John Calipari has suffered some embarrassing and puzzling losses in his lifetime —- like that NIT loss to Oral Roberts —- but this latest one might cause the most head scratches. He had an absolutely stacked U19 team for the FIBA World Championships that featured a bevy of five-star recruits and star college freshmen. The team was expected to roll through the competition, but now Calipari is joining some dubious company.
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John Calipari is about to become the first coach of a USA Basketball squad to lose a game since Paul Hewitt (now a NBA scout) in 2011.
— Jonathan Givony (@DraftExpress) July 8, 2017
And the U.S. team ended up losing the game:
Tough loss for @usabasketball as Canada pulls off a 99-87 win. Team USA will be in the bronze medal game at #FIBAU19 tomorrow vs. Spain.
— Kentucky Men’s Basketball (@KentuckyMBB) July 8, 2017
The United State got punked by the class of 2019's best player in forward R.J. Barrett who had a monster game of 38 points, 13 rebounds and five assists before fouling out of the game. While it doesn't go against Calipari's official record as a collegiate head coach, it's pretty embarrassing that he lost a game like this when he actually had all the best available players and hand picked them himself.
