Welp, that didn’t take long. My dream of a perfect season, of UK rolling over competitors all the way to the big show, shattered in our first real game. Once again a Calipari team starts slow – both in the game and the season – and fails to make the crucial shots for the win. Victory was in our grasp at least twice, but we found a way to lose.

Call me jaded, but I’m fucking tired of losing at Indianapolis, of incompetent refs, and of Calipari teams that have inexplicable shooting slumps at the worst of times. I’m still bitter about last season’s NCAA Tourney loss to a mediocre team, in Indianapolis, a loss that ended our season and our cakewalk to the Final Four. JC gets paid twenty million-ish a year, and he needs to start earning that ridiculous compensation. MI State was ready to play tonight. Why weren’t we?

Rant almost over. Oscar Tcshiebwe, maybe the most likable human on the planet, showed up to play. Big time. He looked like the Player of the Year again and almost carried the team on his back to victory. But he had no reliable help.

I shouldn’t have hoped. Calipari teams never come together until mid-December or maybe even January. Everyone knows that, but I don’t have to like it.

We’ve only got two days before the next game, and four days until we play Gonzaga (!), so I hope the team does some soul-searching and gets their shit together. As for me, the thrill is temporarily gone. I’ll enjoy the next few games, but I’m not expecting much. I’ll set my high expectations aside until the January SEC run.