Hello, HOB. Welcome to what could be the most anticipated coach's show in school history. I'll be following along and sharing all the major talking points here for those of you who may not be able to listen along live. Show starts at 6 ET. Stay tuned...
* Cal joins by phone. Says he's had better weekends. Hurting. We're all hurting, coaches, staff, players, and I know the fans are hurting. "But no one is hurting more than me." Says we have a standard here, and that's hanging championship banners. Says he took this job knowing that was the case.
* Physicality was the team's Achilles heel this season. Worked on it, but couldn't completely overcome it. For us to get back to where we want to be, we have to get that physicality and defensive mindset back.
* Leach gets right to the big question, will he be meeting with Mitch Barnhart? Haven't yet, but will in the next couple of days. (Later says probably Tuesday.) "I look forward to hearing his thoughts on how we can get better."
* Doesn't want to change how they're playing offensively, everyone loved watching them play, but he's always known that your defense is what steadies you when you're not making shots. "We've got to get back to that."
* On the portal... Cal says it's kind of hard when you have some guys like Oscar last season who went thru the whole process, and a lot of prospects were skeptical that he might return. Makes it hard to move right away on some guys. They need to find "a guy or two" who will make us older, make us more physical, and give us what we need to blend with the freshmen.
* On Travis Perry winning a state championship... For Lyon County, who has 277 students, to win the state championship... "Are you kidding me?" Praised Perry's dad for the accomplishment. "Couldn't be more proud of him." Likes how his desire, like Reed Sheppard's, was to play for Kentucky.
* On what he might say in a meeting with Barnhart... Finding a way for this program to meet the standard in this current environment of college basketball with older, stronger players. Says some programs aren't even trying to bring in freshmen anymore. (UConn?) They just try to get a new roster of transfers, but he still prefers a mix of both. Need to find out who's going to be here on this roster ASAP. It can be challenging if they go through the combine.
* On Seth Greenberg saying they need to get back to Old-School Cal at Kentucky... Agrees with him. But doesn't want to give up what we're doing offensively, how we ran, how we flew up the court.
* Tom asks what the plan was for attacking Oakland's zone defense... Says the plan was to take 15 3s per half and rebound them if they missed. Shot 28 of them, close, but a lot of those came late trying to catch up. Not what they planned. Also said he thought they could beat their zone down the court by pushing the ball.
* Tom asks if he thinks they looked tight... Not sure if it was "tight," maybe anxious. Tried to keep them in the moment, thinking about doing the things they've done well this season. But you never know how kids will react. They're not machines, they're not robots.
* To rehash that game makes me physically ill right now... Cal says he's counting down the days for 8 months to get the taste out of his mouth. Doesn't sound like he's thinking along the lines of Tubby Smith in 2007.
* Listener wants to know what they'll do to tweak preparation and scouting of opponents... Thought they were overdoing it late in the season. Didn't want to overload them, so left it that way.
* On whether he needs to tighten up the rotation moving forward... Wasn't a clear-cut rotation this year. Needed every guy. One of the reasons why he didn't shake up the lineup. Thought it helped Justin Edwards and they never would have won at Tennessee if they had changed it.
* Cal joins by phone. Says he's had better weekends. Hurting. We're all hurting, coaches, staff, players, and I know the fans are hurting. "But no one is hurting more than me." Says we have a standard here, and that's hanging championship banners. Says he took this job knowing that was the case.
* Physicality was the team's Achilles heel this season. Worked on it, but couldn't completely overcome it. For us to get back to where we want to be, we have to get that physicality and defensive mindset back.
* Leach gets right to the big question, will he be meeting with Mitch Barnhart? Haven't yet, but will in the next couple of days. (Later says probably Tuesday.) "I look forward to hearing his thoughts on how we can get better."
* Doesn't want to change how they're playing offensively, everyone loved watching them play, but he's always known that your defense is what steadies you when you're not making shots. "We've got to get back to that."
* On the portal... Cal says it's kind of hard when you have some guys like Oscar last season who went thru the whole process, and a lot of prospects were skeptical that he might return. Makes it hard to move right away on some guys. They need to find "a guy or two" who will make us older, make us more physical, and give us what we need to blend with the freshmen.
* On Travis Perry winning a state championship... For Lyon County, who has 277 students, to win the state championship... "Are you kidding me?" Praised Perry's dad for the accomplishment. "Couldn't be more proud of him." Likes how his desire, like Reed Sheppard's, was to play for Kentucky.
* On what he might say in a meeting with Barnhart... Finding a way for this program to meet the standard in this current environment of college basketball with older, stronger players. Says some programs aren't even trying to bring in freshmen anymore. (UConn?) They just try to get a new roster of transfers, but he still prefers a mix of both. Need to find out who's going to be here on this roster ASAP. It can be challenging if they go through the combine.
* On Seth Greenberg saying they need to get back to Old-School Cal at Kentucky... Agrees with him. But doesn't want to give up what we're doing offensively, how we ran, how we flew up the court.
* Tom asks what the plan was for attacking Oakland's zone defense... Says the plan was to take 15 3s per half and rebound them if they missed. Shot 28 of them, close, but a lot of those came late trying to catch up. Not what they planned. Also said he thought they could beat their zone down the court by pushing the ball.
* Tom asks if he thinks they looked tight... Not sure if it was "tight," maybe anxious. Tried to keep them in the moment, thinking about doing the things they've done well this season. But you never know how kids will react. They're not machines, they're not robots.
* To rehash that game makes me physically ill right now... Cal says he's counting down the days for 8 months to get the taste out of his mouth. Doesn't sound like he's thinking along the lines of Tubby Smith in 2007.
* Listener wants to know what they'll do to tweak preparation and scouting of opponents... Thought they were overdoing it late in the season. Didn't want to overload them, so left it that way.
* On whether he needs to tighten up the rotation moving forward... Wasn't a clear-cut rotation this year. Needed every guy. One of the reasons why he didn't shake up the lineup. Thought it helped Justin Edwards and they never would have won at Tennessee if they had changed it.
