis of fishing poles, but was taken down pretty quickly. A sophomoric response by Duke? Probably. Did I enjoy it? Absolutely.

That was also right around the same time former five star player Marcus Lee was not only returning to college for his senior season, but he was transferring from Kentucky. I guess Lee just isn’t the outdoor type.

He followed his string of putting his foot in his mouth a few weeks ago by making some comments that seemed to be directed at Rick Pitino. Calipari denied the other day he was referring to Pitino, much like he did with Krzyzewski, but once again nobody outside of Lexington seem to be buying it.

The favorite part of his denial was that it took place during his tour de force of ESPN on the day of the draft where he appeared on multiple shows throughout the day.

The whole thing went over so poorly that even some ESPN personalities were bashing its absurdity. To top it off later that night Murray, whom Calipari had been saying all day should be the #1 pick, went 7th.

Skal Labissiere, the number one recruited player in this year’s draft class, went 28th. Tyler Ulis went in the second round and Alex Poythress went undrafted.

I’m not knocking any of those kids, and for most programs they would be thrilled to have two first round draft picks. When you’ve stated that draft night is more important than national championships though, that’s not exactly the night you envision.

On top of all this Calipari has an upcoming 30 for 30 on ESPN that I personally can’t wait to watch. If the past few months are any indication on what will be on it, we’ll all be privy to an hour and a half of hypocrisy at its finest.

My only hope is that they’ll start the show similar to the way The Andy Griffith Show did. Calipari walking side by side with DeMarcus Cousins, carrying a fishing pole. Info, Cousins won’t have caught any fish.