Tuesday, May 16, 2017

ESPN 30 for 30 Vol 3: One and Not Done

While Sharon was in DC, I watched One and Not Done. This is the sixteenth installment of ESPN's 30 for 30 Volume 3. An episode guide for Vol 3 is here.

The documentary follows the career of John Calipari. From 1988 to 1996 at the University of Massachusetts, Calipari led the Minutemen program to five consecutive Atlantic 10 titles and NCAA Tournament appearances, including periods where the program was ranked first nationally. He was 29 years old when he started coaching UMass.

From 1996 to 1999, Calipari coached the NBA New Jersey Nets. The Nets made the playoffs in the 1997-1998 session as the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference.

Calipari became head coach at the University of Memphis beginning in 2000–01. Calipari's Memphis teams posted nine consecutive 20-win seasons and an NCAA record four consecutive 30-win seasons.

On March 30, 2009, Calipari become coach at Kentucky. In the 2010-11 season, Calipsri won his first NCAA Championship and Kentucky had a NCAA record 38-win season.

During the course of his career, Calipari has recruited a fairly amazing array of players. This includes Marcus Camby at Mass, Derrick Rose at Memphis and John Wall, DeMarcus Cousins, Anthony Davis and Karl Anthony-Towns at Kentucky.

Calipari has become synonymous with the approach of recruiting the best players for one year and sending them off to the NBA. One of his Kentucky teams had all five of the starters drafted in the first round. As you might expect, Calipari's tenures at Mass and Memphis were marked with NCAA sanctions.

I am not a college basketball fan, but I enjoyed this documentary. Jonathan Hock does a very solid job story telling. I have to agree with Jalen Rose's comments that the idea of amateur sports taking place within the confines of a multibillion-dollar business is ludicrous.

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