Kentucky Basketball Media Day
Oct. 14, 2015
Kentucky Head Coach John Calipari
Q. Is Skal (Labissiere) going to play?
COACH CALIPARI: Everything is good to go. Like we do here, it's on the first day. You know, if you don't know, I've got to explain the process. There's probably 50 players that have a review. Last year we had five players have a review. A couple of them got cleared the week before the game. This year there was more than one. Every year we've been here, players go through the review. You won't believe this: It's always the best players who go through the review. I think my team will be fine and you guys will figure it out when we go out there the first day and everybody's got uniforms on. You'll know, ‘Oh, they must have been cleared.’
Q. John Wall missed a game and Enes Kanter missed a whole season. Where does Skal's situation --
COACH CALIPARI: I'm fine. We'll see in the first game.
Q. After your practice on --
COACH CALIPARI: How did this become such a huge -- this became like a firestorm. I'm telling you, I was like, I told -- what is this big -- this is like -- where did this come from? I feel real good what my team's going to look like on the first day. Let's move on to some basketball stuff.
Q. After your practice on ESPN, Seth Greenberg was very high on Charles Matthews. Some NBA scouts came away from that really impressed.
COACH CALIPARI: I told you that he would be that kind of surprise because people didn't realize how good he was. And especially playing with Tyler (Ulis), because when I fell in love with him is when he was playing with Tyler. That's when I said we've got to get this guy. They love his athleticism, they love his length, they love his fight. He's the first one in the gym, he's the last one to leave. He's in the gym at midnight. He's one of those ones that we have a couple guys on the team right now that they're going to follow all year. And as long as those guys get better, they're young guys, they'll make their judgments in March. You just can't make judgments on him – maybe even Isaiah (Briscoe) – until the season gets going. Now, they love both of them. Every scout came up to me was like, ‘Wow, I didn't realize.’ But they have these areas to improve. They have six months to do that, to show the pattern that they're getting better, like all of our kids do.
Q. John, your players all said they were happy for you in the Hall of Fame, they were proud, they like the fact that they're being coached by a Hall of Famer. Wondering what you feel, when you think of their reaction to your honor and knowing it won't matter at practice?
COACH CALIPARI: Well, you know, any award that comes to a coach is based on all the opportunities he had, all the people that worked for him and what they did, all the families that had trust in that coach to say, ‘I trust you with my child.’ All the players who performed at a high level, at a real high level, then those awards happen. It wasn't just me.
Now, I will tell you that I'm going to be the same guy and coach them like I did Monday in front of 80 NBA scouts, the same way I've coached over the years. It's one of the things I tell all these kids, especially the ones that are really, really talented. I'm not going to be afraid to coach you. You're not coming to a place that I've never coached somebody as good as you. I've coached players better than you and I am going to coach you. I'm going to tell you the truth, I'm going to be honest with you, I'm going to keep it real. If you don't want that, don't come here. So I'm happy they said that, but I don't ...
Q. John, your buddy Dick Vitale pointed out how important he thought Skal was.
COACH CALIPARI: He's going to be good and he is going to play this year. He's going to make jump hooks and jump shots. Next question.
Q. Where is Alex (Poythress) at in his rehab? Is he still on track to be ready?
COACH CALIPARI: He's doing good, he's doing good. He's about 75 percent. We need him to be something, like he's got to be a beast. Again, I think with Tyler what we did those two days, every scout said the same thing: ‘Wow, he's got a chance.’ Now he's got to get healthy, he's got to get more confident in his body. It's not just confidence in I can make a shot, it's that he's confident that I can come down hard and I'm going to be fine. But he's big for us.
Q. Does anything in particular surprise you with your guys after you actually start working with them?
COACH CALIPARI: That we're not as tough as I thought we would be. I thought we would be more of a tough -- not a rough-house team – but we would be able to hold ground. We're going to have to train them, make them just -- they've got to be more aggressive. And I know all the fouls that are going to be called, that's fine. This is a team -- let them call fouls on us, but just let's go, pick this up. I was a little bit surprised we weren't.
But I will say our guard play is really, really good. Then I just have to make a decision at some point do we play three, how much do we play three guards, how do we play if we're playing three guards, how do we defend if we're playing three guards? I mean, there's a lot of things that we have to come to grips with on. You know, last year we played 7-foot, 6-11, 6-10. Now we're playing with three guards the very next year. OK, how are we going to play, because it's totally different.
Q. Along those lines, you guys have made a living out of being racers in the lane. The last six seasons, teams under your direction have been Top 10 in the country in blocked shots.
COACH CALIPARI: How many times did we lead the country in blocked shots?
Q. Once.
COACH CALIPARI: Only once? We will be fine because we can block shots at like probably three positions. Look, I'm not going to be playing 10 guys, I just don't see it. Probably playing seven, maybe eight, and those guys got to fight for that time. If a guy on this team deserves to play 38 minutes, he will. I've done that before. If anybody else deserves to play, then that player will get less minutes, but this isn't eighth grade basketball. Last year was -- every team I put on, we were fresh and we could block shots. That's why we were what we were last year.
Q. Do you have a feeling who those seven or eight guys are?
COACH CALIPARI: Not yet. I have a feeling for like three or four, but not the total group yet.
[Question regarding how important the late recruiting additions were …]
COACH CALIPARI: It was important, and it's funny how things work out. You know, I kind of say fate intervenes a lot. You lose on some guys, and when you get who you get, you say thank goodness. We lost on some guys. I mean, that's how this stuff plays out. And again, not every kid's going to want to come here. This is a different deal and I accept that. What we're trying to find out is who wants us and who do we want. And let's be better at that, let's really know that someone wants us or someone -- we've become a little bit like Hawaii. Everybody wants to visit, they just don't all want to come. (Laughter.)
Oct. 14, 2015
Kentucky Head Coach John Calipari
Q. Is Skal (Labissiere) going to play?
COACH CALIPARI: Everything is good to go. Like we do here, it's on the first day. You know, if you don't know, I've got to explain the process. There's probably 50 players that have a review. Last year we had five players have a review. A couple of them got cleared the week before the game. This year there was more than one. Every year we've been here, players go through the review. You won't believe this: It's always the best players who go through the review. I think my team will be fine and you guys will figure it out when we go out there the first day and everybody's got uniforms on. You'll know, ‘Oh, they must have been cleared.’
Q. John Wall missed a game and Enes Kanter missed a whole season. Where does Skal's situation --
COACH CALIPARI: I'm fine. We'll see in the first game.
Q. After your practice on --
COACH CALIPARI: How did this become such a huge -- this became like a firestorm. I'm telling you, I was like, I told -- what is this big -- this is like -- where did this come from? I feel real good what my team's going to look like on the first day. Let's move on to some basketball stuff.
Q. After your practice on ESPN, Seth Greenberg was very high on Charles Matthews. Some NBA scouts came away from that really impressed.
COACH CALIPARI: I told you that he would be that kind of surprise because people didn't realize how good he was. And especially playing with Tyler (Ulis), because when I fell in love with him is when he was playing with Tyler. That's when I said we've got to get this guy. They love his athleticism, they love his length, they love his fight. He's the first one in the gym, he's the last one to leave. He's in the gym at midnight. He's one of those ones that we have a couple guys on the team right now that they're going to follow all year. And as long as those guys get better, they're young guys, they'll make their judgments in March. You just can't make judgments on him – maybe even Isaiah (Briscoe) – until the season gets going. Now, they love both of them. Every scout came up to me was like, ‘Wow, I didn't realize.’ But they have these areas to improve. They have six months to do that, to show the pattern that they're getting better, like all of our kids do.
Q. John, your players all said they were happy for you in the Hall of Fame, they were proud, they like the fact that they're being coached by a Hall of Famer. Wondering what you feel, when you think of their reaction to your honor and knowing it won't matter at practice?
COACH CALIPARI: Well, you know, any award that comes to a coach is based on all the opportunities he had, all the people that worked for him and what they did, all the families that had trust in that coach to say, ‘I trust you with my child.’ All the players who performed at a high level, at a real high level, then those awards happen. It wasn't just me.
Now, I will tell you that I'm going to be the same guy and coach them like I did Monday in front of 80 NBA scouts, the same way I've coached over the years. It's one of the things I tell all these kids, especially the ones that are really, really talented. I'm not going to be afraid to coach you. You're not coming to a place that I've never coached somebody as good as you. I've coached players better than you and I am going to coach you. I'm going to tell you the truth, I'm going to be honest with you, I'm going to keep it real. If you don't want that, don't come here. So I'm happy they said that, but I don't ...
Q. John, your buddy Dick Vitale pointed out how important he thought Skal was.
COACH CALIPARI: He's going to be good and he is going to play this year. He's going to make jump hooks and jump shots. Next question.
Q. Where is Alex (Poythress) at in his rehab? Is he still on track to be ready?
COACH CALIPARI: He's doing good, he's doing good. He's about 75 percent. We need him to be something, like he's got to be a beast. Again, I think with Tyler what we did those two days, every scout said the same thing: ‘Wow, he's got a chance.’ Now he's got to get healthy, he's got to get more confident in his body. It's not just confidence in I can make a shot, it's that he's confident that I can come down hard and I'm going to be fine. But he's big for us.
Q. Does anything in particular surprise you with your guys after you actually start working with them?
COACH CALIPARI: That we're not as tough as I thought we would be. I thought we would be more of a tough -- not a rough-house team – but we would be able to hold ground. We're going to have to train them, make them just -- they've got to be more aggressive. And I know all the fouls that are going to be called, that's fine. This is a team -- let them call fouls on us, but just let's go, pick this up. I was a little bit surprised we weren't.
But I will say our guard play is really, really good. Then I just have to make a decision at some point do we play three, how much do we play three guards, how do we play if we're playing three guards, how do we defend if we're playing three guards? I mean, there's a lot of things that we have to come to grips with on. You know, last year we played 7-foot, 6-11, 6-10. Now we're playing with three guards the very next year. OK, how are we going to play, because it's totally different.
Q. Along those lines, you guys have made a living out of being racers in the lane. The last six seasons, teams under your direction have been Top 10 in the country in blocked shots.
COACH CALIPARI: How many times did we lead the country in blocked shots?
Q. Once.
COACH CALIPARI: Only once? We will be fine because we can block shots at like probably three positions. Look, I'm not going to be playing 10 guys, I just don't see it. Probably playing seven, maybe eight, and those guys got to fight for that time. If a guy on this team deserves to play 38 minutes, he will. I've done that before. If anybody else deserves to play, then that player will get less minutes, but this isn't eighth grade basketball. Last year was -- every team I put on, we were fresh and we could block shots. That's why we were what we were last year.
Q. Do you have a feeling who those seven or eight guys are?
COACH CALIPARI: Not yet. I have a feeling for like three or four, but not the total group yet.
[Question regarding how important the late recruiting additions were …]
COACH CALIPARI: It was important, and it's funny how things work out. You know, I kind of say fate intervenes a lot. You lose on some guys, and when you get who you get, you say thank goodness. We lost on some guys. I mean, that's how this stuff plays out. And again, not every kid's going to want to come here. This is a different deal and I accept that. What we're trying to find out is who wants us and who do we want. And let's be better at that, let's really know that someone wants us or someone -- we've become a little bit like Hawaii. Everybody wants to visit, they just don't all want to come. (Laughter.)
