Kentucky's Calipari says he wants Wall to go pro if he's No. 1

Kentucky's Calipari says he wants Wall to go pro if he's No. 1
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/danpatrick/blog/94321/


Kentucky coach John Calipari joined the show to talk about his 18-0 start and more.

Calipari said several interesting things, including a very frank comment on freshman star John Wall. Calipari said he hopes Wall isn't around for more than one year.

"If he came to me and said he was the No. 1 pick in the draft, and he wanted to come back, we'd probably be wrestling around on the floor because there's no reason other than me trying to win more games that he should come back," Calipari said.

Calipari said that he doesn't advise most of his players to go early to the NBA, but Wall is an exception because he could go so high.

Coach Calipari came on when the Wildcats were 8-0 and said they should be 4-4. Dan asked what their record should be now.

"We're 10-8. Georgia had us beat," Calipari said. "Florida had tied up the game down there late. Auburn tied up the game with 3 minutes to go. So we're 3-0 in the league, right? No we're not. We're like 0-3 in the league. We're lucky we're alive right now.

Calipari said he told his team to practice like they're 0-2, not undefeated. Calipari said that if you get confident, and don't go for loose balls the same way.

Dan and Calipari talked about how intense coaching at Kentucky is. "This isn't a 20-year run," Calipari said.

Calipari said he doesn't think he'll have any trouble walking away from the job.

"If I'm still coaching after 10 years something happened. Something drastic," Calipari said. "They're not going to have on my tombstone how many wins I had."

Calipari also had interesting comments on what it meant to leave Memphis in light of someone like Lane Kiffin leaving after one year at Tennessee. Calipari said he basically left his blood on the floor in Memphis. He gave everything he had.

Calipari said that college coaching is always going to be like that, unless they start putting in clauses that coaches can't talk to other schools when they're under contract.

Calipari also said that schools fire coaches -- and sometimes they don't pay them. Calipari said that Kentucky didn't want to pay "the guy who left before him" (Billy Gillespie).

Calipari also talked about Hoops for Haiti and how he's raising money to help relief efforts. He talked about auctioning off a dinner with him, his wife and Ashley Judd. He admitted people bid a lot for Judd, not him. And Calipari was very happy Dan let him talk about it: "I'm going to kiss you right on the lips. Can I get through the phone? Have you ever been kissed on the lips by a man."