John Calipari likes what he sees with new Kentucky team: "We're gonna be prepared to go into March"

Kentucky head coach John Calipari likes his team, and he’s not shy about letting you know about it, either. The three-time Naismith College Coach of the Year joined SportsCenter on Tuesday to drive that point home even further.

It started in Toronto at the GLOBL JAM, seeing this group do what it had done in early summer practices against older international competition. Four wins, averaging 91.8 points per game while shooting over 47 percent from the field, 103 of 142 made baskets coming off assists.

Simply put, there was a lot to like.

“We took a trip to Toronto, played in the GLOBL JAM against 23-year-old teams from Germany, Africa and Canada and did good, averaged 27 assists per game,” Calipari said. “My best teams have been young players, talented, with veterans who were also talented. And you mix them together. We have that this year. We got good young players, good young guards, two seven-footers — they’ll tell you they’re 7-2. So we’ve got some size. I’m liking what I’m seeing. And more importantly, they’re really getting along together. So you’ve got a young group, but they’re really excited and it should be fun.”

The Wildcats haven’t been to the Final Four since 2015, and Calipari knows that. There’s obvious pressure that comes with NCAA Tournament success and getting back to the historic heights the program hit upon his arrival in Lexington. What is the key to that run this time around?

“Our league is way better, so we’re gonna be prepared to go into March. You’ve got to be healthy. And again, the talent where you have a couple guys that can just take over a game, where you have great rim protection, those have been my Final Four teams. So I’m looking at this group and our whole thing is, ‘Let’s just get better every day. We showed this summer what we can do. Now let’s get stronger, let’s get more consistent shooting the ball, skill-wise.’ Young players are not sturdy enough to be really consistent. That’s why it’s really important, the summer and when they return to campus in the fall. This is a good group in that way. I mean, they love being in the gym. I go into my office, and I look out there, four guys are in there playing. And they play a lot of pickup, which is really important too.”

The GLOBL JAM was a learning experience for the group, the majority being freshmen. They had to learn how to play through contact and physicality, along with growing mentally. It was like playing with training wheels before the real competition begins in November.

“The thing that was important, it was 23 and under. So you had a lot of professional players playing and they got to see, ‘Physically, I’ve got to get stronger,’ you know? Calipari said. “‘I’ve got to be able to play through bumps. I’ve got to be able to play at the rim, get hit and still make shots. The other point that we saw is that we create great opportunities. When you have that you can create space versus plays. You can do more random basketball, because they understand and they see each other. Court awareness and how we played there, we shot the ball well — Antonio Reeves really shot the ball well. You have to have that.”