Question: What's the deal with Skal Labissiere staying over at your house?
Calipari (paraphrased): Not new for me. Wanted to show that we're here for you. My wife made him a great breakfast.
Question: What concerns you about Ohio State?
Calipari (paraphrased): When you look at the Memphis overtime game, you see how they played against Virginia. UConn made a bunch of threes in the first half and created an 18-19 point gap. That was the gap. It was the threes. They didn't just bowl them over. They're talented. Just like us, trying to figure themselves out. We're going through the same thing. The thing I had with Tyler Ulis, he gave us some experience even though he was our eighth leading scorer from a year ago. He at least had some experience playing 20 minutes and in a leadership role.
Question: What kind of learning curve have you noticed with him that might be steeper than some other big guys?
Calipari: I was just with Marcus Camby up at UMass and I said I may need you to come to Lexington. Do you remember your freshman year? For one, conditioning buried him. In weight training you had to lift the bar, you'd raise your fist in the game to take yourself out, I'd turn my back like I didn't see it. I played him 20 minutes a game and that was all he could play. Now, add on that you're expected to leave after one year. And (Camby) said, 'Wow.' What happens to young kids is they start training for the first time, pushing bodies for the first time, they don't know how far they can go. When they hit a point they wither. Not just Skal, but all young kids.
Question: You tweeted a picture with Wynyward; timetable for plans on him, redshirt or not? Also, Briscoe returning home with 40-50 family/friends. How's he been playing?
Calipari: Everybody watching from New York cannot believe he's playing the way he's playing. One of the best defensive rebounding guards in country. In attack mode north-south, not east-west anymore. They look at his body and say 'what?' He's not even the same. That's what I want to hear about guys who come here. Going home is always tough. He hasn't been shooting well. He shot 72-percent from the line in HS, I don't understand. Probably because how we play, he's never defended like that. He's probably not used to how he feels. Tai took a red eye in, going through medical stuff, don't think he'll practice today. Possibly could practices before we travel. If he's cleared to play maybe he will. I made big trade coaching the Nets, had a couple of guys who had never practiced and said, 'Why don't you get in there and run up and down a little bit?' Don't know where he is conditioning other than he's pretty big.
Calipari (paraphrased): Not new for me. Wanted to show that we're here for you. My wife made him a great breakfast.
Question: What concerns you about Ohio State?
Calipari (paraphrased): When you look at the Memphis overtime game, you see how they played against Virginia. UConn made a bunch of threes in the first half and created an 18-19 point gap. That was the gap. It was the threes. They didn't just bowl them over. They're talented. Just like us, trying to figure themselves out. We're going through the same thing. The thing I had with Tyler Ulis, he gave us some experience even though he was our eighth leading scorer from a year ago. He at least had some experience playing 20 minutes and in a leadership role.
Question: What kind of learning curve have you noticed with him that might be steeper than some other big guys?
Calipari: I was just with Marcus Camby up at UMass and I said I may need you to come to Lexington. Do you remember your freshman year? For one, conditioning buried him. In weight training you had to lift the bar, you'd raise your fist in the game to take yourself out, I'd turn my back like I didn't see it. I played him 20 minutes a game and that was all he could play. Now, add on that you're expected to leave after one year. And (Camby) said, 'Wow.' What happens to young kids is they start training for the first time, pushing bodies for the first time, they don't know how far they can go. When they hit a point they wither. Not just Skal, but all young kids.
Question: You tweeted a picture with Wynyward; timetable for plans on him, redshirt or not? Also, Briscoe returning home with 40-50 family/friends. How's he been playing?
Calipari: Everybody watching from New York cannot believe he's playing the way he's playing. One of the best defensive rebounding guards in country. In attack mode north-south, not east-west anymore. They look at his body and say 'what?' He's not even the same. That's what I want to hear about guys who come here. Going home is always tough. He hasn't been shooting well. He shot 72-percent from the line in HS, I don't understand. Probably because how we play, he's never defended like that. He's probably not used to how he feels. Tai took a red eye in, going through medical stuff, don't think he'll practice today. Possibly could practices before we travel. If he's cleared to play maybe he will. I made big trade coaching the Nets, had a couple of guys who had never practiced and said, 'Why don't you get in there and run up and down a little bit?' Don't know where he is conditioning other than he's pretty big.
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