The Kentucky Experiment Results Are In

A shocking upset on Thursday night yields mixed results for John Calipari’s attempt to rebuild his roster through the transfer portal.

Tipoff

The 2020-21 season will go down as one of the most difficult in history for the storied Kentucky Wildcats The team finished 9-16, 8th in the SEC, and brought questions of just how long head coach John Calipari could continue to rely on talented freshmen to rebuild his roster every year. Due to changes in transfer and eligibility rules, he struck out on a new path to restore the Wildcats for this season. Former West Virginia big man Oscar Tshiebwe has earned All-American honors and National Player of the Year accolades. Former Davidson guard Kellan Grady and former Georgia point guard Sahvir Wheeler brought their skills and years of experience to bolster the backcourt. Many were picking Kentucky for a Final Four or even National Title run this March. Surely, John Calipari could be even more successful with a group of veterans surrounding a talented freshman in TyTy Washington, Jr. All that came to a crashing halt on Thursday night as Saint Peter's, a 15-seed from Jersey City, New Jersey, pulled off one of the biggest upsets in tournament history.

There is no denying that John Calipari’s one-and-done fueled strategy has been a smashing success. During his time as head coach in Lexington, Coach Cal has won a National Title. In addition, he has guided his team to the Final 4 (4 times), Elite 8 (7 times), and Sweet 16 (8 times) more than any coach in the nation. That is more trips to each round of March Madness than Mark Few, Mike Krzyzewski, Tom Izzo, or Jay Wright. In addition, the Wildcats have won at least a share of 6 SEC regular season titles and 6 SEC tournament titles. The formula has worked.

What can we learn from this shocking loss to the Peacocks of Saint Peter’s? Not much. We know teams built through the transfer portal can win big. The reigning National Champs, Baylor, are the most recent example. The 2019 National Runner-Up, Texas Tech, are another example of a roster built through the transfer portal. In the end, what we learned about relying on transfers to build a winner on Thursday night was that the NCAA tournament is one of the most difficult things to predict. That is correlation, not causation. Back to the lab.

Field of 68 Live from the Sportsbook at Rivers Casino Philadelphia

The Field of 68 will be streaming LIVE from the Sportsbook at Rivers Casino Philadelphia during the First Round of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament. Tune in live to hear from Rob Dauster, Terrence Oglesby, and Randolph Childress. The crew will stream on YouTube each day:

  • 11:00 am-12:15 pm (all times Eastern)

  • 5:45-6:45 pm

  • 12:00-1:00 am

During each broadcast, you can sign up to win prizes, including one of five $50 Top Golf gift cards and a grand prize of two tickets to the Sweet 16 in Philadelphia. Winners will be selected at random and announced on the live shows broadcasting at www.youtube.com/c/thefieldof68.

The Mixtape 

The Field of 68 team puts out lots of great content each week. Let’s take a look at some of the highlights.

  • Down goes Kentucky!!! Was the Saint Peter’s upset the biggest in tournament history? Well, there was that time 16-seed UMBC took down 1-seed Virginia a couple of years ago. On the other hand, we are talking about Kentucky. They spend $18 million per year on the men’s basketball team in Lexington. Kentucky assistants make more than Saint Peter’s head coach Shaheen Holloway. Rob Dauster, Terrence Oglesby, and Randolph Childress talk about the game. Did Kentucky lose the game or did Saint Peter’s win it?

  • The first day of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament is in the books. It’s Fri-yay! The Three Man Weave crew - Ky McKeon, Jim Root, and Matt Cox - have you covered for all the action today. It’s the Best Bets show for Friday’s games.

  • Let’s not lose track of the other action that went down on Thursday. The After Dark crew was live from Rivers Casino in Philadelphia to recap the early action and prep for the evening action. Rob Dauster, Randolph Childress, and Terrence Oglesby gave their early impressions of the Thursday matchups.

Tournament Tracker

It’s The Big Dance! Let’s take a look at NCAA men’s basketball tournament action and the schedule for the day.

  • #7 Ohio State vs. #10 Loyola-Chicago (12:15 p.m. EDT on CBS)

  • #2 Auburn vs. #15 Jacksonville State (12:45 p.m. EDT on TruTV)

  • #3 Texas Tech vs. #14 Montana State (1:45 p.m. EDT on TNT)

  • #3 Purdue vs. #14 Yale (2:00 p.m. EDT on TBS)

  • #2 Villanova vs. #14 Delaware (2:45 p.m. EDT on CBS)

  • #7 USC vs. #10 Miami (3:10 p.m. EDT on TruTV)

  • #6 Alabama vs. #11 Notre Dame (4:15 p.m. EDT on TNT)

  • #6 Texas vs. #11 Virginia Tech (4:30 p.m. EDT on TBS)

  • #4 Illinois vs. #13 Chattanooga (6:50 p.m. EDT on TNT)

  • #2 Duke vs. #15 Cal State Fullerton (7:10 p.m. EDT on CBS)

  • #6 LSU vs. #11 Iowa State (7:20 p.m. EDT on TBS)

  • #1 Arizona vs. #16 Wright State (7:27 p.m. EDT on TruTV)

  • #5 Houston vs. #12 UAB (9:20 p.m. EDT on TNT)

  • #7 Michigan State vs. #10 Davidson (9:40 p.m. EDT on CBS)

  • #3 Wisconsin vs. #14 Colgate (9:50 p.m. EDT on TBS)

  • #8 Seton Hall vs. #9 TCU (9:57 p.m. EDT on TruTV)

And the NCAA women’s basketball tournament first round kicks off, too!

  • #8 Miami vs. #9 USF (11:30 a.m. EDT on ESPN2)

  • #7 Colorado vs. #10 Creighton (1:30 p.m. EDT on ESPN News)

  • #7 Ole Miss vs. #10 South Dakota (1:30 p.m. EDT on ESPN2)

  • #1 South Carolina vs. #16 Howard (2:00 p.m. EDT on ESPN)

  • #5 Virginia Tech vs. #12 Florida Gulf Coast (2:30 p.m. EDT on ESPNU)

  • #8 Nebraska vs. #9 Gonzaga (3:30 p.m. EDT on ESPN News)

  • #2 Iowa vs. #15 Illinois State (4:00 p.m. EDT on ESPN)

  • #2 Baylor vs. #15 Hawaii (4:00 p.m. EDT on ESPN2)

  • #4 Maryland vs. #13 Delaware (5:00 p.m. EDT on ESPNU)

  • #7 Utah vs. #10 Arkansas (5:30 p.m. EDT on ESPN News)

  • #1 Louisville vs. #16 Albany (6:00 p.m. EDT on ESPN2)

  • #6 Georgia vs. #11 Dayton (7:30 p.m. EDT on ESPN News)

  • #8 Kansas vs. #9 Georgia Tech (7:30 p.m. EDT on ESPNU)

  • #2 Texas vs. #15 Fairfield (8:00 p.m. EDT on ESPN2)

  • #3 Iowa State vs. #14 UT-Arlington (10:00 p.m. EDT on ESPNU)

  • #1 Stanford vs. #16 Montana State (10:00 p.m. EDT on ESPN2)