Cal Teaching Young Team To Share The Ball

Cal Teaching Young Team To Share The Ball

One of the hardest parts about coaching a team full of young superstars has to be teaching them that many of the things they did in high school that made them so successful are the same things that will hold them back in college.

John Calipari probably does not get near enough credit for his ability to transform a young player without stifling his confidence. Often times these are players who aren't used to being told that what they're doing is wrong.

Calipari does not just produce one-and-done players year after year because of his domination on the recruiting trail. Just as much of the transformation of the player from a high school star to an NBA ready talent happens once the player gets on campus.

The primary lesson recenctly for Calipari's young team seems to be that a player's contribution is not measured solely by the points he scores. For young players that may be a harder lesson to learn than it would seem. These are players who scored thousands of points in their high school careers and are used to years of thinking, "when things go bad, it's time for me to get a bucket."

Calipari criticized his team for playing selfishly early in the season. A lot of that traced back to Brandon Knight. It always does when you're the point guard. Knight would never intentionally play selfish but too often he was looking for his shot in the offense, rather than working the ball through the offense for the best shot. Knight scored over 3,500 points in his high school career, can you blame him for playing that way?

Knight appears to be an incredibly coachable player and is learning quickly when to pick his spots within the offense to score as well as the significance of contributing other things, like a few assists or a low turnover count.

Calipari hopes Terrence Jones will get the same message. Jones has looked dominant at times this season but when he struggles on offense, he tends to completely fall out of the flow of the game.

With the Cats lack of size, Jones has to find a way to rebound and defend even when he's struggling to score.

John Calipari tried unsuccessfully to get that message across to him after he struggled to find his rhythm offensively in the first half against Winthrop.

"I told Terrence, be the leading rebounder, try to be the leading rebounder in the country, not just the SEC. So he went out and took five shots and no rebounds to start the second half."

The way last year's team gelled was not typical of a young team. Learning not to mope when the offense does not run directly through you or when you're not scoring as many points as you're used to is a sign of a mature player.

"I addressed it to the team after [the Winthrop game]," Calipari said. "If everyone else is scoring then just do something else. Defend and rebound. We're not quite there yet."

John Calipari is trying to develop complete players and in turn, a complete team.