3 Points | Cal on clutter, platoon, point guard

John Calipari's Kentucky basketball team is 14-0 overall, 1-0 in the SEC and ranked No. 1 in the country. But he's hearing the doubters loud and clear after the Wildcats' last two games – at Louisville and a home overtime escape of Ole Miss on Tuesday night – were their first victories by single digits this season. His reaction to that here, among three key things from Calipari's pre-Texas A&M press conference this afternoon:

1) Cutting through that 'clutter.' Calipari said the players are "doing all right" ignoring all the outside noise, but "it's hard," because "the clutter sometimes, it's like it's coming from all angles, coming to break us down." He cited Wednesday night's games as an example. Just 24 hours after UK's close call became a hot topic – Are the Cats ripe for an upset? – No. 2 Duke narrowly escaped Wake Forest (73-65), No. 3 Virginia led N.C. State by three with six minutes to go, No. 4 Wisconsin beat Purdue by seven and No. 5 Louisville trailed at the half before winning by six over Clemson.

"You didn't see stories on PTI, Around the Horn, First Take, on SportsCenter after their win, like, 'What's wrong with these guys?' You saw, 'Strong survive' (flexing) and all that. That's just – we're in Kentucky. That's what it is," Calipari said. He was then asked if he has time to be watching all those shows. "The 'strong survives' was just something that Joey Palumbo (friend and booster) showed me this morning at coffee. 'Look at this! Can you imagine this?' "

2) Calipari reevaluating the platoons after Ole Miss? Kentucky's starters scored the game's first dozen points and built an 18-5 lead against the Rebels – then Calipari swapped in the second platoon after 4:16 and Ole Miss scored eight straight points. Does that make the coach rethink his two platoons, which aren't the same since Alex Poythress tore his ACL?

"No, but what it makes me evaluate is: Should I have left (the starters) in longer? And I told my team that. But let's talk about that,"Calipari said. "I play that first group six or seven minutes and I go to sub, what's your issue? I've got to sub all five. I can't sub four. So now Derek (Willis) or Dom (Hawkins) have to be in that rotation. I told them that yesterday. If I leave these guys in because of that run – what, am I gonna leave a guy in for 10 straight minutes? The way we're playing? You can't be in there that long. So that's the issue we have, and that's why I was trying to go four. But you know what? Should have left those guys in longer."

3. Calipari still like his point guard. Andrew Harrison bounced back from one of his worst games of the season at Louisville (1 for 6 shooting, three points, four assists, six turnovers) and helped save the Cats from their first loss against Ole Miss. While he made just 2 of 7 shots, both makes were 3-pointers, including one with 2:08 to go in OT, and he finished with 12 points, five assists, two steals and only one turnover.

"He is a 6-6 point guard who can absolutely play," Calipari said. "He's not playing bad. He's playing OK. I want everybody to look at him and say, 'Holy cow.' Got to play faster, got to have more energy. He's capable of all that. Be more aggressive, get in the lane. No one's stopping you from flying up and down and getting in that lane. Get in there. It's really hard. 'I'm a little tired. I want to jog it and bully.' Can't play that way anymore."

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The coach added that through all the criticism, "Andrew is one of the greatest kids I've ever coached, and that's why I'm always going to be with him. He's for this team. He wants to get better. This is all new to him. I'm with him. He's my point guard." Calipari continued: "He went from last year's body language (holds hand out at waist height) to by the end of the year's body language (raises hand) to how he is now (raises it again), but he's not through the roof yet. But he will be."

* For instant updates on the Wildcats, follow me on Twitter @KyleTucker_CJ. Email me at ktucker@courier-journal.com.