Quotes from Calipari's stops on SportsCenter and First Take

On3 imageby:Drew Franklin10/17/12

DrewFranklinKSR

Need to catch up on the first half of Calipari’s ESPN “Car Wash” tour?

Don’t worry, we got you. Here are some of things Cal said on SportsCenter and First Take earlier today.

Oh, and if you didn’t already know, he likes his team.

*********

On ESPN’s All-Access Kentucky…

“I decide that I’m going to let ESPN in… it’s not Hard Knocks, I needed to be knocked in the head! I don’t know what I was thinking. And the reason is, I did it for our players. I want them to show that they’re college students. They’re there to get an education but they may leave early because they’re the 1 or 2 PICK IN THE DRAFT! But that’s not why they’re solely there, they understand about being educated, they understand all those things. But it may not be portrayed that way because I’m not holding the camera. So you stand there and hold your face like ‘How are they going to portray this?’ Hopefully it’s in a way that you see what our kids are about.”

On how the show will help recruiting…

“We didn’t need anymore publicity. We didn’t need anymore notoriety. We don’t need any of that. They’re not helping us recruit. What are we going to be? No. 1 and 1a?”

On the one-and-done system…

“If it were your sons, and they had the chance to be the No. 1, 2 or 5 pick in the draft, how would you feel if I coerced them into staying? Playing them less minutes, telling them they need more work and this and that. In reality, if you want to do what is right for you and your family, you put your name in the draft. If you want to do what’s right for me and my family, why don’t you stay all four years.”

On how much longer he’ll coach at Kentucky…

“I’m not a lifer, I won’t be a lifer. It’s not what I am, I’ll move on at some point. But what I’m telling you is, it’s gone away from the business of basketball, to the business of helping families.”

“At Kentucky, it’s not a 20 year run.  If you’re there 10 years, it’s a long run and a fun run, now let someone else do it. It’s just how it is. Or, you could cheat the position and lay back and coach a little bit, recruit a little bit, and collect checks. But I don’t have that in me.”

“Before I retire, I’d like to have a team that goes 40-0, because they say it can’t be done.”

On his expectations to start the season…

“I think we’ll be a high turnover team; we’ll be a bad shot selection team; I think we’ll be a team that breaks down defensively, later in the clock, we’ll give up possessions. I think the pace of our game will be too fast, but by February and March, turnovers will be down, we’ll have a great pace to our game, we’ll have better shot selection, and then I got a talented team.”

“Early on, we’re talented, we’re just not a very good basketball team.”

On this year’s leader…

“We don’t know yet and I got mad about that at practice yesterday. No leadership, no one’s talking. I need Ryan Harrow to do it, I need Kyle Wiltjer — those are two returning players.”

On how he recruits so many talented players…

“Shared sacrifice is a big part. If you want to take 30 shots a game, you don’t come to Kentucky. If you think it’s going to be about you and only you, you don’t come to Kentucky.”

“We don’t sell the NBA. What we talk about is how hard it will be. You all see the end result, but do you understand what you have to do to get there?”

“We don’t have a magic wand. Other programs can do what we do, there’s no question about that. We just happen to have, the last three years, 15 draft picks.”

On how he recruits…

“I’ll never mention another school, I don’t talk about other programs. I’d rather not know who is recruiting you, so I can just talk about what we are and how hard it is and how different it is. It’s not for everybody. If you want this kind of challenge, you come, if you don’t, you don’t come here.”

“I can’t hide you. If you’re not a good player, it’s a hard place to go.”

“You have to want it, you have to like the challenge. Every game we play is someone’s Super Bowl.”


Discuss This Article

Comments have moved.

Join the conversation and talk about this article and all things Kentucky Sports in the new KSR Message Board.

KSBoard

2024-03-28