Calipari rooting for Louisville? You bet

Calipari rooting for Louisville? You bet

LEXINGTON, Ky. — You’re unlikely to catch him sporting red and black, but University of Kentucky basketball coach John Calipari is a University of Louisville fan.

Sort of.

The UK coach said Friday that as his team hits the home stretch — the Wildcats play Tennessee on Sunday in Knoxville, Tenn., in the regular-season finale for both teams — his focus on a higher NCAA Tournament seed leads him to root for every team UK has beaten this season.

That includes the arch-rival Cardinals, who UK beat 78-63 on Dec. 31 at the KFC Yum! Center.

“I do (root for U of L), and everybody thinks I’m crazy,” Calipari said. “They think I’m nuts. When you go to Louisville and spank them, you want them to win every game, because now your strength of schedule (improves).

“When they beat Pittsburgh, I said, ‘Watch our strength of schedule (rating) go up.’ And what happened? It went up.”

So Calipari’s pulling for the Cards. But there are limits to that loyalty.

“I know everybody’s (saying), ‘You can’t root for them Cal!’ Calipari said. “I don’t watch the game and openly root, but what I try to do is say, at the end of the day don’t be mad if they win. Let them do their thing. Now, if we have to play them again, I’m obviously not going to root for them.”

http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20110304/SPORTS03/303040087/1061/SPORTS10/John-Calipari-rooting-Louisville-basketball-You-bet?odyssey=nav|headhttp://www.courier-journal.com/article/20110304/SPORTS03/303040087/1061/SPORTS10/John-Calipari-rooting-Louisville-basketball-You-bet?odyssey=nav|head