For years, Kentucky Basketball fans laughed when national media compared us to Indiana. And with every passing year, it seems that the program is slipping closer to where the Hoosiers have lived.
The last five-plus years of Kentucky basketball have been a slow, painful slide into relative mediocrity. There have been upsets, crushing losses, and a total lack of postseason success. The denial is over. The facts are the facts.
The timeline of failure
Just look at the resume since 2020:
- 2020-2021: A 9-16 disaster. 8-9 in the SEC. We blamed COVID, but the cracks were there.
- 2021-2022: The “Revenge Tour” that ended in humiliation. Kentucky (26-7) loses to Saint Peter’s in the opening round.
- 2022-2023: A 22-11 slog that ended in the Round of 32 against Kansas State.
- 2023-24: The “Fun Team.” Reed Sheppard and Rob Dillingham gave us hope, until Jack Gohlke and Oakland ruined the redemption tour in the first round, effectively ending the Calipari era.
- 2024-25: Mark Pope’s first year. The team wasn’t talented compared to the NBA factory of the past, but they fought. They made the Sweet 16 and vindicated the hire.
- 2025-26: The “Ferrari” arrives. The most expensive roster in college hoops. An NBA scout called it “Noah’s Ark” because they had two of everything.
And where are we now? We just watched that
“Ferrari” get stripped for parts by a Vanderbilt team playing the style Pope was going to bring to Lexington. That 5-game winning streak we felt good about? The combined conference record of those opponents was 12-22 as of Wednesday morning.
Combined postseason wins (SECT and NCAAT) since 2020: 6. Want to take a stab at how many Indiana has? 5.
The blame game rankings
So, who should be taking the lion’s share of failure? There is plenty of blame to go around, but here is the pecking order imo.
1. Eli Capilouto / The Board
The fish rots from the head. The administration allowed the standard to slip. They prioritized “alignment” over winning and allowed the internal politics to fester for years before stepping in.
2. John Calipari
Some will put Mitch first above even Eli, but Cal is #2 for a simple reason: He stopped adapting. He didn’t have to become insular. He didn’t have to alienate the boosters or stop grinding on the recruiting trail. He didn’t have to tell people he would get “his NBA guys” to fund facilities instead of working with the AD. He created his own island, got comfortable, and the program suffered. Mitch might have let it happen, but Cal drove the car off the road.
3. Mitch Barnhart
Mitch is the architect of the chaos. He gave Cal the “lifetime contract” that made him untouchable. He let the feud with Cal destroy the program’s recruiting infrastructure. Then, when he finally had the chance to reset, he swung for Scott Drew (missed), flirted with Dan Hurley (missed), and landed on Mark Pope. He hired a man he loved, but a man who had never won an NCAA tournament game.
4. Mark Pope
I feel for Pope. He is doing what he has always done, surpassing low expectations (last year) and struggling when the pressure is real (this year). He has zero recruits for 2026 and has navigated Kentucky through some terrible losses. He is likely going to end up like Matt Doherty at UNC, the “transition guy” who takes the bullets while the program resets.
He ranks last on the blame list because he inherited a mess, but make no mistake: He isn’t fixing it fast enough.
What do you think, BBN? Sound off in the comments section!
