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Men's Basketball

John Calipari Talks Kentucky Basketball and Rap Music In SportsCenter Interview

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Kentucky basketball coach John Calipari appearing on SportsCenter.
SportsCenter

John Calipari made his rare interview appearance on National TV on SportsCenter. He talked all about the team, Final Four hopes, NIL, and more on ESPN.

He mentioned that all of his best teams have a good mix of talent: “My best teams have been young players, talented, but veterans who are also talented and you mix them together. So we have that this year.”

Calipari says the team is really getting along well and are excited. “It should be fun,” he said. What goes into making a Final Four? “The talent where you have a couple guys that can just take over a game, where you have great rim protection,” he told ESPN. “Those have been my Final Four teams.”

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Kentucky has a few things they are working on before the season: “Get stronger, let’s get more consistent, shooting the ball, skill-wise.” He says consistency is a big key for the younger players, but he says this is a good group for that:

“They love being in the gym. I go in my office and I’ll look out and there are four guys in there playing,” he told ESPN. Cal says playing in the GLOBL JAM was important for the players to notice what they needed to work on.

“We shot the ball well,” he said on Kentucky’s performance at GLOBL JAM. “Antonio Reeves really shot the ball well. You have to have that.”

Calipari also opened up about his longtime connection with Drake: “I’ve known Drake a long, long time. Before he became Drake. The greatest thing I can tell you about him is he has really not changed. He is exactly how he was when I first met him,” he told ESPN.

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How did Calipari end up friends with Lil Wayne? “Lil Wayne was doing a concert in town and said, ‘I wanna go meet coach up there’, so he came to my office, and I tell you, I loved hearing his story.”

Calipari also touched on his stance with NIL: “I’m good with this. But, we’ve gotten out of wack with this,” he told ESPN. “Let’s figure out how to take care of these kids, do it the right way. You can’t do it in a way that takes away the Olympic sports.”

The Kentucky head coach sure did have some interesting things to say about his team in the interview with SportsCenter, and it looks like things are looking promising for this season.

Catch the full interview of Coach Calipari on SportsCenter below.

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Men's Basketball

Kentucky Basketball Has “Pure Hoopers That Love the Game” According to Former Kentucky Guard

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Tyler Ulis coaching Robert Dillingham during GLOBL Jam.
UK Athletics | Chet White

In recent seasons, Kentucky has struggled to find players to make plays when they need it most. That hasn’t always been the case, some examples of players that had the ability to make a play to secure a win include: Tyler Ulis, Jamal Murray, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, and John Wall among others.

Well speaking of some of the players I just mentioned, former Kentucky guard and current student assistant Tyler Ulis recently joined the Sources Say podcast and talked about how great this team can be this upcoming year.

Ulis calls this year’s team “pure hoopers”.

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“They’re basketball players. Hoopers. Pure hoopers, all of them. And they love the game,” Ulis said. “How me and Devin (Booker) were in the gym, me and Zay (Briscoe), me and Jamal (Murray), that’s what these guys are doing. They all want to get better — scared to fail, scared not to make it. That’s what shows they want to be great.”

As what defines a pure hooper, according to Ulis. “Anyone can make a play, anyone can get in the lane, anyone can knock a shot down,” Ulis said. “We have so many options and so much depth, it’s hard not to have fun with this team.”

With the new roster and additions to the coaching staff, the goal is for Kentucky to make a deep run into the NCAA Tournament this year. As for Ulis, he is excited to see what this year’s team can do.

“I can’t say it enough: I’m extremely excited to see how this goes. We’re deep with a lot of players, and they’re skilled.”

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Men's Basketball

Texas Women’s Basketball Takes A Shot at Kentucky Basketball

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entucky Wildcats head coach John Calipari reacts in the first half against the Providence Friars at Greensboro Coliseum.
© John David Mercer-USA TODAY Sports

Earlier this week the Kentucky basketball team caught an unexpected shot. From who? The Texas women’s basketball team. On Tuesday, the Longhorns’ social media team tweeted a video of Drake, a professed Kentucky fan, coming to visit campus and the team.

However the caption is what caught people’s attention, “we don’t have to go to Drake’s house… he comes to ours,” Clearly trying to throw a shot at Kentucky for visiting Drake’s Toronto mansion back in July, during the team’s trip to Canada for GLOBL Jam.

It didn’t take long for the Big Blue Nation to respond, as just 12 minutes later the Tweet’s caption was edited to say “thanks for stopping by🤘”.

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That being said, let’s not act like Drake made a specific trip just to visit the Texas Longhorns, he was in Austin for a stop in his music tour. Not to mention that Drake has attended multiple Kentucky games and events.

Texas will soon be in the SEC, and maybe Drake will be there in Kentucky gear to set the record straight.

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BB Recruiting

Top Kentucky Target Tre Johnson Pushes Decision Date To Spring

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UK Athletics

One of the top players in the class of 2024, Tre Johnson recently made the move to Link Academy in search of high-level competition on a big stage, which is a reason he says is why he will wait until the Spring before making a decision.

The top five guard possesses all of the scoring tools, and is a player that Kentucky really wants. He still has a few visits to take, with Alabama and Arkansas visits coming soon, plus another visit to Kansas, and another visit to Baylor. Johnson previously visited Kentucky back in late January.

Johnson has a final list of Kentucky, Baylor, Texas, Arkansas, Alabama, Kansas, and pro options. The Wildcats are rumored to be a top-three option long with Baylor and Texas. This delay may give Kentucky a better chance. With that said, he is not in a big rush to decide, as he is more focused on getting acclimated to his new home at Link Academy, as well as improving as a player.

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Tre Johnson is one of the best pure scorers in all of high school basketball, and is certainly being prioritized by multiple top schools. Current intel suggests that Baylor and Kentucky are the top contenders, but with him pushing back his decision, there is more time to tell.

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