Q&A: John Calipari previews UK at Tennessee
Top-ranked Kentucky made it to Knoxville late last night, beating a snow storm out of town, and now has a lot of time on its hands until Tuesday night's game against Tennessee. Coach John Calipari flew in late last night, too, after watching former Wildcats John Wall and DeMarcus Cousins at the NBA All-Star Game in Brooklyn. Calipari appeared on today's SEC teleconference to talk about keeping sharp during these snow days at the hotel, lessons learned in long unbeaten starts at other programs and the value of past stars offering advice to his current ones. Good stuff here:
JOHN CALIPARI
On playing UT and Auburn this week: "Well, I will tell you that I think both programs probably have surprised all of us coaches in the league in what they've done and how they've played this year – and both done it different ways. I mean, Tennessee playing an aggressive, attacking zone and an open offense, driving the ball. And Auburn pressing and being physical and beating you on the bounce and offensive rebounding. Going on the road and winning in this league, which is really difficult, both of those teams have done that. Like I said, this league, top to bottom, we're there. We're literally there. And I'm so happy – I was so happy to see an article say, 'You can say it over and over; it doesn't make it true.' And the people now are realizing that we've got a bunch of teams, and just because we're beating each other does not make us weak. It means we're really strong. Every game is coming down to a one-bucket game, including our games."
On Alex Poythress' rehab and what he does with him on a daily basis: "Well, I'm not doing anything with him, because they just tell me when the bus leaves. I'm not the physical therapist and the trainer and all that stuff. Now, they tell me how far along he is and my thing to Alex all the time is: 'Does it still hurt? Does it really hurt when you have to stretch?' Because (son) Brad went through it. I know how painful it is. And he says, 'Yes, it's a killer.' And I said, 'Lovely. It's exactly what you need, exactly the thing that's going to get you to that next point in your career.' Just saw him this morning, asked him how his knee was. He said, 'I'm doing better, Coach.' So great kid."
On if he does things to keep Poythress included with the team: "He comes with the team and he's in meetings and all those things. It's hard, you know? Ask Willie last year when he gets hurt in the NCAA Tournament run. You're not – if you're not in the fray, you're in the back lines, you're watching with binoculars, it's hard. It's hard. They come back, you don't feel what they feel. You didn't have the same emotion that they had. But he's doing great."
On lessons he learned in long undefeated stretches to start seasons at UMass and Memphis about managing pressure, focus, etc.: "Well, the reality of it is the kids have to manage those things. It's not me because I'm not out there on the court. I've got one job. My first time when we did this at UMass, I knew we were slipping but we kept winning so put my head in the sand. I was just like, 'Let these guys go do their thing.' I had done it years before we went there, because we went on win streaks in previous years – 17, 15, whatever they were at UMass. Once again, as a coach you win and you want to move on to the next game and you try to put your head in the sand when you have issues that you've got to deal with. I did a little bit of the same but got better at Memphis.
"I'm trying hard not to do that here, to do my job, to correct them, to be tough on them, to not worry about score and coach them, but it's hard. And they're looking at me like, 'We're up 25 and haven't lost and you're losing your mind.' My point being if I allow it now then I've got to allow it in March. If in March I allow it and it costs us a game, that's on me. That's not on these kids. So I'm trying really hard to just stay focused on what's at hand, don't put my head in the sand. If there's issues I bring them out. If there's issues within the team that I'm not liking what I feel, I bring them out. Even if I'm wrong I bring them out. 'Let's talk about this.' 'But coach man, you're just dreaming. What were you doing? You reading a book and things popping in your mind? We're fine.' So, that's the kind of stuff that we do and what I'm continuing to do.
"These kids, I don't think they're worried about, 'Let's try to win every game.' They're worried about trying to win the next game and 'how do we play? My message to this team is going to be real simple today. It's going to be, 'Our strength is in the pack more than any team that I've ever coached, and I've coached a lot of good teams.' More than any team I've coached the strength is in the pack. And I said, 'It doesn't mean we don't have some aggressive, tough wolves that will come after you.' But by themselves they're not the same.
"In the pack we have a little swag about us, we're a little more aggressive, we're really about each other, guys aren't afraid to step out and risk. This team, more than others – well when you have Anthony (Davis) or John (Wall) or DeMarcus (Cousins) or I could go back to Marcus Camby and Derrick Rose and Lou Roe and some of the guys we had, Tyreke Evens, we were a good team and we were efficient but we knew that one guy could go do this and carry us. That's not what we have. The strength of this team is in the pack."
On Anthony Davis talking to Willie Cauley-Stein about what it takes to be great and the value of that, and if he facilitated it: "No, but here's what's great about it. All our players that went through here are watching this team, and they want to help. They want the team to be great. But the best thing that Anthony did – instead of just talking to (Cauley-Stein), he came to the game and watched him. So there's B.S., that 'You did this' or 'I tried this' or this or that. There's no B.S. If you want to do this, this is what you have to be or you can't do that. What I'm doing here, you can't be in this thing. And so then it's – I can say it all I want. Anthony Davis is busting up against being the best player in the NBA. And he comes back, he talked to Karl Towns. He grabbed Karl after the game and told him. It means something coming from me, but coming from those guys is huge."
On changing their travel routine due to the weather and if he worries about the affecting his team: "Well, you must know me well. I'm a creature of habit. For however many years I've been a head coach, we've done it the same way. Offense is different, defense is different, players are different, but what we do as a family – how we travel, how our meals are – are very consistent. This was a change that we had no choice. And so today you're right. My concern is how do we do this and not get off point. So we're gonna go over this afternoon and do shooting and individual work. We have the main arena from 12 to 2. But we're only gonna be there probably an hour, and it's not gonna be knocking each other out.
"But if I let them go all day, then they're gonna sleep. And we get up to eat and they go back to sleep and then they sleep all night and they get up for breakfast and go back to sleep. And then we go to a shootaround and go back to sleep. We will be sleepwalking in that game Tuesday. So we're gonna come back and practice later today -- probably 4 o'clock, 5 o'clock – have a great meal, let them lay around, have a meeting and try to get back to the rhythm of what we do. But yes I'm a creature of habit. I'm meatloaf and potatoes. Unless they don't have it. Then I may try a steak."
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