Calipari wasn't talking to you (unless you're a five-star prospect)

Calipari wasn't talking to you (unless you're a five-star prospect)

John Calipari is the most honest man in college basketball. No one else is even close.

Don’t get me wrong. Honesty, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder.


I’m not saying the Kentucky basketball coach drives one-and-done signees to take their one-and-only SAT and doubles as proctor to make sure they actually take the test.

And I’m not saying he keeps such close tabs on his high-profile players, the ones most likely to capture the attention of agents and runners and other fast-talkers looking to make a quick buck, that he gives them the third degree every time they add another piece of bling.

No, Calipari’s kind of honesty has been on full display since Kentucky took over the NBA Draft Thursday night the way it usually does the SEC Tournament. He knows what college basketball means for the best high school players in the country, and he’s not afraid to say it.

It’s not a destination.

It’s just part of the journey to the league.

When UK became the first program to have five players selected in the first round of the draft, and Calipari called it ‘‘the biggest day in the history of Kentucky’s program,” and he refused to back down from that outlandish statement the morning after, there was no shortage of outrage inside and outside the commonwealth.

The backlash has gone something like this:

Doesn’t he know that Kentucky has won seven national championships and that even one title trumps the first No. 1 draft pick in school history and all his friends?

How would he know what it means to win a national title since he’s never won one and his two Final Four trips have been stricken from the record?

How dare he?

Here’s how.

When he said what he said, Calipari wasn’t talking to the 30-year-old in Paintsville, Ky., who sprays his face blue before Tennessee invades Rupp Arena.

Calipari was talking to the likes of Trevor Lacey.

Lacey may be the best high school basketball player in Alabama, and one of the better prep players in America, in the class of 2011. A lot of colleges are recruiting the Butler High School guard hard.

Kentucky is one of them.

Kentucky wasn’t just another school before Calipari got there, but UK stands out even more after Thursday night.

Kentucky’s best players, top pick John Wall and No. 5 selection DeMarcus Cousins, went in the first round. Other Kentucky starters, No. 14 pick Patrick Patterson and No. 18 choice Eric Bledsoe, also went in the first round.

So did backup Daniel Orton, who went from Kentucky’s bench to the Orlando Magic with the No. 29 pick in the first round.

If you think that wasn’t a big night for players who want to follow in their footsteps, you don’t know elite prospects.

Calipari’s crazy-on-the-surface statements add up when you do the math. According to the NBA’s rigid rookie salary scale, here’s how much the five Kentucky draftees stand to make in the first year alone of their guaranteed two-year contracts:

Wall: $4,286,900. Cousins: $2,812,200. Patterson: $1,519, 400. Bledsoe: $1,237,500. Orton: $857,000.

That’s what Calipari is selling, and he was selling like a madman from the green room at the draft.

No fan wants to hear that his team’s players might not have winning a title at the top of their agenda, but Calipari knows what recruits want to hear. It’s David Stern calling their name on draft night.

To be honest, Thursday night wasn’t the greatest night in Kentucky basketball history. It was a great night, but it was more about the program’s future.

It’ll give Calipari an even better chance to sign more of the players who can give him a title of his own. As long as he stays honest.


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