UK ATHLETICS COMMUNICATIONS AND PUBLIC RELATIONS
MEN’S BASKETBALL
SEC MEN’S BASKETBALL TELECONFERENCE
MARCH 11, 2019
Head Coach John Calipari
On the Southeastern Conference Tournament …
“I see this tournament – and this is my 10th season (in the league) – by far the most balanced, most talented teams. Teams that are – you’re talking about eight, nine teams have an opportunity to play in the NCAA Tournament. Anybody that’s playing, it’s a hard a game, the first game. It doesn’t matter if you’re playing Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, your game is going to be a hard game. So it should be a really interesting weekend.”
On the team’s mental and physical freshness …
“Well, the whole reason we do what we do and how we do this is to make sure they’re fresh-legged and fresh-minded at the end of the year. That’s the goal, which means you’re not overwhelming them with practices, you’re not overwhelming them with film sessions, mentally you’re not trying to beat them down. Now, you’re trying to hold them accountable. You’re trying to get them to understand energy, that you’ve got to get to the point where you are playing 40 minutes the same way. You don’t rise to the level of the competition you fall back on your training and the process. If you fall back on that and do that for 40 minutes, that gives you your best opportunity to keep advancing.”
On if freshness is different at Kentucky vs. his previous stops …
“No, because every game was the biggest game on the other team’s schedule for the last five years at both of those places (UMass and Memphis), the last six years really. Everything was sold out. Everything was the biggest game. Every game was you have to win. While we were there, we were trying to win and hold your seed. You almost had to win – we had to win everything. That’s why when someone asks me, ‘How did you win that many straight games?’ I said, ‘We had to to hold our seed.’ It’s all the same and how you practice, how long you practice, how much do you occupy their time. Do you make games like you’re climbing mountains every game or is every game the same? Every approach to every game has been the same and it’ll continue to be the same.”
On Keldon Johnson’s progress …
“The kid really cares, and that’s so important. The kid is trying to do the right stuff, and so that’s really important. And he also is self-evaluating. He recognizes when he’s not doing what we’re asking him to do or he loses focus or he’s not engaged. He now accepts and evaluates. That’s the step to changing. And so he’s growing up right before our eyes. But it’s not just him. How about how well Immanuel (Quickley) is playing right now? How about both Nick (Richards) and EJ (Montgomery) have had a chance because of Reid (Travis) to get a lot of time? And during that time we’re (4-1). And we played two of those on the road against two of our better teams. We were just talking about Arkansas, who could have beat us and won the next three games and is playing well. And we played Florida, who is playing well and the games they’ve lost have all been, like, buzzer games or tip-in games. So, you know, it’s not just him. Tyler Herro is growing up. I told them, ‘If you’re a man, your responses are like a man. When you’re a child, you respond with things like a child.’ I said, ‘It’s time to grow up. You’ve got to be a man. You’ve got to self-evaluate. You’ve got to understand that if you want to be a man, you’ve got to leave childish responses behind – you’re still a child.”
On if Johnson tried to put too much on himself too quickly …
“They all do. These kids – and I told them again the other day – I respect them. I respect what these kids go through. I respect what’s at stake. I respect the clutter they’ve got to deal with. I respect that. It’s hard. And it’s even harder here because now, you know, they’re getting it 10 different ways. And the other team is coming and there’s no, like, ‘OK, well, we’ve got a good game and I can just go play basketball and not worry about this other stuff.’ What? But again, it’s all about growing up. It’s all about dealing with clutter. It’s all about being a man and your response to things. I talked to them about the flattery. It’s poison. Why would someone flatter you and also demean anybody else on our team or any of our coaches or me? To make you feel good about you so you feel good about them. That’s flattery. You don’t want to hear flattery. If someone wants to give you an honest opinion of what you’ve got to do to get better, listen to that. ‘Well, you should be playing more, shooting more. You’re better than this guy and that. You’re so good and they don’t do this and they’re not doing that for you.’ You listen to that? That’s poison. That’s when you start going down that wrong road.”
