Calipari Speaks at UK Media Day

Calipari Speaks at UK Media Day
by Matt Jones @ 1:55 pm. Filed under Blue Blooded Opinions

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Today John Calipari spoke at the annual UK Media Day Festivities and here are the highlights of his comments:

— On Mike Gilchrist: “His starting point in energy is where Deandre Liggins finished. He is 6′7″, long and can play 4 positions. He brings a burning desire to get better. He is like the guys we have had here who are chasing greatness.”

— Calipari on recruiting to Kentucky: “Am I surprised kids want to come to Kentucky? No, why wouldnt you want to come to Kentucky. Now the issue can become, this is not for everybody. They will feel it when they look at this (the media) and what is going on tomorrow. Thats one of the reasons that Mike Gilchrist was in that gym last night, why John Wall was, why Brandon Knight was. They see these fans and they want to play for them.”

— Dana O’Neill asks how much the pressure escalates to win the title: “I feel like sometimes I am running for President because people tell you what I mean when I dont. During the season, it is about our team. The minute the season ends, it is about those individual players. You do right by these kids, they drag you to what you want to do which is put up banners.”

— On the Team GPA: says “we had a 3.16 grade point average last semester and a 3.16 last summer…it apparently didnt merit enough to write a story about it. We had the highest APR in the SEC…you all knew that right? You didnt write about it”

— On whether he can win with Freshmen: “We will see I guess. Mitch McConnel came to me and said ‘you are creating more millionaires than a Wall Street firm. And you know what, I kinda like it. We tell them to be socially aware. We tell them ‘you will be blessed, now what are you going to do with it.’ I want them in their communities and to give back for everyone’s good. Whether we can win a title, at the end of the day, in ten years we will see how it played out.”

— On this year’s team: “We are unconventional. I coached a team like this in 1992. This team is not conventional. Instead of running people to the rim on breaks, we are running people wide. We have three ‘4’s that think they are ‘2’s. We have no fives. We have to play a way to win.”

— On the “Commonwealth’s Team statement: “We are the Commonweath’s team because we have the biggest alumni base in the state. As for Louisville, when we play them, I hope they lose. Other than that, I could care less. We don’t worry about them. We don’t recruit against them. We are the Commonwealth’s team,,,we are. It is no disrespect to anybody else.”

— On Terrence Jones: “I told him you look at these Freshmen and say, you guys are good, but you aren’t better than me. And that is what he is doing.”

— Says Kyle Wiltjer is flying down the court and finishing 1,2 or 3 in all the training drills. He has an “old school Mikan hook. It is great.”

— On Eloy Vargas: “Eloy’s gotten better. Josh (Harrellson) came in and changed his attitude towards basketball, work habits, etc because he changed everything. But that is what he and Stacey need to do. Both are better. Are they good enough to get in the rotation? I dont know yet. I hope so.”

— On the attention on the team: “If you come here you gotta want this. If you dont, then dont come here. That is just how it is.”

— On backup point guards: “I dont know about that yet…could be Twany, Jared, Doron…could even be Darius if we have to.”

— ON the center position: “Anthony is not a center. He is just not a center. The only guy that we may have as a center is Eloy and even he is a 4/5. We basically have three ‘4’s. Thats just the way it is.”

— In maybe my favorite moment of the press conference, Cal was asked about creating controversy and says: “I am not trying to…I work here at the University of Kentucky and coach my team. That aggravates a lot of people.” He then proceeds to stare at some media members in the room.

— On talking about whether NBA lockout will help college basketball: “No. I think they are two different set of fans. What you do have is how many NBA writers who dont have anything to write about. I dont know what they do…probably come here to Lexington.”