Charles Barkley may have been a little shaky with the facts, but he summed up the feelings of Big Blue Nation as he talked about Kentucky’s NCAA Tournament slump.

Barkley is part of the studio crew for CBS/Turner Sports’ March Madness coverage. During halftime of an early Thursday game, the Wildcats came up. Barkley recognized John Calipari as an accomplished coach, while also pointing out that it has been a bit too long for many in BBN since UK has competed for the national championship.

“At some point, they’ve got to make a deep run,” Barkley said of the Wildcats. “They can’t keep getting upset. I mean, they’re the University of Kentucky. They’re one of the greatest programs in history, and Cal is a terrific coach and a good friend.

“But at some point, he can’t keep living off what happened during the Anthony Davis era. He’s got to go deep in this tournament at some point and this might be the year.”

Barkley has the right idea, even if his facts are a bit off

Anthony Davis was a member of the Kentucky Wildcats for the 2011-12 season. The 2012 team is the last UK squad to win it all. In fairness to Calipari, the Cats have accomplished a lot since then.

Two years after Davis, the 2014 team came on strong in March. As an 8-seed, Cal’s Cats took down Kansas State, Wichita State, Louisville and Michigan to reach the Final Four. UK beat Wisconsin to play for the title, falling to UConn.

The 2015 team is the last Kentucky squad to make it to the Final Four. The 2019 team is the last to play in the Sweet 16 and Elite 8.

For most programs, an Elite 8 appearance is celebrated as a “deep run.” Kentucky, though, isn’t most programs. Sure, 2019 is long past the Davis era, but Barkley accurately captures the feeling that it has been too long since Kentucky made some serious noise in the Big Dance.

There was no tournament in 2020 due to COVID-19 and then Cal’s Cats missed the 2021 tourney. The last 2 years have been marked by opening weekend exits, with losses to Saint Peter’s and Kansas State.

Can this year’s team turn it around? Dick Vitale thinks so. The ESPN analyst picked the Cats to win it all after the NCAA Tournament bracket was revealed. Plenty of others feel UK has a favorable path to at least another Final Four.

It all starts for 3-seed Kentucky against 14-seed Oakland, the Horizon League’s champion, at 7:10 p.m. ET (CBS). If the Cats can take care of business, they’re 1 win away from their first trip to the Sweet 16 in the 2020s.

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