John Calipari
On how different Georgia is with Marcus Thornton:
They're a better team, and they're playing better. Hopefully we're playing better. We have Trey now. Played us a lot of zone last game. I just don't know what they'll do. Mark will come up with something. They run their stuff. They're making shots. They're gonna try to beat us down the floor. They're an NCAA Tournament team we're playing on the road. It's gonna be a hard game for us.
On what Georgia does so well to get to the free-throw line:
They do a great job of shuffling inside and putting you at bad angles and getting balls to the rim. They also, in the open court they fly up and down the court and just get it to the rim. Their guards have a way of getting their shoulders by you and creating fouls. Like I said, they went through a stretch where their little kid had a concussion, the other kid had a concussion, they're trying to survive. They lost a couple games that you would say, 'What in the world happened?' They were hurt. Now all of a sudden they go to Mississippi and they were up 10, 15. They were up. Win that game and go and now play Missouri and probably play their best game of the year against Missouri, both defensively and offensively. And now they're coming with us on Senior Night. Gonna be a hard game.
On Georgia playing as a unit:
They run their stuff. They do their stuff. They know how they're supposed to play and they play that way. They create the kind of shots they're trying to create. They put you in situations. They know where they're gonna find their shots. They do a good job.
On how many of their individual players are at their peak:
We're still working on it. Dakari. I thought Tyler made strides last game. I told him, 'You got to score the ball some. You can't just go out there and be a passer because then you can't make any passes. You got to score.' Marcus Lee, you got to catch us a little bit. Aaron and Devin, I want them to be players who can make threes, not three-point shooters. I want them driving. I want them making plays. So we're getting closer. We're not there right now.
On this team's ability to rise to the occasion in big games:
We've had a lot of teams here that did that. This isn't the only team. I think again, the difference is you have a lot of guys and a lot of room for error. What I mean is, I only need five play well. And when you have nine that you're playing and you still have another guy or two if you need them, but the nine you're playing, I only need five of you to play well. And if nine are playing well, then we're . But five playing well, that's OK too. And if you want to play, get in there and ball.
On how much he talks about the undefeated record in any context:
Other than I'm not worried about it, and if we get dinged I'm fine. Other than that, no. It doesn't have any bearing on what we're doing. If guys get better, if we worry and focus on individual players' improvement, if we keep focused on them and they keep focusing on each other, all the other stuff happens. It's all day to day here.
On why he picked yesterday to talk to the team about clutter:
I've been talking to them probably once every week, 10 days, so I bring it up all the time. We brought up the Jay Bilas video (from his speech to the team in the Bahamas), showed them that. That was probably two and a half weeks ago, two weeks ago. Because you know -- I could put my head in the sand and act like they're not talking to anybody and they're not looking at the Internet and they're not looking at social media and they don't have girlfriends, they don't have their AAU coaches, high school coaches. And you won't believe this: Those coaches could care less about anybody else on this team except that young person. That's just how it is.
And so I could put my head in the sand and say, 'Ah, that's not happening here. This is Kentucky.' It's worse here. So these kids are strong, they're mature for their age, they've dealt with it, they've done it. This team, I told them before the last game: If a team plays with anger, mad, that physiology can turn to fear. I want you to play with joy. Play with joy. Have fun. Joy always beats anger, negativity. 'What's the worst thing I can say?' versus 'How can I build something up? How can I make this (positive)?' I just told them about it last game: Just play.
On UK thriving on the road:
Well, they know going in it's going to be a hard game, so they may focus a little more. But every game we play, it's an event. I mean, the only thing that happened was it snowed like crazy at Mississippi State. Thankful it did, because we played about seven, eight minutes that game. I don't know how our fans got in and theirs didn't, but that's about what happened.
On if he tries to recruit unselfishness:
Well, there's a couple things. When you talk to them and you're recruiting them, it doesn't matter what you see. It's telling them, 'You're not going to shoot 30 balls a game here. You're not going to be the face of the organization. You're not going to be the only guy. Now, in clutch time, you may be the guy scoring, Aaron. But the reality of it is, we don't have guys scoring 30 a game.' They know that coming in. I've had, from Brandon Knight to Tyreke Evans, guys that scored 40 a game in high school that ended up being really good players for us and played team basketball, even though when the game needed to be taken over, they did it. So our kids know coming in you're going to be with other good players.
On how well conditioned the team is to the "event" atmosphere:
They've been pretty good, but part of it is they're feeding off of each other. I mean, people say, 'You're freshmen.' Yeah, because they know it's not on them. It's on those veterans. And the veterans know, 'You know what? If I'm not at my best, I know that young kid's going to be going nuts, and I'll be fine. Get my legs underneath me, I'll go back and I'll be fine.' They're feeding off one another, and that's what's made this go.
And I keep coming back to, they've allowed this to happen. This isn't about me. This isn't about some genius move I've made. This is about these players are allowing this to happen. They're keeping the clutter away. It is there, it is beaten on them, eating at them. It's there. They're pushing it aside and they're looking after each other, which I'm really proud of. I mean, it's hard. And here, it's like a coat you wear 24 hours a day.
On if it surprised him his players have remained unselfish to this point in the season:
Not really. Not really. We didn't expect Alex to get hurt. I knew from Bahamas playing nine and 10 guys would be fine. I expected competition to be like it was in practice, which made us better. I didn't know how we'd wind down -- in other words, I'm giving them two days off a week which, you know, I just don't know if anybody does that unless they're out of their minds, but I trust these guys. So, try to keep them fresh mentally and physically, and I think the competitiveness -- today we'll scrimmage 10 minutes. It's scary, because Willie got hit in the mouth before the Arkansas game. We're scrimmaging, and one of the guys (raises elbow) hit him in the mouth. I thought he was going to have to get stitches, walked off the court. That's why you don't scrimmage! But the other side of it is, what our advantage is is our edge: that we're able to do that, and no other team in the country has that. They can practice but not against what we're practicing against. So, still juggling.
On if he saw that competitiveness wane earlier in the season and how they got back to it:
Yeah. Because -- look, it's like anybody else. You do things a certain way and you kind of get back to what you know works. But when you're doing what we're doing here -- a different team every year -- you have to think different, and you gotta read and feel. Because what I'm doing -- last year we practiced three hours a day at this time and we went six days a week. Now, two days off, we'll go an hour and 15 minutes today. Every team is different. This team is not a good drill team. They want to play. 'Throw it up. C'mon. Let us go at each other.' I have to slow them down. Yet, you know, when they walk off the court after battling each other they're still with each other. That's the other thing that makes these guys unique. Normally -- I mean, they're yelling on every call. They're screaming, 'That's a foul! Call the foul!' I mean, literally yelling at Coach -- 'Call the foul, Coach Robes!' You know, 'You didn't get fouled! Just play!' And I'm loving it because it's bringing that out. Now sometimes it carries over to the game and I say, 'Did you say something to me?' But the reality of it is they're a great bunch of kids.
On how much he's been able to watch Kyle Wiltjer this season:
Oh, I'm so happy. I've watched -- again, because they were getting beat that last game, I turned it off. I watched it a little bit and then I turned it off. My wife and I watch. Every time he's one we try to catch it. We got back and forth. I sent something out that said, 'Really happy for him. It's obvious I held him back.' I said, 'Kyle, get in a line. It's a very long one.' But he's a great kid. I mean, he really is. He's up for Player of the Year, and he deserves it the way he's playing. If we're truly about kids, at the end of the day I don't want a kid leaving here and then I try to damage the kid or bury the kid, or I'm mad he's playing well -- he's not doing it for me. I just want him to do well. You know, Ryan Harrow is doing great at Georgia State. That's good for those kids. They felt it wouldn't work here. OK, then let's figure this out and let's see where it will work for you, because that's what we should be about.
On Andrew Harrison's stats being better than last year through 29 despite playing in fewer minutes:
Well, he's being more efficient. He's in better condition. You have to understand, last year he was not here in the summer and really didn't start playing until February -- to the way he needed to play. Then by the end of the year he was in tune. And it was also me recognizing, 'What do I have to do? How do I have to coach this guy? How do I get him to be his best?' Now, you know, I really believe he put too much on his shoulders. He didn't need to. Now he's relaxing, he's in an attack mode, he's more about reaction than anything else. He's still running the team. He's unselfish, scoring more, making free throws, drawing fouls, defending better than he ever has in his life, and he's not even where he needs to be yet. He still has another 10-15 percent to go, but I'm happy that he's making these strides.
On UK losing at South Carolina on March 1 last year and how much better this team is than that one at this point in the season:
I don't (remember). I didn't remember too much of it. I only saw half I believe. (Laughter) We're just -- we're better. I watch a lot of tape of last year because I want to see how a team played us, their stuff, and I'm stunned that we were in the last game of the season. I am stunned. Amazing that they came together and they did what they did. Amazing for freshmen to do that and still have confidence in themselves and in each other. I'm amazed. I watch it and I'm like, 'You mean to tell me we were playing on the last day of the year for the national championship? Not this team.' And they were. That just shows you when you're talking with young people you don't know when they're going to get it. You just -- we almost ran out of runway.
If we had lost to Georgia, I don't think the NCAA committee would have put us in. Didn't want us in. We wouldn't have been. And if we'd have lost to LSU, absolutely not. We kind of roped some games together, get in that final. They gave us a wonderful eight seed where we can climb out of that hole. 'They ain't climbing out of that hole.' We had our fingers on the top the hole and they were stepping on them, and we just said, 'Nah, we're coming out.'
On how different Georgia is with Marcus Thornton:
They're a better team, and they're playing better. Hopefully we're playing better. We have Trey now. Played us a lot of zone last game. I just don't know what they'll do. Mark will come up with something. They run their stuff. They're making shots. They're gonna try to beat us down the floor. They're an NCAA Tournament team we're playing on the road. It's gonna be a hard game for us.
On what Georgia does so well to get to the free-throw line:
They do a great job of shuffling inside and putting you at bad angles and getting balls to the rim. They also, in the open court they fly up and down the court and just get it to the rim. Their guards have a way of getting their shoulders by you and creating fouls. Like I said, they went through a stretch where their little kid had a concussion, the other kid had a concussion, they're trying to survive. They lost a couple games that you would say, 'What in the world happened?' They were hurt. Now all of a sudden they go to Mississippi and they were up 10, 15. They were up. Win that game and go and now play Missouri and probably play their best game of the year against Missouri, both defensively and offensively. And now they're coming with us on Senior Night. Gonna be a hard game.
On Georgia playing as a unit:
They run their stuff. They do their stuff. They know how they're supposed to play and they play that way. They create the kind of shots they're trying to create. They put you in situations. They know where they're gonna find their shots. They do a good job.
On how many of their individual players are at their peak:
We're still working on it. Dakari. I thought Tyler made strides last game. I told him, 'You got to score the ball some. You can't just go out there and be a passer because then you can't make any passes. You got to score.' Marcus Lee, you got to catch us a little bit. Aaron and Devin, I want them to be players who can make threes, not three-point shooters. I want them driving. I want them making plays. So we're getting closer. We're not there right now.
On this team's ability to rise to the occasion in big games:
We've had a lot of teams here that did that. This isn't the only team. I think again, the difference is you have a lot of guys and a lot of room for error. What I mean is, I only need five play well. And when you have nine that you're playing and you still have another guy or two if you need them, but the nine you're playing, I only need five of you to play well. And if nine are playing well, then we're . But five playing well, that's OK too. And if you want to play, get in there and ball.
On how much he talks about the undefeated record in any context:
Other than I'm not worried about it, and if we get dinged I'm fine. Other than that, no. It doesn't have any bearing on what we're doing. If guys get better, if we worry and focus on individual players' improvement, if we keep focused on them and they keep focusing on each other, all the other stuff happens. It's all day to day here.
On why he picked yesterday to talk to the team about clutter:
I've been talking to them probably once every week, 10 days, so I bring it up all the time. We brought up the Jay Bilas video (from his speech to the team in the Bahamas), showed them that. That was probably two and a half weeks ago, two weeks ago. Because you know -- I could put my head in the sand and act like they're not talking to anybody and they're not looking at the Internet and they're not looking at social media and they don't have girlfriends, they don't have their AAU coaches, high school coaches. And you won't believe this: Those coaches could care less about anybody else on this team except that young person. That's just how it is.
And so I could put my head in the sand and say, 'Ah, that's not happening here. This is Kentucky.' It's worse here. So these kids are strong, they're mature for their age, they've dealt with it, they've done it. This team, I told them before the last game: If a team plays with anger, mad, that physiology can turn to fear. I want you to play with joy. Play with joy. Have fun. Joy always beats anger, negativity. 'What's the worst thing I can say?' versus 'How can I build something up? How can I make this (positive)?' I just told them about it last game: Just play.
On UK thriving on the road:
Well, they know going in it's going to be a hard game, so they may focus a little more. But every game we play, it's an event. I mean, the only thing that happened was it snowed like crazy at Mississippi State. Thankful it did, because we played about seven, eight minutes that game. I don't know how our fans got in and theirs didn't, but that's about what happened.
On if he tries to recruit unselfishness:
Well, there's a couple things. When you talk to them and you're recruiting them, it doesn't matter what you see. It's telling them, 'You're not going to shoot 30 balls a game here. You're not going to be the face of the organization. You're not going to be the only guy. Now, in clutch time, you may be the guy scoring, Aaron. But the reality of it is, we don't have guys scoring 30 a game.' They know that coming in. I've had, from Brandon Knight to Tyreke Evans, guys that scored 40 a game in high school that ended up being really good players for us and played team basketball, even though when the game needed to be taken over, they did it. So our kids know coming in you're going to be with other good players.
On how well conditioned the team is to the "event" atmosphere:
They've been pretty good, but part of it is they're feeding off of each other. I mean, people say, 'You're freshmen.' Yeah, because they know it's not on them. It's on those veterans. And the veterans know, 'You know what? If I'm not at my best, I know that young kid's going to be going nuts, and I'll be fine. Get my legs underneath me, I'll go back and I'll be fine.' They're feeding off one another, and that's what's made this go.
And I keep coming back to, they've allowed this to happen. This isn't about me. This isn't about some genius move I've made. This is about these players are allowing this to happen. They're keeping the clutter away. It is there, it is beaten on them, eating at them. It's there. They're pushing it aside and they're looking after each other, which I'm really proud of. I mean, it's hard. And here, it's like a coat you wear 24 hours a day.
On if it surprised him his players have remained unselfish to this point in the season:
Not really. Not really. We didn't expect Alex to get hurt. I knew from Bahamas playing nine and 10 guys would be fine. I expected competition to be like it was in practice, which made us better. I didn't know how we'd wind down -- in other words, I'm giving them two days off a week which, you know, I just don't know if anybody does that unless they're out of their minds, but I trust these guys. So, try to keep them fresh mentally and physically, and I think the competitiveness -- today we'll scrimmage 10 minutes. It's scary, because Willie got hit in the mouth before the Arkansas game. We're scrimmaging, and one of the guys (raises elbow) hit him in the mouth. I thought he was going to have to get stitches, walked off the court. That's why you don't scrimmage! But the other side of it is, what our advantage is is our edge: that we're able to do that, and no other team in the country has that. They can practice but not against what we're practicing against. So, still juggling.
On if he saw that competitiveness wane earlier in the season and how they got back to it:
Yeah. Because -- look, it's like anybody else. You do things a certain way and you kind of get back to what you know works. But when you're doing what we're doing here -- a different team every year -- you have to think different, and you gotta read and feel. Because what I'm doing -- last year we practiced three hours a day at this time and we went six days a week. Now, two days off, we'll go an hour and 15 minutes today. Every team is different. This team is not a good drill team. They want to play. 'Throw it up. C'mon. Let us go at each other.' I have to slow them down. Yet, you know, when they walk off the court after battling each other they're still with each other. That's the other thing that makes these guys unique. Normally -- I mean, they're yelling on every call. They're screaming, 'That's a foul! Call the foul!' I mean, literally yelling at Coach -- 'Call the foul, Coach Robes!' You know, 'You didn't get fouled! Just play!' And I'm loving it because it's bringing that out. Now sometimes it carries over to the game and I say, 'Did you say something to me?' But the reality of it is they're a great bunch of kids.
On how much he's been able to watch Kyle Wiltjer this season:
Oh, I'm so happy. I've watched -- again, because they were getting beat that last game, I turned it off. I watched it a little bit and then I turned it off. My wife and I watch. Every time he's one we try to catch it. We got back and forth. I sent something out that said, 'Really happy for him. It's obvious I held him back.' I said, 'Kyle, get in a line. It's a very long one.' But he's a great kid. I mean, he really is. He's up for Player of the Year, and he deserves it the way he's playing. If we're truly about kids, at the end of the day I don't want a kid leaving here and then I try to damage the kid or bury the kid, or I'm mad he's playing well -- he's not doing it for me. I just want him to do well. You know, Ryan Harrow is doing great at Georgia State. That's good for those kids. They felt it wouldn't work here. OK, then let's figure this out and let's see where it will work for you, because that's what we should be about.
On Andrew Harrison's stats being better than last year through 29 despite playing in fewer minutes:
Well, he's being more efficient. He's in better condition. You have to understand, last year he was not here in the summer and really didn't start playing until February -- to the way he needed to play. Then by the end of the year he was in tune. And it was also me recognizing, 'What do I have to do? How do I have to coach this guy? How do I get him to be his best?' Now, you know, I really believe he put too much on his shoulders. He didn't need to. Now he's relaxing, he's in an attack mode, he's more about reaction than anything else. He's still running the team. He's unselfish, scoring more, making free throws, drawing fouls, defending better than he ever has in his life, and he's not even where he needs to be yet. He still has another 10-15 percent to go, but I'm happy that he's making these strides.
On UK losing at South Carolina on March 1 last year and how much better this team is than that one at this point in the season:
I don't (remember). I didn't remember too much of it. I only saw half I believe. (Laughter) We're just -- we're better. I watch a lot of tape of last year because I want to see how a team played us, their stuff, and I'm stunned that we were in the last game of the season. I am stunned. Amazing that they came together and they did what they did. Amazing for freshmen to do that and still have confidence in themselves and in each other. I'm amazed. I watch it and I'm like, 'You mean to tell me we were playing on the last day of the year for the national championship? Not this team.' And they were. That just shows you when you're talking with young people you don't know when they're going to get it. You just -- we almost ran out of runway.
If we had lost to Georgia, I don't think the NCAA committee would have put us in. Didn't want us in. We wouldn't have been. And if we'd have lost to LSU, absolutely not. We kind of roped some games together, get in that final. They gave us a wonderful eight seed where we can climb out of that hole. 'They ain't climbing out of that hole.' We had our fingers on the top the hole and they were stepping on them, and we just said, 'Nah, we're coming out.'
