Men’s College Basketball Has Some Balance As Blue Bloods Struggle

January 12, 2023
Sport

Fans booed Calipari at Rupp Arena on Tuesday, and one was kicked out for refusing to give up a sign directed at the coach that read, “Please go to Texas.”

Texas last week fired Coach Chris Beard nearly a month after he was arrested on a felony domestic violence charge. Calipari, who has a lifetime contract at Kentucky, had been loosely linked to the job, but he said this week, “I haven’t talked to anybody.”

As for his message to Kentucky fans: “We’ve got to be better, and that’s on me. We’re on a mission.”

Duke, under the first-year coach Jon Scheyer, 35, who replaced Mike Krzyzewski, isn’t in such dire straits, but his team has fallen to No. 24 after starting the season at No. 7. The Blue Devils (12-4) have lost two of their past four games.

Villanova (8-9), a new-age blue blood that won two national championships under Coach Jay Wright, is also struggling under the first-year coach Kyle Neptune, 37, who had just one year of head coaching experience at Fordham before taking over for Wright when he retired in April. The Wildcats have lost four of their past five games and continue to play without senior guard Justin Moore, who tore his right Achilles’ tendon during Villanova’s run to the Final Four last year. Unless the Wildcats win the Big East Conference Tournament, it appears they will miss the N.C.A.A. tournament for the first time since 2012.