During the last 10 years, I’ve seen how Kentucky coach John Calipari has become emotionally attached to players — both during their time at Kentucky and after they left Lexington. Yet I can’t remember him ever being quite as emotional as he was after UK lost to Auburn in the Elite Eight Sunday and he reflected back on what senior Reid Travis had meant to this team.
“That’s why I wish the season kept going. I mean, I wanted to see one more weekend, wanted Reid to be able to go back to Minnesota, which he deserved for what he’s done for this program and us,” said Calipari.
A Kentucky win over Auburn — a team it beat twice during the regular season — would have sent UK to Minneapolis, Travis’ hometown, for the Final Four. Having that opportunity was a big reason Travis picked Kentucky when he decided to transfer from Stanford where he was an all-conference performer and a double-double machine. He sacrificed personal numbers to be part of a better team at Kentucky. He still averaged 11.2 points and 7.2 rebounds for Kentucky. He shot 53.7 percent from the field and 73.2 percent at the foul line.
More importantly, Travis was the mature, experienced leader that Calipari needed. He became a mentor for freshman EJ Montgomery and sophomore Nick Richards.
“I can’t tell you how much I learned from Reid. Not a day went by that I didn’t learn something from him. He was always there to help,” Montgomery said.
Travis’ presence also helped PJ Washington to become one of the nation’s best players. Washington improved his numbers in every category because teams no longer could concentrate solely on him inside because of Travis’ presence. For media members, Travis was a delight. He was engaging and intelligent. At least twice his answer to one of my questions was so far above my head that I had to ask him to “dumb down” his answer so I could understand. Each time he just laughed and did it.
But the best thing was that Travis enjoyed the year as much as Calipari, teammates, media members and fans enjoyed him.
“As far as this being my last college game, been through a lot of adversity, lot of ups and downs. Obviously being able to come here, it’s been a blessing and thankful for the opportunities,” Travis said after the Elite Eight loss to Auburn. “Lot of emotions not being able to finish it the way I wanted to, but that doesn’t take away from the experience that I had.
“This has been one of the best years of my life playing basketball, and I just wanted to end it the right way with this group of guys.”
Kentucky didn’t win but he ended it the right way by doing everything he could to try and help Kentucky win, which was even more impressive because he had missed five straight games with a sprained knee before UK started postseason play. He went 4-for-5 from the field against Auburn and had nine points, six rebounds and one assist. He also played 44 minutes — six more minutes than anyone on either team played.
No wonder Calipari was on the verge of tears as he tried to talk about Travis, a rare fifth-year player for him to coach.
“To have a guy come to this program and absolutely trust — we never promised him he would start or how many minutes (he would play). I don’t do that,” Calipari said. “But having enough trust to know and enough faith in himself to come here and then through the ups and downs, what we’re doing never changes, what a great lesson if anybody else was watching and all these young kids were watching.”
Travis’ stay at Kentucky also changed another perception about UK basketball — or should
“It just shows that you can do the academics here, you can do the basketball here, you can be a great person, you can — and Kentucky fits that,” Calipari said. “But I just tell you personally, what a pleasure. I got on him, too, now. What a pleasure to coach him.”
Calipari said he told Travis when he was injured that if he couldn’t play again this year, that was fine with the coach. Travis never blinked. Instead, he told Calipari he would be back and he played with no fear or hesitation the six postseason games he was in. So while Travis is another “one and done” player at UK, his one year at UK was meaningful for him and the Cats. Kentucky didn’t get to the Final Four, but without Travis I don’t think UK would have been in the Eight Eight.
“He’s put himself in a great position and he helped this program. I couldn’t be more thankful and blessed that I had a chance to coach him,” Calipari said.