Head Coach John Calipari
On how if he felt like once they got Tyler Ulis to commit that Devin Booker was coming ...
“Is that the order it went in? All I know is you have two competitive young people who want to get better. They’re a little dinged up right now but they don’t use it (as an excuse). They try. They have driven our practices. Now, they’re not the only ones. There are times Dakari (Johnson) will dominate. Trey Lyles has gotten so much better in the last three weeks, he’s not even the same player he was. It’s scary how good he’s gotten. But it’s nice when it starts on ball pressure. It kind of feeds everyone else. And then the other team sees it and they feed off of each other. The same thing is happening in the game. I mean, both teams are feeding off each other. We don’t expect them to make every shot and they’re going to turn it over some and they’re going to make some dumb plays, but we expect them to compete at a high level, and that’s what they’ve been doing.”
On how dinged up they are health‐wise ...
“We’re OK. I’m fine. I’m walking OK. (Media laughs). We’re OK. The normal stuff.”
On if Alex Poythress has had surgery yet ...
“He left early this morning. He’ll have it tomorrow.”
On what things they were working on during Camp Cal ...
“I told you before Louisville – and I talked about it publicly – our defensive rebounding was atrocious. And we zeroed in on it. And now this week, we zeroed in on two or three things. Really one with a couple side items we wanted to make sure we were getting better at. After we get through this week it may shift to something else. What I did with the guards was really a simple thing to get them to think different as they play, which is some of the things I did a year ago. Tried to get Julius Randle, ‘Here’s how I want you to play. I need you to think different, and you’re capable of doing this.’ Most of the things I ask them to do are just harder. Yesterday Dakari Johnson ran so hard and posted so hard and scored so quickly that I stopped him. I said, ‘You could do that, but that’s really difficult, so you choose not to. You choose to jog down, catch the ball, ball fake, ball fake, bounce it, bounce it, and not hit the rim. Like, not get it to the rim. The other way is I sprint, I fight, I quickly make a move on one (leg), and I score and I look really good, but that’s really hard.’ The same things with what I’m asking these guards. Some of the stuff we did as a team was geared toward guard play. Some of the stuff we did individually with the guards – you ready? – I did with the big guys. The same thing I’m teaching the guards right now I’m teaching the big guys. I’m not teaching them, ‘Here’s how we play so you have to be able to do this. This is just playing basketball. To be a good player, you’ve got to be able to do this, and you’re not doing this right now.’ ”
On keeping the team engaged with everyone picking UK as the favorite ...
“That’s the challenge we have right now. One of the things I’ve done is, I asked them—if you know how I am, this is about these kids. So I went to the kids and said, ‘What do you want to add to your game? Every one of you here, what do you want to add? Figure it out. Spend a day. If you don’t know, ask a coach what you can add to how you play, and then our job will be to help you add to that. Now, you’re going to have to work, but if you do add it to your game, I will add it to how we play.’ Some things we did with Willie (Cauley‐Stein), now we changed a little bit offensively so he can do the things he wants to do and add to his game. But he’s going to have to work at it. Why am I doing that? I’m trying to keep them engaged. Why am I focusing on one or two things every 10 days, 12 days, seven days? For the same reason: just got to keep them engaged. It’s kind of like when they watch video. If they watch video of themselves, they can stay focused for four hours, five hours, not even go to the bathroom. Just watch it. If they’re watching team video, you’ve got them for about three, four minutes. So part of this is I want them engaged individually. We’ve got you; you’ve got to have each other. I know they care about the team. So I’m kind of shifting this away from team and putting this on how do we get individuals better.”
On the two platoons competing against each other in practice ...
“A few days ago, the White smashed the Blue and then two days ago the Blue absolutely smashed the White. They had no chance. That’s how it’s been and if you don’t show (up), then that’s what’s happening. If one guy on your team doesn’t show (up), then that’s what happens. When they’re really going at each other, what’s happening is it’s like touch and go and it gets physical and emotional and they talk. Like I told them we’ve had nine days in between games. We’ve played each other at least four of those days, which is a heck of a game. We’re competing. Again, it comes back to those guards, how they’re playing, and how they’re challenging. Aaron and Andrew (Harrison) have been better. Trey Lyles is the guy right now that I just see the confidence level, mainly because he’s doing it in games – demonstrated performance. He’s now believing more and playing harder. They’re hooked up to a monitor to talk about how much they exert during a game and how much they sprint. Of the big guys, he’s first every game. He sprints. You have to understand, it was only a month ago that I was on him because he wasn’t sprinting. Whatever you tell him, he listens to and he does.”
On what players getting onto each other and competitive practices does for the team ...
“They’re doing it some. There were some other plays where I’m telling the Blue, ‘Why are you making me tell them? You tell them. I don’t need to tell them.’ We’re still there. That’s the point where they’re empowered. This team is further along in that than teams I’ve had here in the past. Let’s be real. I finally have a veteran team. If for some reason this goes to two years, hopefully this is what you see every year. Half the team is veteran and the other half is young and you figure out how they play together and you have enough to compete like this. Right now we’re losing teams and coming in with new guys so it’s hard to empower those guys.”
On the conference ...
“Arkansas is ranked. You’ve got South Carolina getting votes. Georgia is getting votes. LSU is getting votes. It’s better than you think. Our RPI is, I think, two or three. South Carolina just
beat Iowa State, who was a ranked team. Mississippi State, who they say is struggling, beat
Florida State. The league is better than everybody gives us credit for and our teams credit for.
For us right now, our focus is on us. Our focus is on how do we improve individual players? How
do we get them even closer? Are there small things that we can do to make our team better?
Those are areas that we’re zeroed in on. If we play really well and lose, I’m going to be fine with
it. If we play poorly and win, I’m going to be upset. It means we’re slipping. We’re focused on
us. How do we keep growing? How do we keep going? There may be someone that plays out of
their mind. Mississippi is going to shoot 25 threes in this game or maybe more. If they make 20,
then we lost our first game. They’re shooting 25. Their three guards are their leading scorers
and take more than 50 percent of their shots. They offensive rebound 13 or 14 per game.
They’re going to play a zone where they’re changing defenses. It could confuse us. If they’re
making shots, then we have to try to drive them off the 3‐point line. When you’re playing teams
that are willing to shoot that many, you just don’t know.”
On if this team is one that wants to learn more than other teams he's had ...
"I told them yesterday, the uniqueness of this group is, I'll come off the road, and it's 11 o'clock at night and we'll have three and four guys in the gym. Alright, granted they walked 12 steps to the gym, ok, so it's not like they had to go cross campus, railroad tracks and getting a bus to get here. Go 12 steps and they're in the building. But, they're here. They're calling coaches to come over. They're getting extra stuff in. They're wired different. They know they’ve got to continue to work and get better."
On what guys have said they want help with to incorporate certain things into their game ...
"Well, you had Willie (Cauley‐Stein), wants to handle the ball more. Ok, then you can't run people over and throw lob passes off the shot clock. But you want to handle it more. Ok, then we're going to get in the gym and work on your handle and we're going to add that in to how we play. But, it's your responsibility. We're going to work with you, then you have to understand, here's how I've got to play if I want to handle the ball more. Those kinds of things. Dakari Johnson, ‘I want to shoot more 12‐footers.’ Ok. ‘I want to shoot more around the elbows. I want to shoot more step‐outs.’ Well, the other day in practice, he made five. Short‐ corner, short‐corner, elbow, guys are going nuts. Now, do I want him off the block? No. But look, this isn't just about us winning. I'll give you an example. They said Dakari Johnson against Louisville, 'He got you 11 rebounds.' Yeah, but he hurt himself because he couldn't get the ball to the basket. He was to slow, he looked slow and unathletic. He helped us win, but he hurt himself. We came back and said 'it's all good, you got us...' Ok, but not for you. So again, this is not just ‐ If I worry about them, believe me, you can't say they're not worried about team and only worried about themselves. You can't. I take it back, you can say it, but then say it over and over and over and hope it's true. But, when you watch this team play, you say 'This is an unselfish group boy, they play for each other.’ Well then my job is to coach for them, and that's what we're trying to do."
On if Andrew Harrison listened to the clutter after the Louisville game ...
"I don't think he's listened to it, I know I haven't. All we did is got back to work and you know, made some adjustments for him and the other guards and said 'Ok, this is what works, this is
On if this team is one that wants to learn more than other teams he's had ...
"I told them yesterday, the uniqueness of this group is, I'll come off the road, and it's 11 o'clock at night and we'll have three and four guys in the gym. Alright, granted they walked 12 steps to the gym, ok, so it's not like they had to go cross campus, railroad tracks and getting a bus to get here. Go 12 steps and they're in the building. But, they're here. They're calling coaches to come over. They're getting extra stuff in. They're wired different. They know they’ve got to continue to work and get better."
On what guys have said they want help with to incorporate certain things into their game ...
"Well, you had Willie (Cauley‐Stein), wants to handle the ball more. Ok, then you can't run people over and throw lob passes off the shot clock. But you want to handle it more. Ok, then we're going to get in the gym and work on your handle and we're going to add that in to how we play. But, it's your responsibility. We're going to work with you, then you have to understand, here's how I've got to play if I want to handle the ball more. Those kinds of things. Dakari Johnson, ‘I want to shoot more 12‐footers.’ Ok. ‘I want to shoot more around the elbows. I want to shoot more step‐outs.’ Well, the other day in practice, he made five. Short‐ corner, short‐corner, elbow, guys are going nuts. Now, do I want him off the block? No. But look, this isn't just about us winning. I'll give you an example. They said Dakari Johnson against Louisville, 'He got you 11 rebounds.' Yeah, but he hurt himself because he couldn't get the ball to the basket. He was to slow, he looked slow and unathletic. He helped us win, but he hurt himself. We came back and said 'it's all good, you got us...' Ok, but not for you. So again, this is not just ‐ If I worry about them, believe me, you can't say they're not worried about team and only worried about themselves. You can't. I take it back, you can say it, but then say it over and over and over and hope it's true. But, when you watch this team play, you say 'This is an unselfish group boy, they play for each other.’ Well then my job is to coach for them, and that's what we're trying to do."
On if Andrew Harrison listened to the clutter after the Louisville game ...
"I don't think he's listened to it, I know I haven't. All we did is got back to work and you know, made some adjustments for him and the other guards and said 'Ok, this is what works, this is
what doesn't work' and keep going. But it's like anything else, I mean, Willie, after that game
said 'I played awful.' They're not machines. I say it all the time. He didn't play well. The UCLA
game, I wish he could duplicate that 28 times. Guess what? Hard to do."
On what Andrew Harrison wanted to add to his game ...
"He's wanting to do some mid‐level pull‐ups and some runners in the lane and do all that stuff. I said 'Let’s go.' Elbow jumpers, pull up, so there is, some of this stuff I had him go directly to the coaches. Some of the stuff I asked him 'What are you thinking about.' And we did a couple of other things that were geared toward individual players. People might say it's crazy, 'You're at Christmas, talking about individual guys getting better and you're not worried about your team.' They worry about the team. I'm trying to worry about them."
On what Andrew Harrison wanted to add to his game ...
"He's wanting to do some mid‐level pull‐ups and some runners in the lane and do all that stuff. I said 'Let’s go.' Elbow jumpers, pull up, so there is, some of this stuff I had him go directly to the coaches. Some of the stuff I asked him 'What are you thinking about.' And we did a couple of other things that were geared toward individual players. People might say it's crazy, 'You're at Christmas, talking about individual guys getting better and you're not worried about your team.' They worry about the team. I'm trying to worry about them."
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