Karl-Anthony Towns is still basking in the glory of his 60-point performance against the San Antonio Spurs on the two-year anniversary of his mother being diagnosed with COVID-19. It was an emotional game for KAT who spoke about his mom being his guardian angel for that game.
KAT was always expected to be one of the best players in the league. He went #1 overall in 2015 after spending a year with the Kentucky Wildcats, being coached by the legendary John Calipari.
Calipari is a principled coach that gets his players to understand the value of playing in a system, and that is something he did with KAT as well, discouraging him from shooting threes. But Calipari has seen KAT evolve into one of the best shooting bigs of all time and shared an emotional congratulations with his former star.
I have to share a conversation I had w/ @KarlTowns this morning that absolutely made my day.
I left Karl a voicemail saying, “Heard you had 32 points last night”, knowing he had 32 IN THE THIRD QUARTER.
Immediately, he calls back & as soon as I answer, he yells, “SIXTY!!!”
— John Calipari (@CoachCalArk) March 15, 2022
What a man he has become! So proud of you, @karltowns. For what you’ve done…and what you will still do!
Karl is one of the special players we’ve had here, who didn’t score like they wanted, but learned how to fight and how to be a great teammate…and I am so proud of them all!
— John Calipari (@CoachCalArk) March 15, 2022
The 2015 Kentucky Wildcats were probably one of the best college teams in recent memory, led by Karl-Anthony Towns and Willie Caulie-Stein as the twin towers. The team also featured a green Devin Booker. They were favorites to win the NCAA Tournament but would fall to the Wisconsin Badgers in the Final Four.
Prior to the loss, the Wildcats were undefeated all season, winning 38 consecutive games. KAT chose to not go back to college for another year under Calipari’s advice and declared for the 2015 Draft where he was the consensus #1 overall pick. He went to the Minnesota Timberwolves and we know how the story has been playing out since.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbY0DyE6Hfc
Calipari maintains great relationships with many of his former players, with the Kentucky Wildcats being the most represented school in the NBA. Outside KAT, some other Kentucky players in the league right now are Anthony Davis, Bam Adebayo, De’Aaron Fox, Tyler Herro, John Wall, DeMarcus Cousins, Julius Randle, and others.
