Friday was a day of memories for Kentucky basketball. The first memory was this: A few lifetimes ago, that pale, wrinkled old man at St. John’s was the best coach in college basketball. On Friday, Rick Pitino showed that while he might have looked a little rough around the edges, he could still coach. While likely taking St. John’s back to the NCAA Tournament, Pitino and the Red Storm nearly pulled off a March shocker, falling to UConn 95-90. UConn, by the way, has a NET ranking of No. 2 in the country.

Earlier in the week, Pitino made explicit what we already knew: If he had life to live over again, he would not have left the Kentucky Wildcats in the spring of 1997. Speaking on a podcast, Pitino noted that Dick Vitale never ceased to remind Pitino of all the championships he would have won in Lexington.

And while Dickie V probably wasn’t talking about SEC championships, he would have been justified if he had been.

Rick Pitino was 17-1 in the SEC Tournament at Kentucky. The 1 game he had the audacity to lose was a tune-up for an NCAA championship 3 weeks later. Fair enough.

And if Pitino can be forgiven for the brazen nostalgia to wish he had never left Kentucky, might UK fans be forgiven the same nostalgia.

On Friday night, Kentucky allowed Texas A&M to score its season high in points with 97. Actually, A&M only tied that season mark. They also scored 97 the first time they beat Kentucky. In Friday’s mind-blowing loss, John Calipari fell to 1-5 in his past 6 SEC Tournament games at Kentucky.

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A few givens: Calipari isn’t the guy who seems to forget to guard Wade Taylor or Boots Radford. He hasn’t missed a shot, dropped a pass, or failed to grab a rebound. But he also hasn’t won a meaningful March game at Kentucky since 2019. That streak could have ended in this SEC Tournament. Instead, it’ll continue to the NCAA Tournament.

In that tournament, Calipari is 1-3 in his past 4 games. His past 6 NCAA Tournament runs bear a 10-6 mark, with 2 Elite Eight runs joined by a first-round loss in 2022 and a pair of second-round exits.

Pitino went 22-5 in NCAA Tournament games in 8 seasons at Kentucky. He failed to reach the Elite Eight once in 6 tournaments, a second-round loss to Marquette in 1993.

But enough about that. Put aside the numbers. Take Rick’s St. John’s roster away and give him Reed Sheppard and Rob Dillingham, Antonio Reeves and Justin Edwards, Tre Mitchell and Aaron Bradshaw. Would Kentucky have had another 1-and-done March fiasco? Would the Wildcats have a higher seed and a better ranking?

Thinking bigger picture, it’s fair to wonder if UK wouldn’t have passed UCLA’s 11 NCAA titles by now. Would Pitino have bypassed Coach K on the career wins list? With no Karen Sypher or Katina Powell scandals, would anybody else ever sign a good recruit? Would Rick manage to balance March success with NBA stardom without having to claim that an Elite Eight season was a stepping-stone moment in a program that suddenly became an NBA feeder school?

Do anybody actually believe Rick Pitino wouldn’t have found a way to reach a Final Four with Shai Gilgeous Alexander? Or Tyrese Maxey? Or De’Aaron Fox? Or that Kentucky fans wouldn’t feel much more secure about the possibility of Sheppard, Dillingham, et al reaching one than they do now?

Nostalgia reaches both ways. If Ricky P can wish he’d never left the nicest coaching home he had, plenty in Lexington might honestly wish he hadn’t left, either. Times were simpler in Pitino’s golden era. And Kentucky stuck around the SEC Tournament a heck of a lot longer.

Is it time to run it back?