Alabama Presents Calipari’s Reboot Its Next Test

Now it’s about putting all the pieces back together, and head coach John Calipari likes the path that his team is on.

“The kids were great,” Coach Cal said Friday when asked about his team’s three-hour practice earlier in the week. “They know we gotta create some habits that we’ve gotten away from and they know that. We did what we have to do. I feel much better with the direction. When it takes you three weeks to get to a point, it’s going to take you time to get out of it’s because you’re trying to create different habits, both offensively and defensively.”

Some of the Wildcats’ problems lately have been technical issues on both offense and defense. Other problems relate more to “energy, effort and enthusiasm.”

After installing a reboot on Monday, Calipari was pleased with the first three-quarters of Tuesday’s win over LSU. The No. 15/12 Wildcats (19-5, 9-2 Southeastern Conference) took a 25-point lead on the Tigers, were sharing the ball, dominating the boards and resembled the team that was cruising through much of its non-conference schedule.

But over the final eight minutes of the game, the Wildcats reverted to their more recent level of play and won by just seven points. While frustrating at the time, the dose of reality may actually be a blessing in disguise.

“I’ll say this, and I said it to the team, the best thing to happen to us is LSU,” Calipari said. “We were on track. We were going to beat them by 30 and then they make that run in the last seven, eight minutes. And if we had won by 30, possibly me would have looked at it and said, ‘OK, now we’re right’. We’ve got this right. And by them coming back on us, it showed me, we’ve got to, this ain’t no – this is not going to work this way.”

If the remaining three weeks of the regular season are anything like the past couple weeks, it will be one wild ride to Selection Sunday on March 12. In addition to Kentucky’s struggles, a number of other highly ranked teams have experienced bumps in the road. On Feb. 4 alone, six teams ranked in the Associated Press’ top 10  – including Kentucky – went down with losses. That, too, hasn’t been lost on Coach Cal.

“You’re looking at teams all across the country trying to figure stuff out, and we’re one of them,” he said. “I love that I’m coaching this team. Where we are defensively I’m not happy with, but the last two days and even Monday’s practice, where we were zeroed in on moving that ball on offense, they’re responding.”

Based on Friday’s media opportunity, it sounds like Calipari is toying with the idea of using the bench as his ally even more than before. Noting that outside of the anomaly that was the 2014-15 season in which he platooned two groups, Coach Cal said that many of his best teams had shorter rotations. 

Malik Monk, for one, told Calipari that if he isn’t rebounding the ball he should come out. Other Wildcats weren’t as forthcoming, but as Coach Cal continues to try to shore up his team’s defense, a simple message resonates: defend and rebound or sit.

“You know, one of the things you do is just say if you really want to get better defensively, you play your best six defenders and that’s it,” Calipari said. “Don’t play anybody else. Now, you’re seeing teams across the country start doing that right now. Syracuse went to playing six guys. That’s it. I’m playing six, and I’ll play five if no one gets in foul trouble and you can all play 40 minutes and they’ve won seven in a row. … So, we’re not at that point yet, but again, if you’re going in and you’re breaking down or you can’t fight or rebound, you just can’t be in there. I’ve made it clear to the guys. We’ve got to get back to having a defensive presence and making it about defense.”

Coach Cal’s reboot will get its next challenge against Alabama on Saturday at 1 p.m. ET at Coleman Coliseum in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. The Tide (14-9, 7-4 SEC) are alone in fourth place in the league standings after winning at South Carolina in four overtimes on Tuesday.

One of the deepest teams in the country, Alabama has 10 active players averaging at least 12.6 minutes per game and eight scoring between 5.4 and 11.8 points per game.

“Their players are good,” Coach Cal said on Monday’s SEC Coaches’ Teleconference, “but their team is really good.”

And what Alabama perhaps does best is rebound. The Crimson Tide’s plus-6.6 average rebounding margin is the best in the SEC. Freshman forward Braxton Key, who leads the team in scoring (11.8 ppg) and rebounding, is pulling down just 6.0 boards per game, but four other players are just behind him averaging between 4.0 and 5.7.

“It’s our guards that got to stick their noses in there and go rebound,” Calipari said. “This team is going to shoot it and send four guys to the rim. That’s what they do. And if your guards don’t rebound, it’s going to be ugly.”

After being outrebounded at Florida by 25, a record in the Calipari era, the Wildcats outrebounded LSU by 14 the very next game. Coach Cal said that he expects Alabama to employ a similar strategy as Florida and play with great energy and effort. And at the end of the day, win or lose, Saturday’s game will show Calipari exactly where his team and this reboot is.

“We got a month to get this right,” he said. “These guys are in a great frame of mind right now. It’s going to be a really hard game for us to win down there the way they’re playing and how hard they rebound the ball. It’s exactly the medicine we need to say ‘Where are we right now rebounding the ball?’ Because you’re going to find out, similar to what Florida did, shoot it and go get it.”

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