JOHN CALIPARI: Excited to be here. My team is excited to be here. Last night's dinner was more chatter at the table for the players than I've heard in a long time. I don't know if that means they're a little nervous, but they were no headphones, and they were doing stuff together, which made me feel really good. I slept better last night because of that.
Questions.
Q. Sahvir said that he has been practicing this week and that he thinks he is going to be available tomorrow. Just what are you expecting from him?
JOHN CALIPARI: Well, he is trying his hardest, and he is doing great stuff, but, you know, I've got to really feel that he is going to be maybe not 100 percent, but he can't be 80. Not in a game like this. Providence is well-coached. They've got terrific players. Obviously, I know Bryce well and respect him and love him to death. He is a terrific player, but their guards are good. They're downhill runners. And so we'll see. He'll go through the shoot-around. We'll practice a little bit after this, and then the docs and the trainers will tell me what they think.
Q. You talked a lot about how some of your best teams are those player-dominant teams, and you made captains going into this postseason, but what has the process been like in trying to get these guys to have that mindset of being a player-dominant team?
JOHN CALIPARI: You want to empower the players, and you want to give them say in what you are doing, and this team has shown signs of that. But this has been about growth, about getting healthy. Someone was asking me about Oscar. He had a knee operation to start the season. Was out four weeks, and really should have been out six, and is starting to come back to where he was. We've had some others. No excuse. We're Kentucky. You're supposed to win every game by 20. I get it. But what they've been through, we never lost more than two games in a row, but what they've been through with a loss and then the onslaught that they withstood it and stayed together and grew and became a better team, I told them you're going to remember 2023 the rest of your life, and you're going to be able to say we can get through this. Yeah, you should have seen 2023. Then you come out on the other side stronger, mentally tougher, better. So, yeah, this was -- this was kind of -- everybody counted us out. They're still counting us out. I told the guys I like this. This is kind of like my UMass and Memphis days: Ah, they didn't play... they're not... they didn't... they're not...
All right. We'll see where we are. We'll see. But this -- I'm liking the group. I wish we were fully healthy, but we'll have to see what happens Friday, who can play.
Q. You sound pretty relaxed. There's a lot of chatter about how much pressure is on the team and on you, and, yet, there's always pressure. This is Kentucky, but what have you done specifically this year to --
JOHN CALIPARI: Let me say this. Every coach in this tournament has butterflies. Whether they lost last year or they won the whole tournament or they're in the Final Four, they have butterflies. Their teams have butterflies. That's part of what this is. I want this team to fully experience the NCAA tournament. Not deal with, well, what if and they're saying this and that. No. My job is to shield them from all that stuff and make sure this is an experience that you go through that you're fortunate to be in this and really enjoy the experience. Don't listen to all the outside voices and -- it doesn't matter. You play the games. You play the games.
What anybody says and, again, my job is to shield them from all that. The problem is some of them have phones, and they'll read some of the stuff, and you try to tell them, it makes no difference what anybody says. You still play the games.
So I've done this a long time. I mean, this is another tournament game for me, but my job is let's get them in the right mindset. Let's get them to understand who we are and what we are. You know we bring out the best in other teams. In my time at Kentucky, you've had teams play out of their minds against us at times, but we've done some good things too.
Q. Over the course of your career, can you compare and contrast SEC teams versus Big East teams?
JOHN CALIPARI: Well, you know I was in the Big East back in the day when everybody had three NBA players on their team. Then I coached in New England and tried to survive in that region of Big East teams. You know what's crazy in it all, they've survived and thrived with all the changes. They have done the things that they have to do to keep thriving. Eddie has done a great job. I mean, what he has done. I like to go to Providence because I like to go up by the pineapple and go get a nice Italian meal. It's a great city. But what he has done and how he has done it, and this year he has done it different. He has a bunch of transfers. Now all of a sudden he has done it another way. It shows what a great coach he is.
Q. John, what are you expecting going up against Bryce tomorrow?
JOHN CALIPARI: He is a terrific player. Being with us and part of our family and hated to see him go, but I understood. Still love him.
He bounces it. He is physical. He can shoot the ball. He gets to the foul line. He is a terrific player.
Q. I'm just wondering if you could speak for a moment to the pressure that's inherent in the job that you have at the University of Kentucky, and what it means to try to have to live up to the tag of blue blood in college basketball circles?
JOHN CALIPARI: Here's what I don't want any of us to do. Every job in college basketball is really hard. Not just -- you make it like you've got the hardest job, Cal. Yeah, there are a hundred other jobs that I would say are just as hard, and the coaches deserve people to say, they've got hard jobs too. Right now even a mid-major, what happens is you build your team, and what happens at the end of the year? Your best players, what? They leave. That is a ridiculously hard job. All coaches, in what we do, there's an expectation of every job, understanding that Kentucky's expectations may be higher, but so are everybody else's. And one thing goes wrong and you slip, all of a sudden it becomes doubly hard. Coaching basketball these days is very hard. Rewarding financially and all that. I'm not saying that. My dad was a baggage handler, so don't think that I don't understand. He'll be here, by the way. He is 90 years old. Got his knee replaced, so he is walking good. He is into it.
But these jobs, they're hard. Yeah, I've got a hard job. I love this job. I love being at Kentucky. I love walking in every arena, and it's full. Every arena we go to, every game at home we led the nation in attendance. Who wouldn't want to coach there? Yeah, there's the other side of it. There's a high expectation, but that's never scared me. It doesn't scare me now. But, please, understand the coaches are saying thank you for me saying that right now. We all have got hard jobs. They're hard, and they're intense, and people, social media has made them even crazier.
(CONT) ...
Questions.
Q. Sahvir said that he has been practicing this week and that he thinks he is going to be available tomorrow. Just what are you expecting from him?
JOHN CALIPARI: Well, he is trying his hardest, and he is doing great stuff, but, you know, I've got to really feel that he is going to be maybe not 100 percent, but he can't be 80. Not in a game like this. Providence is well-coached. They've got terrific players. Obviously, I know Bryce well and respect him and love him to death. He is a terrific player, but their guards are good. They're downhill runners. And so we'll see. He'll go through the shoot-around. We'll practice a little bit after this, and then the docs and the trainers will tell me what they think.
Q. You talked a lot about how some of your best teams are those player-dominant teams, and you made captains going into this postseason, but what has the process been like in trying to get these guys to have that mindset of being a player-dominant team?
JOHN CALIPARI: You want to empower the players, and you want to give them say in what you are doing, and this team has shown signs of that. But this has been about growth, about getting healthy. Someone was asking me about Oscar. He had a knee operation to start the season. Was out four weeks, and really should have been out six, and is starting to come back to where he was. We've had some others. No excuse. We're Kentucky. You're supposed to win every game by 20. I get it. But what they've been through, we never lost more than two games in a row, but what they've been through with a loss and then the onslaught that they withstood it and stayed together and grew and became a better team, I told them you're going to remember 2023 the rest of your life, and you're going to be able to say we can get through this. Yeah, you should have seen 2023. Then you come out on the other side stronger, mentally tougher, better. So, yeah, this was -- this was kind of -- everybody counted us out. They're still counting us out. I told the guys I like this. This is kind of like my UMass and Memphis days: Ah, they didn't play... they're not... they didn't... they're not...
All right. We'll see where we are. We'll see. But this -- I'm liking the group. I wish we were fully healthy, but we'll have to see what happens Friday, who can play.
Q. You sound pretty relaxed. There's a lot of chatter about how much pressure is on the team and on you, and, yet, there's always pressure. This is Kentucky, but what have you done specifically this year to --
JOHN CALIPARI: Let me say this. Every coach in this tournament has butterflies. Whether they lost last year or they won the whole tournament or they're in the Final Four, they have butterflies. Their teams have butterflies. That's part of what this is. I want this team to fully experience the NCAA tournament. Not deal with, well, what if and they're saying this and that. No. My job is to shield them from all that stuff and make sure this is an experience that you go through that you're fortunate to be in this and really enjoy the experience. Don't listen to all the outside voices and -- it doesn't matter. You play the games. You play the games.
What anybody says and, again, my job is to shield them from all that. The problem is some of them have phones, and they'll read some of the stuff, and you try to tell them, it makes no difference what anybody says. You still play the games.
So I've done this a long time. I mean, this is another tournament game for me, but my job is let's get them in the right mindset. Let's get them to understand who we are and what we are. You know we bring out the best in other teams. In my time at Kentucky, you've had teams play out of their minds against us at times, but we've done some good things too.
Q. Over the course of your career, can you compare and contrast SEC teams versus Big East teams?
JOHN CALIPARI: Well, you know I was in the Big East back in the day when everybody had three NBA players on their team. Then I coached in New England and tried to survive in that region of Big East teams. You know what's crazy in it all, they've survived and thrived with all the changes. They have done the things that they have to do to keep thriving. Eddie has done a great job. I mean, what he has done. I like to go to Providence because I like to go up by the pineapple and go get a nice Italian meal. It's a great city. But what he has done and how he has done it, and this year he has done it different. He has a bunch of transfers. Now all of a sudden he has done it another way. It shows what a great coach he is.
Q. John, what are you expecting going up against Bryce tomorrow?
JOHN CALIPARI: He is a terrific player. Being with us and part of our family and hated to see him go, but I understood. Still love him.
He bounces it. He is physical. He can shoot the ball. He gets to the foul line. He is a terrific player.
Q. I'm just wondering if you could speak for a moment to the pressure that's inherent in the job that you have at the University of Kentucky, and what it means to try to have to live up to the tag of blue blood in college basketball circles?
JOHN CALIPARI: Here's what I don't want any of us to do. Every job in college basketball is really hard. Not just -- you make it like you've got the hardest job, Cal. Yeah, there are a hundred other jobs that I would say are just as hard, and the coaches deserve people to say, they've got hard jobs too. Right now even a mid-major, what happens is you build your team, and what happens at the end of the year? Your best players, what? They leave. That is a ridiculously hard job. All coaches, in what we do, there's an expectation of every job, understanding that Kentucky's expectations may be higher, but so are everybody else's. And one thing goes wrong and you slip, all of a sudden it becomes doubly hard. Coaching basketball these days is very hard. Rewarding financially and all that. I'm not saying that. My dad was a baggage handler, so don't think that I don't understand. He'll be here, by the way. He is 90 years old. Got his knee replaced, so he is walking good. He is into it.
But these jobs, they're hard. Yeah, I've got a hard job. I love this job. I love being at Kentucky. I love walking in every arena, and it's full. Every arena we go to, every game at home we led the nation in attendance. Who wouldn't want to coach there? Yeah, there's the other side of it. There's a high expectation, but that's never scared me. It doesn't scare me now. But, please, understand the coaches are saying thank you for me saying that right now. We all have got hard jobs. They're hard, and they're intense, and people, social media has made them even crazier.
(CONT) ...
