Rundown of Calipari's comments at UK Basketball Tipoff Luncheon
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Photo: USA Today[/caption]
John Calipari held a Q&A session in Louisville today at the Greater Louisville UK Alumni Club's annual Wildcat Tipoff Luncheon. He was joined on stage by our own Matt Jones and Ryan Lemond, who conducted the interview, to talk about the season ahead.
Read the rundown of Cal's comments with a video to follow once YouTube gets its act together.
-- Coach Cal spent Monday morning doing a little recruiting (Romeo Langford) before sitting down with Matt and Ryan at the Galt House. He told the guys, "We've gotta finish them, but we're in with a lot of great kids and great families."
-- The Kings brass and DeMarcus Cousins have called him to rave about Skal Labissiere in Sacramento, which he loves to hear. "And how about we have five players on the Phoenix Suns? Most schools, just about every school, don't have five guys in the league... Word is, they're trying to figure out if they can play three of them together to keep them on the floor." Cal has also heard the Indiana Pacers think Alex Poythress is a beast.
-- "Every morning, when I get in my car, the first thought, every year from 2010 to this year, my team can win the national title. Every year." Calipari said he's blessed to coach for the Big Blue Nation and to be at a place that Adolph Rupp started and has seen four other coaches win national titles. He called it a rented seat.
-- The team is playing the rookies versus veterans in practice. So that would be Fox, Monk, Gabriel, Killeya-Jones and Adebyao against Briscoe, Hawkins/Mulder, Willis, Wynyard and Humphries. Briscoe vs. Fox is "nose to nose." "It's a war."
-- "When Malik Monk comes down the left side, you have no idea what he's about to do. And neither does he." Cal said Monk will have four plays per game that will make fans say, "Oh my."
-- Derek Willis is staying in the gym after every practice for extra shots. Being matched up with Wenyen Gabriel, another long player, is making him "get after it." He's now the first one in and the last one to leave.
-- Isaac Humphries looks completely different.
-- Cal hopes being able to coach Brad will be his favorite part of coaching at Kentucky. However, Brad will not see the floor as much as his mother thinks he will. She stays on Cal about playing their son, but he insists that not happening. "Stop," he tells her, whenever she demands he plays Brad.
-- He tossed out the idea of fall basketball practice since football has its spring practice, but the NCAA will never approve it because it's his idea. Cal would like to see August basketball when nothing is going, maybe 10 days of practice.
Video on the way.
Photo: USA Today[/caption]
John Calipari held a Q&A session in Louisville today at the Greater Louisville UK Alumni Club's annual Wildcat Tipoff Luncheon. He was joined on stage by our own Matt Jones and Ryan Lemond, who conducted the interview, to talk about the season ahead.
Read the rundown of Cal's comments with a video to follow once YouTube gets its act together.
-- Coach Cal spent Monday morning doing a little recruiting (Romeo Langford) before sitting down with Matt and Ryan at the Galt House. He told the guys, "We've gotta finish them, but we're in with a lot of great kids and great families."
-- The Kings brass and DeMarcus Cousins have called him to rave about Skal Labissiere in Sacramento, which he loves to hear. "And how about we have five players on the Phoenix Suns? Most schools, just about every school, don't have five guys in the league... Word is, they're trying to figure out if they can play three of them together to keep them on the floor." Cal has also heard the Indiana Pacers think Alex Poythress is a beast.
-- "Every morning, when I get in my car, the first thought, every year from 2010 to this year, my team can win the national title. Every year." Calipari said he's blessed to coach for the Big Blue Nation and to be at a place that Adolph Rupp started and has seen four other coaches win national titles. He called it a rented seat.
-- The team is playing the rookies versus veterans in practice. So that would be Fox, Monk, Gabriel, Killeya-Jones and Adebyao against Briscoe, Hawkins/Mulder, Willis, Wynyard and Humphries. Briscoe vs. Fox is "nose to nose." "It's a war."
-- "When Malik Monk comes down the left side, you have no idea what he's about to do. And neither does he." Cal said Monk will have four plays per game that will make fans say, "Oh my."
-- Derek Willis is staying in the gym after every practice for extra shots. Being matched up with Wenyen Gabriel, another long player, is making him "get after it." He's now the first one in and the last one to leave.
-- Isaac Humphries looks completely different.
-- Cal hopes being able to coach Brad will be his favorite part of coaching at Kentucky. However, Brad will not see the floor as much as his mother thinks he will. She stays on Cal about playing their son, but he insists that not happening. "Stop," he tells her, whenever she demands he plays Brad.
-- He tossed out the idea of fall basketball practice since football has its spring practice, but the NCAA will never approve it because it's his idea. Cal would like to see August basketball when nothing is going, maybe 10 days of practice.
Video on the way.
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