Calipari's Pre-Kansas Press Conference QUOTES

Head Coach John Calipari:

On if it’s a coincidence so many highly ranked teams lost this week …

“First of all, I didn’t know. You know me well enough. I could really care less. I’m only worried about my team and coaching my guys. We all had road games, and tough schedules. I don’t know. I mean, our issues probably aren’t what other guys’ issues are. Everybody has their own thing they’re dealing with.”

On where the team is defensively at this point in the season …

“Are you sure I said February? I may have said March. We’re a ways away, and I’m trying some different things. You know, you demand and then you watch and if there’s certain things that guys can’t do then you can’t ask them to do stuff they can’t do at this point. But you push them and challenge them. You try and then it gets to the point where you have to say, ‘You’re not going to be able to do this,’ and then you figure out how you play. I don’t ever want to short the kids. I want to give them every opportunity to be out there and play the way we play. We’re doing some good stuff.”

On the team’s response to the Tennessee game this week …

“They were good yesterday. They were really good. And again, if you demand a lot, you get a lot. If you accept mediocrity, you’re going to get it every time. By us not passing the ball, they must have thought that’s not what we’re demanding. So yesterday we did some things to make them pass and they did some things just to pass. And this is, for all you Basketball Bennies, just like a simple thing. When the ball comes to you, you either shoot it, drive it right away. You drive it or shoot it, pass it to the post, but don’t hold it. Just don’t hold the ball. You’ve got things you can do. Shoot it, drive it, post it; if not, don’t hold it. That means you’ve got to just get rid of it, and that’s what we did yesterday and we looked better. You know they’ll go into a game and they’re going to revert. Somebody’s going to get it and he’s going to back up and watch this and then the defense sinks in and you get absolutely nothing. Then you shoot a step back jumper with your feet, toes up, fade away, and say, ‘I almost made it! I can make that shot!’ Yeah, one out of six, but we can’t win. Let me just say this is a great group of kids and they’re trying. They’re just really young. They’re a young group.”

On if De’Aaron Fox’s ankle affected him at Tennessee …

“No, it’s just his decision-making was just horrendous. He made some shots, which he hadn’t made, but there were five drives that, ‘Why did you do that?’ Again, if I catch it and they’re all in there, probably don’t want to go that way. Probably want to just throw it to somebody else and let them go. But, wasn’t just him. We had everybody catching the ball and just holding it. Then you’re going down on the other end and what were they doing? [Gestures passing a lot.] And then you’re coming down – I think we took 15 shots in one pass or no passes. You can’t do that. Can’t win a game. You can’t win a game. Unless they’re just so bad that they can’t get back and guard you. And they’re – Tennessee’s good. You know, look this is all – I keep telling you that this is January. Thank God it’s January. And tomorrow’s still in January? Thank God tomorrow’s still in January. And you know, we’re playing a top-ranked team that has veteran guards, that understands their freshmen and is as good as any of our freshmen. They play inside-out. Bill (Self) does a great job. They’re good. They drive the ball like we drive the ball. Difference is they shoot 42 percent from the 3. So if you say, ‘Well, we’re going to get in here,’ well, they make 3s. That’s what they do.”

On if the UK staff charts the number of passes before the shot it taken …

“We haven’t, but they watched film of three weeks ago where the ball moved and what kind of shot we created for each other. Listen, if you want to have fun, play harder than the other guy, dive on the floor, talk like crazy to your teammates, cover your teammates, swarm, and know you’re getting covered for and then create easy shots for each other. You’ll have a ball playing. Now you got to win at the end of the day, but you’ll have a ball playing. You don’t do all those things the other team has a ball playing.”

On guards lacking confidence trying to get the ball into the post…

“I don’t think so. I just think they like having that ball in their hands, ‘Let me show you what I got.’ I think they got a little bit of that, but that’s what happens when you play with a bunch of young kids. It’s stuff that we deal with every year.”

On dealing with media distractions …

“Well, the media. You want me to do this as Donald Trump would do it? I said President Trump, excuse me. I will tell you that there’s clutter, and you all are a part of the clutter. Sometimes you’re writing that they’re the best in the world, they’re the best there’s ever been. That’s poison. You can drink that stuff and die. The other side of it is the negative stuff, and it starts breaking down teams. So you don’t listen to it. How about part of the media is all these draft boards? How about part of the clutter becomes the people around that? And I always say, you know, ‘They love you more than they love this team.’ That’s just how it is. Now, that’s not just in this program; it’s in every program. You’ve got to keep the clutter away, and you’ve got to be about your teammates. You got to know we’ve got to come in in understanding that if we’re starting a race and we’re way behind because we’re not ready, they’re the aggressor, when you catch up, they look around and they run a little faster. You catch up, and they look around and, by the third time you let go of the rope, ‘I can’t catch them.’ All because you weren’t ready coming in saying, ‘I’m playing harder than these dudes. We’re coming after them.’ It’s all that kind of stuff. The clutter? Sometimes you’re worried about six months from now. I’ve always tried to keep teams in the moment. Don’t worry about that. You worry about now. You do your best every day and that stuff plays out fine, but it’s hard. How about if you guys were their age --18 and 19 (years old)? You wouldn’t go to the draft boards? You would not go to the draft boards every day? Every day? You would go four times a day. You look, ‘Where am I drafted?’ And if you started going the wrong way, you would probably think, ‘I got to shoot more. I got to hold the ball a little bit.’ No. Or someone’s trying to tell you how to play. And you say, ‘Well, who was telling you that?’ ‘Well, the guy was cutting my hair and he was trying to tell me’. Oh, so you’re going to listen to the barber now? I mean, it’s all stuff that we deal with, with young kids. That’s why I say you got to have relationships with these kids. It’s a different day in age. They all talk to each other.”

On how Carlton Bragg Jr.’s absence will affect UK …

“I don’t know. I mean, I am just worried about how we are playing and, you know, what they are going to do. We don’t know what they are going to do. They may go zone. They may go triangle and two. They may trap the post. They may go small and make us go. So whether he plays or doesn’t play – and I guess he is not playing, I don’t know, I haven’t read a whole lot on it – but at this stage I am not worried about them. I am worried about us. Let’s have a great practice – even though it is going to be shorter. Let’s really get something out of this and go play as well as we can play. That is it.”

On UK’s guards not trying to go one-on-one with Kansas’ guards… 

“I think both of us. You have two teams that drive the ball and you are having teams that when there is bumping and grinding they are calling fouls and that is bad for both teams. You know, because now you are going to go into your bench.”

On Bam Adebayo’s post play …

“I am just trying to tell them, ‘Do I have to call plays for you to throw him the ball? Do you really want to play that way?’ Just if he is open, throw it to him. Just have in your mind I am looking at him first. If I don’t have something, I am trying to get him the ball. But, you know, he is the greatest kid. He doesn’t say anything. He wants to go against Tai (Wynyard). Why do you think he wants to go against Tai every day? Yes. He wants it. He wants somebody who is not going to make this easy for me. ‘Get Tai. You guard me.’ It is great to see and it is great to see his improvement. Again, we are not a one dimensional, just throwing inside. I mean, we have guards. We can space the court, but we take advantage of stuff. And again, we don’t know how they are going to play. We could be sagging. They could be playing a triangle and two and put a guy on him. Find him in the post. There are all kinds of stuff that they could try to do.”

On two teams that have been good for so long playing …

“I wish it wasn’t now I wish it was earlier. It was kind of like our North Carolina game in Vegas. I mean, at this point I bet if you ask people who won that game, they would say, ‘You know what, I don’t know, but wow what a game it was.’ We went to an overtime game down there last time we played them and that was in their building. We’re a different team and they’re different. I mean, they have the guards back, but they’re different. It’s just two programs trying to get better. I would imagine Bill is trying to figure out his team as I am trying to figure out our team.” 

On the early release of NCAA Tournament seeding in February …

“No, I like transparency. So we don’t – on Selection Day, ‘Bang, you’re an eight seed. What? So now as you go you have an idea of where it is—just be transparent. I think all the things they’re trying to do where the No. 1 seeds get to pick where they’re going to play (is great). So if you’re the No. 1 (overall) seed, which region do you want to be in? Why do they have to pick it? Why can’t you pick it? What’s the difference? Well, it’s power. What? What’s right for the kids? Let them pick. You’re the No. 2 seed, where do you want to play? What region? You’re the No. 3 seed – what region? You’re the fourth seed?  Here’s where you’re going. They’re all gone. I mean, it’s better that way. It’s more transparent, and I think they’re moving in that direction, which I think is good and I think opening up. They do it in women’s basketball, right? They do it in baseball. They do it in football. Why shouldn’t we do it in basketball? ‘Because we don’t.’ What? ‘We don’t because we don’t.’ I mean, everybody else is doing it do it. I like it.”

On Isaiah’s Briscoe’s confidence …    

“He is a confident kid he just has to have a little more energy in these games. I don’t know he’s been zapped a little bit, but it’s a long season, folks. I mean, I’m telling you I walked out and Rick Barnes looks at me and says, ‘Every game you play is like this.’ Well, I’m not playing. How about if you’re them? And you’re all freshmen. And you’re walking into a sellout and the people are going crazy. And guys are jumping this high. And they make all kinds of shots they have never made all year. And then the game is close at the end and you better make good decisions. And you’re an 18-year-old, and then you got the coach yelling and sweating and screaming, and a guy doesn’t wipe up the water.”

On comparing Kentucky and Kansas’ traditions … 

“Well, they both have great tradition. I remember when I was there – Coach (Ted) Owens is going to be at practice today – who got me in this profession. We were in Allen Fieldhouse in the old locker room, and they had literally a shower that was 50 years old and I’m thinking, ‘Phog Allen showered in this shower.’ They had a good shower and that old one. I always went in the old one. And from Wilt Chamberlain, you think of Jo Jo (White), all the guys that played there and all the guys (that played here). It’s two programs so I’m hoping Joe, Coach Hall is here today. I know I was trying to get those guys to come in too. We will see.”