As for why he stays on Maxey and has nothing but praise for Hagans, there’s little mystery there. Cal is among the best motivators ever, and he long ago figured out which kid needs a kick and which kid responds only to praise, and everything in between. This was last week:
“Things I’ve done in the past (to motivate players), sometimes they don’t work and I gotta get away from that,” Calipari said. Against the Red Raiders, “I just said, ‘We’re going at you and if you want to win the game, you will, and if we lose it, I’m fine.’ So he went turnover, missed shot, turnover, gave up a 3, and I said, ‘You know what? Let’s win this game,’ and then I went away from him.”
So then this week at practice, the coach tried something different. He told the team a story about the 2014-15 season and how hard he’d been on eventual No. 1 pick Karl-Anthony Towns. When Calipari asked that team who he’d screamed at the most, everyone pointed at Towns, and Towns lifted his arms and puffed out his chest proudly, as if to say, “That’s right, me!” He treated Calipari’s unrelenting admonishment as a badge of honor. This guy must really think I can be something. But when Calipari asked Maxey’s teammates who he yells at the most and they all pointed at him, Maxey hung his head.
The difference in their reactions is everything.
“If a guy that cares about you, that loves you, is doing everything he can to help you for your future … and you can’t take the coaching or the aggressiveness, you probably are not ready,” Calipari said plainly after Wednesday night’s game. “But I think today was a big step.”