John Calipari answered questions Thursday afternoon to get men’s basketball media started, so here is the full transcript of his comments to get our coverage of the event started. Here are the first few questions and answers, but head over to CoachCal.com to see the complete transcript.

CALIPARI:  How about this?  Our women’s volleyball
team is in first place in the SEC.  They stomped on Tennessee last
night.  How about that?

            Q.  You said if everybody played like Gilchrist you’d have a team on fire.  What did you mean by that?

            COACH CALIPARI:  Yesterday in practice,
he was just his (Michael Kidd-Gilchrist) level of intensity, DeAndre
Liggins’ (meant to say -Michael Kidd-Gilchrist’s) starting point is
where DeAndre (Liggins) finished.  That’s what he is right now, only
he’s 6?7, he’s long, he can play inside, outside, he can guard three
positions, or four positions for that matter, like DeAndre.  He just
brings a burning desire to get better.  He was in the building last
night like at 11 o’clock shooting.  He’s like the guys that I’ve had
here who ?? they are chasing greatness.

            Q.  I read that this was your most talented team?

            COACH CALIPARI:  Who said that?  The old, ‘I read it somewhere.’  (Laughter).

            Well, last year’s team, it was more that they came
together as a group and a unit.  That was one of the best teams I’ve
coached.  I’ve coached three teams like that. I coached a team at UMASS
like that ?? I’ve only had three, and that last year’s team was that
team.  They just said, we are bringing it, I know we only have six guys,
I know someone else maybe had more talent than we had, but that’s too
bad, we are winning anyway.

            This is different.  This is kind of like my first year
and a couple other years where I’ve had where you’re in a short order
trying to get a group of talented players together to play.  So it’s ??
am I surprised kids want to come to Kentucky?  No.  Not at all.  I would
be surprised if they wouldn’t want to come.  Why won’t you want to
come.

            Q.  Are you surprised how well you’ve been able to recruit here?

            COACH CALIPARI:  Well, yeah, the aura of
this program, the fans, the facilities, the SEC, there’s a lot of
things here, and then all of a sudden, they see results of other past
players, and what’s happening for those, why wouldn’t you want to be a
part of this.  Now, the issue, sometimes becomes, this is not for
everybody.

            The stuff ?? look at you.  I mean, there’s ?? this is
what it is, and they are going to feel it when they get in there.  When
they saw 600 tents lining up around ?? let me go back, I think I was
misquoted, I think it was 570, what was the exact number, so we don’t
have to have people search it out and have people say I misspoke.  550? 
Is that exact?

            So we are going with 600.  I like that one better. 
(Laughter) but when they see that for five days and see games they start
to realize, uh?oh.  And I really think, that’s one of the reasons that
Michael Gilchrist is in that gym at eleven o’clock and Brandon was and
John Wall was and Marquis Teague, Darius.  They do this because there’s a
sense of, wow, this is big, and I hope I’m for it.  And that’s why I
think the guys perform.  They go farther than people think and they go
to the league and they do better than people think.  It’s kind of this
whole environment, I call it the Kentucky effect, just kind of does it
to you.

            Q.  On some rule changes heading into the season?  

            COACH CALIPARI:  I like the arc
underneath the rim.  I wish it was a little bit bigger but I like the
arc because we drive the ball and if you are in that arc you run the guy
over and it’s a block, whether he’s there.  It can’t be your own man
now. That arc is under there for the secondary defender, but we are
trying to beat our man on the dribble, which means there’s secondary guy
coming over.

            Well, if you’re in that area, you don’t have to worry
about anything.  Just run the guy over.  Can’t be there.  The old stand
under the basket and take charges; that’s why they have done that arc,
which I think is a good rule.