Why one of John Calipari’s biggest Kentucky stars is not cutting ties with Big Blue Nation

No player may have been more important to the success of John Calipari’s tenure as Kentucky basketball coach than John Wall.

But the star of Calipari’s first team and 2010 NBA draft No. 1 pick is not cutting ties with Big Blue Nation simply because Calipari has left UK for Arkansas.

“I’m still a part of Kentucky, I’m still going to be Big Blue Nation,” Wall said on Wednesday’s episode of his podcast, ”Point Game with John Wall and C.J. Toledano.” “That’s the school that gave me the opportunity to play on the highest level of college basketball you can in D-I, one of the biggest schools ever and then get an opportunity to go to the NBA. That’s always family to me.

“… That’s always going to be love and support with Kentucky and that’s never going to change, but I’m always going to support Cal too, no matter what school he’s at.”

Wall said he briefly talked with Calipari after the news broke that he was set to accept the Arkansas job.

That conversation left Wall with the same impression evident in Calipari’s farewell message to Kentucky fans posted to social media Tuesday afternoon.

“Just in his voice, you could hear the excitement,” Wall said. “You get a new opportunity to start fresh. He’s loved over there (at Arkansas). He’s got the support, he’s got the fan base that wants him. Sometimes you have to make that move. Sometimes you don’t want to have that breakup, but like he said, I feel like it was needed.

“They need a new voice at Kentucky, and he had an opportunity to go get a new job. So, I’m not mad at him for that. You’ve got to do what’s best for you at the end of the day.”

Wall was part of Calipari’s first Kentucky recruiting class, setting the tone for the parade of five-star recruits and first-round NBA draft picks that would follow over the next 15 years.

With Wall and DeMarcus Cousins leading the way, Kentucky won the first 19 games of Calipari’s tenure. The 2009-10 Wildcats were eventually upset in the NCAA Tournament Elite Eight round by West Virginia, but Kentucky set a record with five first-round picks in the subsequent NBA draft.

Calipari angered some fans by declaring that draft the “biggest day for the University of Kentucky,” but the emphasis on producing NBA stars was tolerated during a run that saw Calipari lead Kentucky to four Final Fours, two national championship games and one title from 2010 to 2015. It became much less tolerable during an eight-season Final Four drought that included just one NCAA Tournament win since 2019.

Still, Wall does not expect Calipari to change his approach at Arkansas.

“He still wants to win, but at Kentucky it’s a lot of pressure,” Wall said. “They want to hang banners. They don’t care what the regular season record is. They want to go far in the tournament. The last couple of years haven’t been that for them. I think that started to get to the fans. They wanted things to change.

“Sometimes you’re stuck in your ways, but I think he does a great job of what he does. Hopefully he keeps doing great things at Arkansas. I feel like he’s going to keep the same train going he had at Kentucky, just at Arkansas.”

Wall expects Calipari to continue to land top talent at Arkansas, especially with Razorback boosters reportedly stepping up to guarantee large sums of name, image and likeness funds as part of the pitch to land Calipari.

Arkansas has already latched onto Calipari’s NBA stars in its promotional material since confirming the hire. A hype video released Monday featured a montage of several of his first-round selections and featured multiple comments from Wall about Calipari since their time together at Kentucky.

Former Wildcat Karl-Anthony Towns, the No. 1 pick in the 2015 NBA draft, tweeted his thanks to Calipari after the departure announcement Tuesday, ending the post with, “My love for Kentucky and Coach Cal has and will continue to have no bounds.”

“Cal put me in a position to live my dream out,” Former Wildcat Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, now a star with the Oklahoma City Thunder, said after Tuesday’s NBA game. “Recruited me, trusted me on his team, his basketball team. Kind of gave me the keys toward the end, so I’ll forever be grateful and appreciative of Cal, no matter where he goes and what decision he does with his career. I love that guy.”

Kentucky fans should probably prepare themselves to see some of the program’s recent stars on the sideline at Arkansas games or working out in the practice facility there soon, but Wall’s comments at least offer hope those stars will continue to flock to Lexington in the years ahead as well..

“I just hope they get a great coach,” Wall said of Kentucky. “That’s the university I went to. I want them to continue to be good. I want to continue to support them. I want to continue to be able to go to games. Whoever the new coach comes, I want to be able to build a relationship with him so I have the opportunity to come back and still use the facility when I work out, come around and be around this team when I go to practices and go to games.

“I’m always going to continue to do that because that place is like home to me. Even though Coach Cal has separated, that’s still a place I call home. That’s where I went to college. That’s where I left high school and learned how to be a man on another level to prepare me for the NBA. So, whoever they get, I hope he’s great, I hope I can build a relationship with them and hope it’s a guy that can get them to where they want to get to and win more championships.”

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