When Kentucky free throws started clanging off rims last Thursday in what became UK's shocking NCAA Tournament loss to No. 15 seed Saint Peter's, Wildcats backers must have felt trapped in a hoops version of the movie "Groundhog Day."
Akin to Bill Murray's fictional "Phil Connors," the Big Blue Nation essentially lives the same day over and over and over.
It's hard to imagine any program — or any program's fans — that has ever paid a higher NCAA tourney price for errant accuracy from the foul line than UK has in the John Calipari coaching era.
To review:
— 2010: When UK was upset, 73-66, by West Virginia in the 2010 Elite Eight, the Cats missed 13 foul shots (16-for-29).
— 2011: In Kentucky's 56-55 loss to Connecticut in the Final Four, the Wildcats went 4-for-12 from the foul line.
— 2014: The 60-54 UConn victory over UK in the NCAA title game saw the Cats miss 11 free throws (13-for-24) — while the Huskies missed none (10-of-10).
— 2017: Before Luke Maye's last-second dagger pushed North Carolina past Kentucky 75-73 in the round of eight, the Wildcats had missed seven foul shots (12-for-19).
— 2018: During the 61-58 sweet 16 loss to Kansas State, UK misfired on 14 free throws (23-for-37) — with PJ Washington going 8-of-20 from the line.
— 2019: With a trip to the Final Four within grasp, Kentucky instead missed nine free throws (12-of-21) in what became a 77-71 overtime defeat to Auburn in the round of eight.
— 2022: During what was, by seeding, the worst Kentucky NCAA Tournament loss ever, the No. 2 seed Cats went 23-of-35 from the line — including 1-of-6 in the tense overtime period — in falling to the East Region No. 15 seeds from Saint Peter's.
How many national championships would Calipari and Kentucky have if his UK teams averaged making, oh, 75 percent of their free throws in the NCAA Tournament games that instead became season-ending losses?
Of course, before he ever came to Kentucky, Calipari had paid a heavy price for his team missing free throws in the NCAA Tournament.
Famously, Calipari's 2007-08 Memphis Tigers lost the NCAA championship game 75-68 in overtime to Kansas after the Tigers saw a 60-51 lead evaporate in the final 2:12 of regulation due, in large part, to missing four of five foul shots in the last 1:12.
Mario Chalmers' very famous last-seconds shot that forced the 2008 NCAA title game into overtime for Kansas does not happen if Memphis makes its free throws.
In his roster construction across many years, Calipari has seemed to prioritize slashers over shooters, defensive length over offensive skills. To a large degree, that approach has worked. It is entirely possible that Calipari's teams might not have been in nearly as many big NCAA tourney games had he recruited with different priorities.
However, of the 13 Calipari-era Kentucky teams, five have ranked No. 200 or lower in the country in foul shooting, while eight have been No. 100 or lower.
The one genuinely exceptional free-throw-shooting team Calipari has coached in Lexington came in 2019-20 when UK finished second in the nation in accuracy (79.7 percent) from the foul stripe.
In something of a cruel twist, that team — paced by Immanuel Quickley (92.3 percent foul shooter), Tyrese Maxey (83.3), Ashton Hagans (81) and Nick Richards (75.2) — did not get to play in March Madness after the coronavirus pandemic canceled the NCAA Tournament.
It was somewhat surprising that this past season's Wildcats continued the modern Kentucky tradition of struggling from the foul line under game-deciding pressure in the NCAA Tournament.
The 2021-22 Cats were not the typical Calipari-era collection. For once, with two super-seniors and a junior among its top four guards, Kentucky took a veteran backcourt into the postseason. The Wildcats also boasted a roster built with more attention to offensive skill than normal, too.
Yet, as UK's peril grew Thursday night against a relentless Saint Peter's upset bid, a familiar malady befell the Wildcats.
Kentucky foul shooting in the overtime was almost painful to watch.
On UK's first possession of OT with the scored tied at 71, Wildcats star Oscar Tshiebwe was fouled. Tshiebwe — a 69.8 percent foul shooter for the season — missed both free throws.
After Kentucky scored the first four points of the OT to go up 75-71, point guard Sahvir Wheeler — an 81.5-percent foul shooter entering the game — had a chance to push the UK lead to six. Wheeler, instead, also missed two free throws.
Once Saint Peter's had tied the game at 75, UK super-senior Davion Mintz was fouled on a drive. The veteran guard — a 71.9-percent foul shooter this season — made one of two.
For the Cats in March Madness, losing to a No. 15 seed was unprecedented. How the Cats fell was merely a brand new verse of the same old song.
