John Calipari Says Some Kentucky Players Were 'Relieved' After Loss to Wisconsin

John Calipari's University of Kentucky squad was two wins away from finishing with the first perfect college basketball campaign since the 1975-76 Indiana Hoosiers, but a 71-64 loss to Wisconsin in the Final Four dashed the superpower's hopes. 

Calipari took to his website to clarify his previous comments:

"

In the interview, I used the term relieved to describe what I saw in the locker room. It wasn’t relief about wanting the season to end. That team wanted to win all 40 games – and thought they were going to. So did their coach.

When I walked in that locker room, I didn’t know what to expect. When I looked around, a few of them looked like they were in a daze.

I was talking to Karl Towns about it and his comment was, “We were in shock. The response wasn’t tears and anger. It was more of, ‘What just happened, we’re done playing.’ ”

I agree with Karl. They were in shock. A few were devastated, but what I saw more than anything when they settled in their seats was they were being reflective of the season and what had just happened.

If you have never been through what we went through, it would be hard to understand or describe. That’s what I tried to do.

I’ll say this one more time: I couldn’t have been more proud nor did I have more fun coaching a basketball team than I did last year.

"

On Aug. 5, Calipari discussed how the loss served as a therapeutic release for some of his players, as Lisa Brown posted on Twitter (h/t Jason McIntyre of the Big Lead):     

“When we lost to Wisconsin, some guys were relieved in that locker room," Calipari said. "When I walked in, I thought they’d be devastated. A few of them were relieved like, 'whew!'" 

While Kentucky and Wisconsin entered halftime of the national semifinal tied at 36, Wisconsin clamped down on defense and outscored the Wildcats 35-28 over the game's final 20 minutes. The Badgers also used a late 15-4 run to end Kentucky's season for good. 

"We normally execute down the stretch, and we didn't," Kentucky coach John Calipari said following the loss, per CBSSports.com's Sam Vecenie. "They did. They made plays down there and we didn't."

Despite the loss, Kentucky still finished its 2014-15 campaign with the nation's top defensive rating (84.4 points allowed per 100 possessions) and 11th-ranked offense (115.5 points per 100 possessions), according to Sports-Reference.com.

And with a fresh batch of highly touted recruits on their way to Lexington, the Wildcats are poised to make serious noise once again, according to ESPN.com's Eamonn Brennan:

"

UK already had the No. 1 center (Skal Labissiere) and No. 1 point guard (Isaiah Briscoe) in the 2015 class when five-star shooting guard Jamal Murray reclassified from 2016 to start his career at UK early. Murray played extremely well at the Nike Hoops Summit and for Team Canada in the Pan Am Games; he appears to be a star, and one few saw coming months ago.

"

Last season ended in disappointing fashion given the team's historic trajectory, but Kentucky is on the path to prosperity once again with Calipari and one of the nation's most dominant rosters ready to contend for another national title.