Connect with us

Uncategorized

John Calipari and Mitch Barnhart Share Details of Their Meeting, “Exit Strategy”

Published

10 months ago

on

John Calipari and Mitch Barnhart sit down and discuss the future of the Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball program.

The talk of the town the last few days has been of the meeting between John Calipari and Kentucky Athletic Director Mitch Barnhart. One fan even created a Twitter/X account dedicated to tracking Calipari’s plane from New Jersey to Lexington.

The meeting finally took place on Tuesday afternoon at Barnhart’s farm. Afterward, Kentucky Insider quickly learned that Calipari would be returning for his 16th season as coach of the Kentucky Wildcats, with some changes. There are rumors of what changes are coming, but we are confident that there will be some staff/support staff changes and some day-to-day, operational changes.

Less than twenty-four hours removed from that meeting, the two discussed the details in a pre-recorded interview with LEX18.

Advertisement

Barnhart started the interview by putting to bed the rumor that he and Calipari have “no relationship”, pointing out that both he and Calipari are part of 40+ year marriages, and have worked together going on 16 years.

“We know how to manage relationships,” Barnhart said. “This notion that we have no relationship is garbage… I’m not a guy that gets in coach’s business, and they will all tell you that. At the end of the day, I trust him (Calipari) to do his job. Let’s put the notion of no relationship out the door.”

So what did they talk about in the meeting? “We talked about things we want to get better at. The elephants in the room,” Barnhart said. The biggest elephant in the room has been the lack of success from the Kentucky basketball program over the last four seasons, despite a number of talented players coming in.

“Our fans know what the standard is. We know what the standard is. The mantle of what we have been entrusted with is critically important to us. We talked about that,” Barnhart said. How do we change that dynamic in a world of NIL, transfer portal, older rosters?”

Advertisement

Calipari says, “We gotta get older,” and it sounds like he will be doing so, combining young and veteran talent, rather than being reliant on one or the other.

“There have been teams that have taken a bunch of transfers. One year they did okay, the next year they fell flat on their face,” (cough, cough, Arkansas) Calipari said. “With the current environment, you can’t have five freshmen starting. If you have freshmen, they’ve got to be supplemented with some veteran, talented players.”

Barnhart is confident in the guy who he hired 15 years ago can adjust to the current landscape of college basketball.

“If there has even been a person that has been able to adapt and adjust in the game, Cal has,” Barnhart said. I remember when he first came here, he made the comment, ‘We’re going to have to adapt to this new era of ‘one and done’.’ He adapted. We will have to adapt and just to a new world of NIL and transfers.”

Advertisement

Barnhart and Calipari also discussed the absence of defense and toughness from recent teams, and it will adjust how Calipari uses the summer.

“I’ve never worked on defense in the summer. Now, I’m looking at this summer and say this may be where we try to get the foundation set defensively,” Calipari said. “Toughness. Some of it is recruiting toughness. I think the class we are bringing, a bunch of these guys have more toughness to their game.”

It’s clear, that both Barnhart and Calipari, who are in the twilight of their careers, want to end on a positive note. Now on more common ground, they will look to make changes in hopes that it pays off with postseason success.

“Not a lot of people in our industry get to exit the way you want to exit. I want us to be able to exit well and be able to say we left it (Kentucky basketball) in a really good spot for the people that came behind us.”

Advertisement

Related Topics:
Advertisement

Uncategorized

Kentucky vs. Mississippi State: TV/Streaming Info, Preview, and Betting Odds/Predictions

Published

3 weeks ago

on

January 11, 2025

By

Kentucky Wildcats center Amari Williams (22) celebrates after making a basket.
Jordan Prather | Imagn

Coming off a disappointing loss to Georgia, the Kentucky Wildcats will hit the road again on Saturday, this time against the 14th-ranked Mississippi State Bulldogs.

Led by third-year head coach Chris Jans, the Bulldogs currently hold their highest ranking since the 2018-19 season. It’s not been due to a poor schedule either, as the Bulldogs have the eighth-strongest strength of record according to ESPN, including four Quad I wins.

Ranked top 25 in KenPom offensive and defensive efficiency, Mississippi State is just one of 11 teams that fit that criteria. That said, Kentucky is 2-0 against such teams as Duke and Florida.

Advertisement

Let’s take a look at the matchup.

Rebounding Battle

Kentucky’s biggest issue of late has been rebounding, which Mark Pope called a “major issue” after the loss to Georgia. The Wildcats have been outrebounded in four straight games, including Brown, and have given up double-digit offensive rebounds in back-to-back games to start SEC play.

The rebounding battle is not going to be any easier against Mississippi State, who ranks 30th in rebounds per game (39.3) and grabs 34.4% of their own misses.

On paper, Kentucky has more size, and it will be important for ALL five players to box out. As they teach in youth basketball, Hit-Turn-Drive-Purse.

Advertisement

Take Care of the Ball

Kentucky has been one of the top ten teams in the country in taking care of the ball, but they coughed it up 13 times to Georgia, their second-highest mark of the season.

On the other side, Mississippi State is really good at forcing turnovers. Per game, the Bulldogs turn their opponent over nearly 15 times. About ten of those come from steals, where they rank in the top 10 nationally.

Kentucky has scored more than 1 point per possession this season, so think of it as leaving points on the board. They need to commit nine or fewer turnovers.

Physicality

The officiating has not been great in Kentucky’s first two SEC contests. However, that’s just part of the game. As Mark Pope says, only focus on what you can control.

Advertisement

One thing they can focus on and control is their level of physicality. The Cats responded to the physicality of Florida but never matched it against Georgia, and that is a big reason why they lost.

Again, Kentucky has the size, but they have to show the mentality. In the SEC you have to be the most physical team or meet the level every night out. It’s time for the Cats to step up in this regard.

Opposing Players to Watch

G Josh Hubbard 5-11, 190 lbs

  • 17.1 PPG (T-9th in SEC)
  • 3.3 APG
  • 38.2% 3P

F Keshawn Murphy 6-10, 230 lbs

  • 9.9 PPG
  • 7.7 RPG (9th in SEC)
  • 1.3 BPG

F Cameron Matthews 6-7, 235 lbs

  • 6.9 RPG
  • 4.1 APG (8th in SEC)
  • 2.5 SPG (1st in SEC)

Kentucky Basketball vs. Mississippi State Bulldogs

Time: 8:30 PM ET
Date: January 11th, 2024
Location: Humphrey Coliseum in Starkville, Mississippi
TV Channel: SEC Network
Announcers: Dave Neal and Jon Sundvold will call the action.
Online Stream: You can stream the game online using ESPN+ and the ESPN app.
Radio: Tom Leach and Jack Givens will have the call on the UK Sports Radio Network.
Replay: WatchESPN and SEC Network (check local listings).
Rosters: UK | MISS ST
Stats to Know: UK | MISS ST
KenPom: UK | MISS ST
Team Sheet: UK | MISS ST

Odds: FanDuel Sportsbook has Kentucky as a 4.5-point underdog with an over/under of 161.5. ESPN is the most confident in Kentucky’s chances to win… at just 36.8%. EvanMiya is the most pessimistic, giving the Cats just a 28.1% chance of victory. Bart Torvik (33%) and KenPom (31%) fall in between.

Advertisement

Predictions: The analytics have Kentucky losing by 5+ points in Starkville. Haslametrics has Kentucky losing 86-79. EvanMiya has the Cats losing 82-76. Bart Torvik (85-80) and KenPom (84-79) are going with a five-point loss. I think Kentucky struggles again with another physical team that is more talented than Georgia or Ohio State. I believe Kentucky will drop a second straight, 78-72.

How do you see this one going? Send us your Kentucky vs. Mississippi State score predictions in the comments section!

Go Cats!!

Advertisement
Continue Reading

Uncategorized

Mark Pope Calls Kentucky’s Rebounding Effort Against Georgia “Unacceptable”, “It’s a Sign of Distraction”

Published

3 weeks ago

on

January 8, 2025

By

Kentucky head coach Mark Pope looks on from the sidelines as the Wildcats play Georgia.
Dale Zanine | Imagn

Mark Pope has the utmost respect for his players and that is why he is honest with them. After the Wildcats’ 82-69 loss to Georgia on Tuesday, Pope was honest about his team’s rebounding effort and he was not pleased, to say the least.

“That’s a bell we got to ring,” Pope said after the game. “It’s unacceptable for us. It’s a sign of distraction. There were so many uncharacteristic plays on the court tonight. For us as a decision-making team, those are manifestations of some distraction.”

To fix that problem, Pope says the team has to get better at rooting out that distraction and building better habits. This is something he highlighted after Kentucky’s loss to Ohio State as well.

Advertisement

Highlighting the glass as a “major issue”, it’s not for lack of effort.

“Sometimes, when you start on a project you take ten steps backward before you start to make progress,” Pope said. “It feels like that is what’ve done. It feels like the more that we talk about it, the more we drill it, the more of a challenge it is.”

Find his full press conference below.

Advertisement
Continue Reading

Uncategorized

Mark Pope Updated Lamont Butler’s Status Going Forward, “It’s An Interesting Thing”

Published

1 month ago

on

December 20, 2024

By

Kentucky Wildcats guard Lamont Butler (1) is helped to his feet by his teammates.
IMAGN

On Wednesday during his pre-Ohio State press conference, Coach Pope provided a brief update on the injury status of Lamont Butler who suffered an ankle injury against Clemson.

Even though Butler was able to play against Louisville, playing 32 minutes on a recently injured ankle could possibly lead to a setback. When discussing Butler’s injury on Wednesday, Coach Pope jokingly said: “Lamont’s ankle is an interesting thing because there’s part of me that wants to get it 100% healthy, and then there’s a part of me that, I don’t know if I want to get it 100% healthy. He was pretty good in that Louisville game.” Pope was smiling as he said that, referring to Butler scoring 33 points, grabbing 6 rebounds, and shooting perfectly from the field. 

Pope went on to explain that the UK coaching staff is being careful with Butler and currently holding him “out of contact” in practice. This means he’s doing the individual drills, offensive breakdown concepts, but when it comes to live action, Butler is not participating. 

Advertisement

The good news for BBN, Pope ended his update on Butler by saying, “I think he’s over it, I think we’ve moved on, hopefully”. This is a good update on Butler and certainly infers that he should have no limitations for Saturday’s game against Ohio State.

Advertisement
Continue Reading

Trending