Former Notre Dame coach and current ESPN College GameDay analyst Digger Phelps took a few minutes out of his time Friday afternoon to answer some questions about the UK basketball team.Phelps and the GameDay crew are in town setting up Saturday’s live broadcast from Rupp Arena. The UK-Tennessee game is the featured game of the GameDay broadcast.Cat Scratches: With 24,000 people packing Rupp Arena is this going to be the pinnacle for GameDay?Digger Phelps: GameDay has been building up over the years. Two weeks ago, in Manhattan, Kansas, we had 8,100 which shocked all of us. We knew about Coach Cal’s marketing techniques, not just recruiting three great freshmen, but knowing he’s coming to Kentucky to win a national championship, which gets this place fired up. Blue’s back.
CS: How important is it for the sport of college basketball to have Kentucky back in the national picture again?DP: When you look at the history of college basketball, you can probably name five schools starting with UCLA, who’s won the most – 10 out of 12 national titles under John Wooden and Jimmy Harrick won one. What Roy has done to (North) Carolina in the last couple years winning two titles. You take Michigan State with Tom Izzo, the last 11 years before this season he’s been to five Final Fours. So, for Kentucky to be back in the pack with all these traditional schools, this is the best of why Calipari is here.
CS: Are you surprised to see this amount of success with all these freshmen?DP: They’re that talented. And I think John has done a great job of bringing them along. But they’re still freshmen and you’ve got to realize that. It’s going to be interesting to see how they mature enough in trying to win six games (in the NCAA Tournament). You can have Derrick Rose, like at Memphis, but he was surrounded with upper classmen. These guys here, it’s now like, ‘OK can we do it?’ You figure 30 games under your belt, and you’ve got six to win, yeah, they’ll be in the hunt. But you look at Kansas and you say, ‘hey, wait a second.’ Sherron Collins doesn’t worry about (Eric) Bledsoe and (John) Wall. He’s won a national title. Cole Aldrich has been there so you got two seniors. And you take a look at DeMarcus Cousins, well all right he’s become what he is, but don’t forget Marcus Morris with Kansas is doing the same thing that Cousins is doing here. So that’d be interesting. And you look at Syracuse, their defense has been the best I’ve ever seen in all the years I’ve known (Jim) Boeheim. So it’s going to be interesting. So you just take it as it comes and you’ve got time.
CS: In the GameDay meetings you mentioned the important of having a good point guard, or “quarterback” as you said, to guide you through the NCAA Tournament. John Wall appears to fit that mold.DP: If you don’t have a guard you’re not going to get there. You’ve got to have (a good point guard). You saw what Ty Lawson did last year to get it done. Derrick Rose did it, but Sherron Collins gave the ball to (Mario) Chalmers and the game was overtime. If you don’t have a great guard, in my opinion, you’re not going to make it.
CS: How do you coach freshmen so they don’t tire out mid-February?DP: It’s a mindset this time of the year.
CS: Do you have to tell them anything?DP: No, just play. Game experience, the more games they play, you know you get 30 games under your belt, you’re no longer a freshman. You just play. So you don’t tell them they’re tired or they’re frustrated. As a coach you know that you just have to be sure that the mental focus stays focused. We saw what happened when they went to South Carolina. It was a wake-up call. We saw what happened when Kansas went to Tennessee because they didn’t see Tyler Smith, it was a wake-up call. We saw what happened to Syracuse when they played home against Pitt, it was a wake-up call.
