POST-GAME TRANSCRIPT FROM UK COACH, PLAYERS

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THE MODERATOR: Thank you, gentlemen, for coming in. Before we take questions, Coach, can we ask you to make a brief
opening statement on the match-up tomorrow
night.

COACH JOHN CALIPARI: We know we're playing a terrific team who has had a great season
in a great league. And they've done it in the
Tournament. They've done it in their league.
They've done it non-conference. They've done it in
their league tournament, which is hard. They're as
good as it gets out there.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Coach.
We'll open it up to questions, now.

Q. Would you talk about your relationship with Huggs and the incident in '02
when a relative of yours was in the ambulance when Huggs had that problem?

COACH JOHN CALIPARI: Bob and I go way back to when he was at Walsh College. You know, obviously I say this, and I mean it, he's as
good as any coach out there. He's a
Hall-of-Famer, but he's also a guy that would give
you the shirt off his back. And when he had the
heart attack at the Pittsburgh airport, my nephew
was in the ambulance picking him up. When they
got him and they put him on the ambulance and he
said, "Coach Huggins, you're going to be all right.
I'm John Calipari's nephew." And he went, "oh, my
goodness. I'm not going to make it." (Laughter).
But he and I go way back. He's as
competitive and as good a coach as you'll see out
there.

Q. One more follow-up: Any truth to
the rumor your relatives said, "You can't die yet
because Cal has to beat you once?"

COACH JOHN CALIPARI: No, Bob said
that. That's what Bob adds. He likes to embellish.
I don't know we beat him the next year by 20 but it
was shortly thereafter, the next year. The next
year.

Q. For DeMarcus: West Virginia is a
physical team, but you're still much bigger than
their front line. What kind of things have you
found that defenses have tried to do to control
you in the paint, and how tough has it been to
handle at times?

DeMARCUS COUSINS: What I found out
they try to do is grab me, hold me and hug me
(laughter). And basically I mean just keep playing,
hope the refs call it.

Q. Patrick, can you just talk about
growing up in West Virginia? Were you a fan of
the Mountaineers? Did they recruit you? What
was their level of involvement with you in high
school?

PATRICK PATTERSON: Pretty much
growing up it was either Marshall or West Virginia.
I went to a lot of Marshall games. Talked to Coach
Beilein a lot of times. As far as being a fan, I really
wasn't a fan but I had a lot of interest in them. I
went up towards to the campus and met Coach
Beilein, a couple of players and facilities. I liked it.
It was home and all my friends were going there. I
think Beilein was looking at going to the Michigan
job at the time and he had left. And Coach
Huggins came in and picked up where he left off in
talking to me. By that time I had been interested in
Kentucky.

PATRICK PATTERSON: It was after he
had the job.

Q. This is also for Patrick: Your
decision not to enter the NBA draft last year
and now that you're in the Elite Eight, has that
paid off? And how happy are you in how you
went about your business over this past year?

PATRICK PATTERSON: The decision to
come back has definitely paid off. I'm meeting
bunch of great guys, having such a successful
career as a team and just enjoying everything
we've been going through. My three reasons to
come back and this being one of them, just makes
my decision to come back more sweet and more
enjoyable.

Q. Patrick, I was wondering if you
could discuss how different it's been around
Kentucky basketball this year, especially
compared to the last few seasons? And if you
notice, even though it's a big change on the
court, if you notice a change in the way fans
and people treat Kentucky now off the court as
well?

PATRICK PATTERSON: Pretty much the
main difference since I've been here my freshman
year is the fans - their involvement, their support,
them traveling millions of miles just to come to a
game. So the drastic change I've seen since my
freshman year is the fans, their involvement and
intensity in the games, how they've interacted with
us, the passion they're showing and just everything
they've been doing.

Q. For Patrick and Darius: If you both
can talk about what was the hardest part of the
transition to playing for Coach Cal was this
season.

PATRICK PATTERSON: Pretty much for
myself it was just learning to play on the perimeter,
learning to guard the perimeter. First two years I
was in the post, back to the basket. Never really
took anybody off the dribble, never really shot in
the perimeter. Pretty much early in the season
when we were doing workouts, working out with
the guards rather than working out with the big
men. So that was probably the hardest thing for
myself.

DARIUS MILLER: I don't think any of it
was that hard, because the coaching staff did a
great job of showing us what they expect from us
from the beginning. We had a lot of new players
going through the same thing we were going
through. We were all pretty much in the same
position. So it wasn't really a tough transition.

Q. For any of you guys, start with John
and DeMarcus: Do you all know any of the
West Virginia players? Have you played
against them? And what do you know about
their games as individuals?

DeMARCUS COUSINS: I know Devin
Ebanks. I played against him once. He gave us
like 40. That's the only player I know.
JOHN WALL: All I know is Kevin Jones. I
met him at Reebok U Camp when I first started
coming on the scene. He's a great player.

Q. This is for Darius: Having grown up
in the state of Kentucky, what to you does this
program mean and having this program be as
successful as it is, what do you think it means
to people in the state of Kentucky?

DARIUS MILLER: I think it means a lot to
the people of the state of Kentucky, because we're
one of the main teams in Kentucky. They don't
really have a pro team or anything, so they look up
to us and Louisville as the main two schools, I
think. For us to have success, I think it means a lot
to them and the community that we are in.

THE MODERATOR: Anything else? OK,
gentlemen. We'll let you go to the breakout
sessions.

Q. You're obviously familiar with the
New York area. Just can you talk a little bit
about the group of kids that West Virginia has,
all from and around New York City, Newark, in
and around. Is there a certain mentality that
these kids -- I'm sure you recruited around
there for years, toughness, mentality, whatever
it translates?

COACH JOHN CALIPARI: I think it's as
much mental toughness as it is just toughness
physically. You think about what Pitt has done
over the years. They did it with those New York
players. Barry Rohrssen went in there and
recruited a bunch of them for Pitt. Now you see
West Virginia doing the same. They are just
hard-nosed kids. They know if you want
something, you have to go after it. It's not going to
be given to you, and that you have to work.
They're not afraid. They've been in environments
that prepare them.

Q. In your other two stints getting to
the Final Four, U-MASS and Memphis, that was
towards the later part of your time there with all
your guys. How hard is it to do what you and
Huggs are doing where you have to blend
previous coaches' and players, playing a
different system and you're both on the
doorstep of the Final Four trying to mesh all
that together?

COACH JOHN CALIPARI: It's hard. But
you know, what we've been able to do is six new
players, six returning players, of that really gotten
along and respected each other. I think what we
did the first day is we showed a movie "Remember
The Titans." We went through the whole movie
about what happened. And it was about learning
to trust, learning to respect, learning to like, and
then learning to love. And if you get to the point of
loving, you're not going to lose many games. This
team has come together that way. And we've only
been together seven months. So there's still a lot
of things that we don't know how we'll react. All of
these players are in their first NCAA Tournament.
Their first. This is it. This is not like this is their
fourth or third. This is their first. But they like each
other, which has been a big part of why we've
been able to do what we've done.

Q. What about style of play? The
previous guys played the way you wanted to
play?

COACH JOHN CALIPARI: Well, most of
the guys want to play this way, so that's not hard.
But there's a responsibility when you let them go a
little bit, when you open -- take the reins off, so to
speak. There's a responsibility of being unselfish,
of making plays you can make, of making tough
plays, making plays in a tight game, like last night,
what happened to us. You can't just come down
and turn it over. We're giving you some freedom.
But this team, Patrick and -- I can go right
down the line. I think all of them have benefit. I
watched a tape of last night's game. Daniel Orton
was really good. I didn't realize. You're watching
the game. You're not watching the tape. You see
him back blocking shots, defensively, making
baskets. He was really good. He's another one
that didn't come to play in the dribble drive. We're
not playing -- we're probably run and dribble drive
about 30% of the time. But still 30% of the time
we've got that court open and playing to slash in
there and do some things.

Q. If I could scratch a little bit more at
your friendship with Huggs, can you talk
about the first time you met him and how the
friendship was formed? And have you spoken
to him since you both have qualified for this?

COACH JOHN CALIPARI: Well, he
played at West Virginia with Joe Fryz, who was my
high school teammate. So when I was watching
Joe Fryz, that's the first time I saw. I was a
sophomore when Joe was a senior in high school.
Bobby is much older than me, by the way. And I
saw Bob then play there. And then they came
there to Pittsburgh to play Pittsburgh and
Duquesne and those teams. And I saw him play.
He was an OK player, by the way. He was a good
player. But then when he got the Walsh job, I was
working the Five Star Camp in Honesdale and
went over and said hello to him. I said, "I know
you don't know me. I watch you," this, that and
from that point we kind of stayed in touch. Again,
we're not -- you go through a season, you're not on
the phone once a week with guys. But I check in
and I'll text or he'll hit me with something. His path
to where he is is amazing.
The good news for both of us, we both
have been fired. There's nothing you can say to us
that we haven't heard, written about us. We've
been fired, both of us. But he starts at Walsh
College and he worked from there. To Akron. And
what he did at Akron. Then he goes to Cincinnati
and does what he does there. Then he goes to
Kansas State and restarts it. And Frank (Martin)
by the way is going did an unbelievable job there.
The base was set by Bobby. Now what he's doing
at West Virginia, having this program, amazing
stuff.

Q. Kind of a general question: You
look at all the sports that are out there and how
they determine their champion, can you
envision anything more difficult than what you
guys are in having to win six sudden-death
games in a row?

COACH JOHN CALIPARI: It's not only
that, it's how they put those brackets together.
Like West Virginia is one of the best teams left.
Maybe the best team left. And we're playing them.
It's not in the finals. It's not in the Final Four. So
that's tough. But it's also tough because if a team
plays another team best-of-five, the best team is
going to win 98% of the time that series. When
you're playing one-and-done, one team comes in
sluggish, one team doesn't shoot it, one player on
that other team goes nuts for 40, you're done.
Your season is over. Now he couldn't do that three
straight games, but he can do it once. That's what
makes this difficult. That and the fact that
everybody wants to see upsets. So you have a lot
of karma going against you, if you're the team
that's trying to win.

Q. You were talking about the team
chemistry and all these guys being new. How
important was Patrick Patterson's role in
buying into what he was getting into entering
this season and befriending and accepting
these guys coming in?

COACH JOHN CALIPARI: You know, I
can't express enough to all of you how happy I am
and impressed and proud of Patrick, because we
didn't spend a whole lot of time -- I didn't convince
him to come back. We had two conversations that
weren't five minutes. I told him I would do
whatever he wanted me to do to help him get
information. If he needed my help, call me. Call
me and he said, "I want to come back. One, I'm
going to graduate in three years. Two I've never
played in an NCAA Tournament and I want to do
that. Three, I need to play how you coach. I need
to get out on the floor and play. And I need that
before I try to make that move." And I said, "Those
are three really good reasons why."
But he could have come back and said,
this is my team and I'm shooting all the balls, I
decided to come back -- well, guess what he does,
he scores less points, gets less rebounds, and his
stock has gone through the roof. Randy Wittman
came in our locker room after and we just talked.
He said, he helped himself immensely coming
back. Now he can guard a two, a three a four in a
pinch. He could even guard an NBA five if he had
to. He now can play different positions. He can
shoot a three. That's what you want. You also
want players to know if you give up a little bit, it
ends up helping you anyway.
And the ego in all of us, and the families
and the people around them, which is you need to
score 25 points a game. Every team has a leading
scorer. If you're 0-28, guess what, you have a
leading scorer. It's not about that. And the other
thing that you learn is as the tide rises, if I help this
team as the tide rises, all the boats rise. It's
happened on this team. For Daniel Orton to be put
in a position at the end of the year, our sixth man,
he's going to have options to do what he wants to
do. It's incredible. That's because our team has
done so well. Again, I told you, I watched him
yesterday. He was really good again yesterday.

Q. Coach, you and Coach Huggins
both have a track record of turning around
programs quickly, if not instantly.

COACH JOHN CALIPARI: Whoa, whoa,
whoa. Are you dog years or regular years? It took
me eight years at Massachusetts and it took me
nine at Memphis. Unless it's dog years, that's a lot
of time. New Jersey it took me two-and-a-half to
get fired. So that happens usually quicker.
This is unusual, and I'm going to tell you
why it's unusual. One, there were players still
available in April that usually were not going to be
available. Now what's happened in recruiting now,
because kids are leaving early, there's lot of kids
waiting, wouldn't you say? They want to see who
is leaving off another team -- that's how it is now.
But when I went to Massachusetts, it took us three
solid years to get it right. When I went to Memphis,
it took us four. And they were putting "for sale"
signs in my front yard in the fourth year. I don't
know if you think that's fast. To me -- and I have
the "for sale" signs in my garage. So when they
tell me and say I was the greatest thing and I walk
on water, I see those "for sale" signs as I pull my
car in my garage.
Now to answer your question.

Q. Then if we just reflect on this year,
this year's team, what percentage would you
place on turning this team around so quickly
from recruiting and just getting them to buy
into your system so quickly? What's the secret
of doing that?

COACH JOHN CALIPARI: There's two
things: It's that they liked each other and they
respected each other. The greatest thing that
happened to us, we have two starters on last
year's team that are eighth and ninth or ninth and
tenth men - Ramon Harris and Perry Stevenson.
Perry Stevenson made a statement that, "I would
rather be a reserve on this team than a starter on
an NIT team." Think about that. He's a senior.
He's a senior.

The second thing was they had to buy into
defense and rebounding. You watched us
yesterday. They talk about us offensively. The
dribble drive, this guy, that guy. At the end of the
day we're a terrific defensive team. That takes
disciplines. That takes teamwork. That takes a
daily growth. I mean, every day you have to bring
it. And these kids do. So I think it was buying into
how we had to play as a team, sacrificing a little bit
of each guy for the good of the team.
But the biggest thing is we have talent.
We have a talented team. And so, you know -- but
they're freshman. Four freshman in our top six.
Three sophomores and Patrick Patterson. That's
our top eight. The three sophomores, one didn't
play college basketball a year ago. And the other
two played four or five minutes a game. We're a
very inexperienced team.

Q. Coach, Bob Huggins' dad told a
story one time about how when he went
through the Pittsburgh ordeal, you were the
first coach that came and visited him in the
hospital. I was wondering if you could
recollect on that day. And also as a follow-up,
do you think there is any intentions of the
NCAA to kind of put you and Huggs in the
same bracket?

COACH JOHN CALIPARI: No, they would
never do that. No.
I would tell you that when I went to visit
him when I heard about it, he's a young man. And
I raced out there and I can't remember where I
was, but I went in and I saw the paddle burns. I
just told him, you know, "You're getting that second
life here." It was scary, to be honest with you.
They told me he was going to be fine. It was a
scare. It teaches to us take better care of
ourselves and all those things. I went out and just
let him know that you know what, "I'm here for
you."

I saw his mom and dad were there. His
wife was there. It was just a scary thing. It was
really scary. We all think Bob being that big -- he's
a big guy. All of a sudden this happens. I was
like, it kind of blew me away. I was glad my
nephew was there for him, but...

Q. John, just going back to some of the
New York area guys. Butler, in particular, can
you talk a little about him?

COACH JOHN CALIPARI: Ooh, is he
good.

Q. Six game-winning shots, that kind of
not afraid to --

COACH JOHN CALIPARI: I'm watching
tape of him make threes, make runners, posting
him up, setting screens where he knocks the guy
down and then comes off a screen and makes a
three. I'm watching him handle the ball as a point
guard. I'm watching him defend, stay in front of
people, block shots. I'm like, whoa.
He is really, really good.

Q. Just two questions about their
defense: Their ability to vary a little bit and the
timing of jumping from man-to-man and zone.
How important is that? And Devin Ebanks, the
length and the ability to guard different players
on the floor.

COACH JOHN CALIPARI: Well, again,
what Bob has done, he's looked at his team and
says, how do we have to play to win? They're
always going to rebound, they're always going to
be physical. They're going to be bump and grind.
There's going to be a lot of body to body. Now
he's thrown in a 1-3-1. I imagine we'll see a
triangle or two or something like that. And he's
thrown out it looks like a 3-2. I'm not sure his kids
know what it is, because I certainly watched it and
didn't know what the heck it was, a 3-2 or 2-3.
Maybe it's the old amoeba. I don't know. They
threw another defense out there that I saw. And
they're long.

The greatest thing he's done, back when
Denny Crum who just won national titles at
Louisville, if you remember what he had was
players all the same size. They would switch
everything. They would just switch. So now it
takes you out of every offense you really want to
run and what you're trying to do. And I think Bobby
has done the same thing. He's taken out a piece
from Denny Crum and says you know what, they're
all the same size. We'll switch up and we'll do
different things.

Q. In bringing Rod Strickland to
Memphis the first time, what did you see in
him? And what kind of help has he been to
both John and Eric?

COACH JOHN CALIPARI: He's a 17-year
vet who is in the top ten in assists in the history of
the NBA. And his feel for the game and when he
watches tape, when he comes to me and says,
"here's what I'm seeing," when he tells the players
different plays and different ways of playing
pick-and-rolls and different things, these kids listen.
It's been a great experience for me, because I lean
on him a lot. I want to know what do you think,
what are you seeing? And he has a great feel.
And again, I think the guys that I have on
my staff are all going to be head coaches. I think
Orlando is ready now. And I think Robes (Robic)
has been a head coach and will have another
opportunity if he chooses. And I think Rod is going
to have that chance. So he's got the respect of the
kids and he doesn't do it in a yelling way. When he
speaks, it's like they're listening to everything he's
saying.

Q. When you think of Bobby's teams,
what comes to mind? And also, what is it
about him that makes him a good coach in your
mind?

COACH JOHN CALIPARI: Let me just say
they're going to play great defense, they're going to
rebound and it's going to be bump and grind.
Historically that's how it's been. The Washington
game was a very physical hand-to-hand kind of
game. And that's typically how his teams play.
And then he plays to the offense of whoever he
has. When he had Nick Van Exel and those guys,
he played different than he plays now. He's going
to play however he can to win. What makes him
what he is is he will adapt to his team. I saw him
he first went to West Virginia playing a lot of
Beilein, John Beilein stuff. He said, I'm not going
to change. They have had great success and we'll
use some of his stuff. And he did. I also think he
raises the bar and he drags the kids to a point
where they're not sure they can go. And he just
keeps taking them. And he doesn't settle for
anything less than that. Here's where I think you
can go and we're going to get there.

Q. How surprised are you with John
Wall's leadership? And how much did you
know when you recruited him of maybe some
issues he had temper-wise when he was
younger? But how much has he impressed
you with his leadership and maturity this year?

COACH JOHN CALIPARI: The biggest
thing that I didn't see from John when he was in
high school or AAU, I've never seen him make a
game-winning shot. When they asked me to
compare my guards, I said those other guys when
it was on the line would make plays. And they
always did. That's why our teams did well. Well,
he started it off right away, Miami of Ohio, and it
just hasn't change. Every time we needed a run,
he's made plays. He's had great maturity. His
leads. What I keep telling him is, "You don't is to
live up to any of this hype, just lead our team.
Lead our team." If you're watching in our huddles,
he does a lot of talking. He'll wait for me to stop,
and then if he has something to say, he'll say it. Or
he'll ask me. And then he'll talk to his teammates.
He's shown great leadership for a young person
who is 19 years old. And I'm proud of him.
In that middle where people were coming
at him. Didn't know how to respond. Trying to live
up to the hype. When you are trying to live up to
the hype, you're going to be unhappy all the time.
It's like chasing a windmill. You're losing that
battle. Just play. That's all I kept telling him. "Just
play and lead our team. Everything else will fall
into place." That's what he's been doing.
Throughout this NCAA Tournament these three
games he's done a great job of leading his team.

Q. Coach, how often have you all faced
1-3-1 defenses this year? When you watch
West Virginia what differentiates it from other
ones you may have seen?

COACH JOHN CALIPARI: We've faced
just every kind of zone you can throw at us. 3-2,
2-3, 1-3-1, Box and One, Triangle and 2. Pack it
in, they're not going to make shots. You are just
hoping we miss. We've seen it all.
The difference with the 1-3-1 that West
Virginia plays is they're very long. They're longer.
What we're trying to do in any zone we play is
we're trying to get that ball inside. We're trying to
get it in there, throw it inside. But it's a little harder
against them because their wings are so big, you
can't just catch it on a wing and throw it in. They're
big. And they do a great job in it.
He's used it and spotted it in different
places. But I would imagine this game he's -- I just
heard Digger say, how you beat Kentucky. I wish
Digger had a team. But he talked about how you
beat Kentucky. He said, you go 2-3 and you go
1-3-1 and you change it up and -- I can't
remember. I was on a treadmill when he was
saying it. But teams have done it. They're very
good. This is going to be a hard game. There's no
one walking in here. It's going to be a hard game.
You're going to have two teams that are playing for
something that's important for both states, playing
for something that's bigger than themselves, which
means there's some anxiety that goes along with
that. Especially my young guys. And you're going
to talk about teams that both play pretty good
defense. Offensively, I think we're pretty good,
too. I think they're good. Two number No. 1 seeds
is what it is.

Q. You mentioned to what it meant to
both states. We heard John pretty eloquently
talk about West Virginia. You're less than a
year in in Kentucky, but in your mind what
does this program mean and what this team
might accomplish mean to the state of
Kentucky?

COACH JOHN CALIPARI: I would say
maybe I'm wrong, but what has happened this year
has made people happy. And they want us to win
this game and every other game. But I think they
respect what's happened in the program. They like
the style of play. They like the kids have gotten
better. The players, that our team has gotten
better and they've seen growth. And I think they're
happy about it. They would like us to win this
game. But I think they're still saying this is what
we want in our program. We want significance.
We want to be talked about in recruiting. We want
to be in the mix. And yeah, we want to win
national titles. But we want to be in the mix.
That's what I've been told most of the places I go.
I guess that's until you lose.

Q. John, everybody on your level has a
recruited great freshman and had a freshman
impact. What's it been like to have two guys?
You have to treat them, they're almost a
tandem but they're still separate. What's it like
to have two freshmen like that on one team?

COACH JOHN CALIPARI: Jimmy, I've
aged. It's funny, DeMarcus is like a son. John
Wall walked in my office and just hugged me and
then leave. Or he'll text me and say "keep
coaching me." In that regard, it's why you do what
we do. DeMarcus sees my wife and calls her
mom. Calls my daughters his sisters. Looks at my
son, they play videos together. They do this
together. Sometimes I say, "You're both 13 years
old."

The challenge of it is to get them to reach beyond
where they've ever reached in their lives. They're
in the best shape conditioning-wise they've ever
been in. They are playing for the team more than
they've ever played for a team. Usually it's been
about them. Yet they got to respect each other.
Because if one gets it going, that can't affect the
other. And it hasn't. Then you throw into the mix
Eric Bledsoe, who has gone crazy some games.
And is also going to have his opportunity. Then
you have Daniel Orton. So you have four of them.
How about Daniel and DeMarcus? Because
Daniel is really good. That's been the challenge, to
try to say Daniel, even though you're not playing as
much as you would have played, it's helping you
more. But that's, "you're just saying that." I mean,
he's been great about it. But the challenge has
been -- we've been at this now six months. To
keep them going forward has been -- it's been a
challenge. It's been fun, but it's been a challenge.

Q. What have you seen in John
Mazzulla? And does he sort of epitomize that
West Virginia grittiness and toughness you are
talking about?

COACH JOHN CALIPARI: I'm going to
date some of you. You will have no idea who I'm
talking about. He reminds me of Billy Kilmer.
Some of you know what I'm saying. I don't mean
body-wise and all that. I'm saying he just wins. If
he has to throw it left-handed or right-handed, and
the ball wobbles a little bit, but they catch it and
march up the field, he reminds me of Billy Kilmer. I
don't care what it looks like, he's going to win. He'll
do something. And it seems as though to me he
has a way that their team respects him and really
wants him out there. They want him out there,
because they don't want to do the stuff that he
does.

And he started for them. Here's a kid, he
probably should have had shoulder surgery, and
decides I'm going to wait for his team. And guess
what, it played out. They needed him to wait. So
good for him. Everybody that talks to me about
him says he's a great kid. Terrific player, playing a
little bit beat up.

THE MODERATOR: Anything else for
Coach? Coach, thank you very much. Good luck
tomorrow.

COACH JOHN CALIPARI: Thanks.

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