NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament: Kentucky Hopes John Calipari's 3rd Final Four Appearance is the Charm

With a 76-69 victory over North Carolina, Kentucky has given John Calipari his third first appearance in the Final Four.

Kentucky basketball fans will hope that Calipari's third time in the Final Four will be the charm for two reasons. Obviously, they want him to win a national championship this time around.

Secondly, as much as I hate to play the role of Debbie Downer (oh, who am I kidding? I love it.), it's a fact: Calipari's first two appearances have been vacated from the NCAA record books due to shady recruiting practices.

He led UMass to the Final Four in 1996, only to have the appearance removed from the record books because Marcus Camby took some money. Of course, Calipari took an NBA coaching job with the New Jersey Nets before the NCAA sanctions were handed down.

Calipari jumped ship to Kentucky before Memphis was stripped of its 2008 national championship appearance.

So if Calipari jumps ship from Kentucky, its basketball program may need to prepare for having its Final Four banner stripped from the Rupp Arena rafters.