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Recapping John Calipari’s Interview With Paul Finebaum

Published

3 years ago

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UK Athletics

On Tuesday, John Calipari made gave his latest interview. This with Paul Finebaum during SEC meetings in Destin.

Let’s see what all he had to say.

What is the state of your program?

“We were the fifth-seeded team in that tournament and lost. I’m still sick over it. Jacob is coming back, Oscar is coming. I mean we got a team. (goes on to list the remainder of the roster)…

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We got a terrific group. It’s Kentucky, we play for the national championship. My thing always is, you want to be in the hunt. We were in the hunt last year. Two years ago, when we win our league by three games, they shut down the tournament. That team could’ve won the whole thing. You want to be in the hunt, and I am looking at this team, and we have a chance. We really do.”

How do you deal with it (the loss to St. Peters)?

“There’s some grieving. I have never had a team lose to a seed like that, but they weren’t a 15 seed, Saint Peters was really good. We had never done that, so I had to deal with that. Like okay, ‘where do you go?’ You look back, ‘what could we have done?’

We weren’t great the last five games. Guys didn’t come back the way I thought they would. If we lose, who is taking responsibility? I will. If we win, I push those kids to the front and move to the back a little bit. I’m going to figure out a way to put this on me because I don’t want it on the kids. I’d rather it be on me, I am the adult in the room.

These young people gave everything they could to the university. We were like 3rd in the country (in the NET), 2nd on offense, and all that stuff. That team was exciting. I loved coaching last year’s team, had a ball. You know what? That last game, really the last couple of games, we just weren’t what we were two or three weeks earlier. I thought the injuries would help us, get more guys and we’d bounce back. I don’t think TyTy ever got healthy. Played Kellan too many minutes.

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You know what? At the end of the day, you can’t steal the joy of that season. The last game, you got to go through it, you got to deal with it. Then I got to lead by showing our guys ‘okay now next, here we go’. They’re coming on campus the next couple of days. We’re getting ready for this coming year to go do what we do.”

What has kept you at Kentucky?

“I think I got the best job in basketball, and I believe that. Yeah, I’ve had some opportunities to look or leave, and you know what? At the end of the day, you look at this situation, we have the chance to win it every year.

Mitch and I are meeting because it’s unacceptable if we’re not the gold standard in facilities and everything else. It’s not acceptable if midnight madness isn’t something talked about for a month. We need the campout going again.

Here’s what I say. See basketball is different than football. In football, you need the calvary. In basketball one guy can make a difference in winning the whole thing or getting to the Final Four, one guy. To have everything the gold standard, we’ve always been that. We slipped a little bit in some of the facilities. Now I’m not saying our facilities are bad, they’re not bad, they’re just not the gold standard.

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Mitch and I are going to sit down and talk ‘okay, what’s the path?’. How do we get that going to where anybody that walks on our campus and sees any facilities, knows, ‘Wow, look at this’? We’re going to get there. Like I said, he and I are going to sit down and talk about it, but again what we do, the big picture, is getting kids to that next level by developing young people.”

How have you adapted to change and continue to relate to these players?

“What’s next and how can we be first at it? What’s out there? What are we allowed to do? (referring to NIL) If you truly care about the kids and are authentic about it, you’ll always be able to go on because they’ll know you’re about them. Jacob ran his course, did his thing, and is coming back. He will be unbelievable. He will be a first-round pick.

You have Shaedon Sharpe right now going through this process. A great kid, who I love, who came to us in the middle of last season, and had every intention of ‘I’m sitting out, and I’m playing next year, and I am going to lead us and we’re going to go do something crazy’. Well, circumstances change. Now for me, I want to coach the kid. I want him back at Kentucky, but if he is a top-10 pick, and he’s your son. I mean it’s a hard one… I just don’t want our kids to be mad at him for doing something he probably has to do (if he’s a top-10 pick).”

How do you deal with all the noise?

“Social media has amped the stuff up and sometimes it’s a ‘follow the leader type of deal’. At the end of the day, being at Kentucky, you have the greatest fans. The other side of it is they’re activated and they’re into it. They’re watching everything and losing is life and death. When you’re winning, there is nothing more euphoric.

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I can remember us driving from the airport after winning the national title, and people from the nursing home are in wheelchairs and on the street waving. I’m like, ‘are you serious?’. I got emotional because this is what it means to all the people in our state.

I’ve done this for a long time. The bullets are shot through bazooka holes. The greatest job, the greatest opportunity, we got to make everything the gold standard, which is what it’s been. You know what? Let’s go on and do some crazy stuff, which we have a chance to do.”

You can listen to the interview in its entirety here starting at the 12:50 mark.

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Men's Basketball

Kentucky vs. Ohio State: TV/Streaming Info, Keys to the Game, and Betting Odds/Predictions

Published

2 days ago

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December 21, 2024

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Kentucky Wildcats head coach Mark Pope and forward Andrew Carr (7) celebrate with forward Brandon Garrison.
Jordan Prather | IMAGN

The Kentucky Wildcats are off to the Big Apple in hopes of snagging an early Christmas present as they take on the Ohio State Buckeyes in the CBS Sports Classic. Game time is set for approximately 5:30 PM ET this Saturday at Madison Square Garden on CBS, right after the North Carolina Tar Heels vs. UCLA Bruins matchup.

The Buckeyes are led by first-year head coach Jake Diebler, a former player who was promoted after Chris Holtmann was fired last season. The Buckeyes ended the season 8-3 under Diebler after a 14-11 start with Holtmann.

Now in his first full season, the Buckeyes have arguably the most inconsistent team in the country. In fact, according to TeamRankings, the Buckeyes are the fifth most inconsistent team in the country (Kentucky is actually 173rd, likely due to some of their sporadic performances vs. mid-majors).

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With wins over Texas and Rutgers, Ohio State has the talent to win. With three of their four losses coming by 14 or more points, including a 38-point loss to Auburn, they could lose big.

Let’s take a look at the matchup.

3-Point Shooting

Kentucky just played one of the least efficient 3-point shooting teams in Louisville but will be tested with the opposite with Ohio State as the Buckeyes shoot nearly 41% from deep, ranked 10th nationally, on just 22 attempts per game.

Their three-point attack is led by their quartet of guards: John Mobley, Meechie Johnson, Brian Thornton, and Micah Parrish. Together, they account for 80% of the team’s three-point attempts.

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However, on Tuesday, it was announced that Johnson would be taking a leave of absence, which certainly hurts them. He’s also given Kentucky plenty of trouble, scoring 14 points in last year’s win over the Wildcats in Columbia. He scored 26 in the win at Kentucky during the 2022-23 season.

The Wildcats seemed to finally get out of their shooting slump against Louisville, shooting over 40% from deep for the first time since the Jackson State game on November 22nd.

However, that included a heroic 6/6 effort from Lamont Butler. Can the team sustain that level of shooting going forward?

Crash Offensive Glass

Ohio State has size, but despite that, they have been outrebounded in four of their six games against Power Six opponents. This includes all four of their losses.

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Kentucky averages eight rebounds more per game than the Buckeyes, but it’s the offensive glass where Kentucky could take advantage of most. More often than not, extra possessions with this Kentucky offense lead to more points.

We’ve seen plenty of games where Kentucky was beaten badly on the boards in the first half, only to patch things up out of the halftime break. Let’s see if Kentucky can put together a full game of rebounding well vs. a Power Six team.

Free Throws

As many shooters as there are on this Kentucky team, they have been very inconsistent from the free-throw line, especially of late. Shooting a mediocre 72.3% on the season, the Wildcats have shot below 65% in three of four games in December, the exception being the Gonzaga game.

Ohio State plays a physical brand of defense and commits more than 18 fouls per game. The Wildcats need to shoot 75% from the line. The poor free-throw shooting is starting to become a pattern, but it’s something you know Mark Pope and Co. are putting a lot of effort into fixing it.

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Hopefully, the Wildcats will respond with a much better outing in a neutral-court arena that’s similar to what they’ll see in March Madness.

Opposing Players to Watch

F Devin Royal 6-6. 220 lbs

  • 15.6 PPG
  • 7.9 RPG
  • 61.1% FG

G Bruce Thornton 6-2, 215 lbs

  • 14.8 PPG
  • 5.1 APG
  • 48.7% 3P

G John Mobley Jr. 6-1, 175 lbs

  • 12.1 PPG
  • 53.6% 3P
  • 71% of made shots have been 3P.

Kentucky Basketball (10-1) vs. Ohio State Buckeyes (7-4)

Time: Approximately 5:30 PM ET on December 21st, 2024
Location: Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York
TV Channel: CBS
Online Stream: CBS Sports and the CBS Sports app
Radio: Tom Leach and Jack Givens will have the call on the UK Sports Radio Network.
Replay: WatchESPN and ESPN network of channels (check local listings).
Rosters: UK | OSU
Stats to Know: UK | OSU
KenPom: UK | OSU
Team Sheet: UK | OSU

Odds: FanDuel Sportsbook has Kentucky favored by 6.5 points with an over/under of 160.5 points. EvanMiya is the most confident in Kentucky at 82% percent in favor of the Wildcats to take down the Buckeyes. KenPom is just at 64%. Bart Torvik (72%) and ESPN (65.8%) fall in between.

Predictions: EvanMiya projects an 84-73 win. Haslametrics (81-75) and Bart Torvik (83-77) say a six-point victory. KenPom (82-78) projects the lowest margin of victory at just four points. I think the Cats will get the win in New York, so I’m predicting an 86-73 victory, Kentucky!

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

And Go CATS!!

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Men's Basketball

Mark Pope Provides Injury Update on Kerr Kriisa After “Tricky” Surgery

Published

3 days ago

on

December 20, 2024

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Kentucky Wildcats guard Kerr Kriisa reacts to a call.
IMAGN

On Wednesday during his pre-Ohio State press conference, Mark Pope provided a brief update on the injury status of Kerr Kriisa. Kriisa went down with a jones fracture against Gonzaga and underwent surgery.

Discussing injury updates, moving onto Kerr Kriisa. Kriisa had surgery almost immediately after the Cats returned home from their loss at Clemson. In an interview last week, Pope predicted Kriisa would miss the next 6 weeks of basketball, even though he didn’t seem confident in that prediction.

In yesterday’s press conference, Pope informed BBN that Kerr recently started getting back in the weight room, “doing strength and conditioning”. Pope went on to joke that the UK coaching staff’s “goal is to make the weight room so unpleasant that he’s wanting to get back on the court” as soon as he can.

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Whether intentionally or not, it does seem like Pope is giving BBN reason to believe Kerr will return before the 6-week initial prediction is over. But in the end, Pope could only say that they hope Kerr “returns sooner rather than later” but at the end of the day, “there are some things that are out of our control.”

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Men's Basketball

Kentucky’s Schedule Ranked the Toughest in the Country, Fifteen Q1 Matchups Remain

Published

3 days ago

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December 20, 2024

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Kentucky basketball head coach Mark Pope is using psychologists to monitor his players daily at practice.
Chet White | UK Athletics

Stop me if you’ve heard this before: Kentucky is every team’s Super Bowl. When the Wildcats come to town, you can bet it’s going to be a themed night. And looking at Kentucky’s remaining schedule, that statement rings true once again. It feels like every game will be a championship-level showdown.

ESPN has labeled Kentucky with the honor of having the “toughest remaining schedule” in college basketball. Having already faced tough teams like Duke, Gonzaga, Clemson, and bitter rival Louisville, the Wildcats are already battle-tested—and it’s only December.

Kentucky’s non-conference slate wraps up this month with games against Ohio State and Brown. After that, they enter the heart of their schedule: a revamped SEC. The Southeastern Conference is now the top dog in college basketball. They are expected to send a record number of teams to the NCAA tournament this year. Early predictions even suggest the SEC could claim all four No. 1 seeds in March, with Tennessee, Auburn, Alabama, and Kentucky each in the mix. However, that outcome is unlikely, as these teams will spend the next three months battling it out, night after night.

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Kentucky has 20 games left on its schedule, and 15 of them are currently considered Quad 1 matchups—games against top-tier opponents. With nine teams ranked in the top 25, including two games against No. 1 Tennessee, and matchups against Alabama, Auburn, Texas A&M, Florida, and a scorned John Calipari returning to Rupp Arena, it’s no surprise Kentucky’s schedule is considered the toughest in the country.

Kentucky head coach Mark Pope recently commented on the strength of the SEC, calling it “a bloodbath.” But despite the brutal competition, he understands the value of these challenges. “It’s so awesome; this league is just insanity right now,” he said. “As an athlete and as a coach, you’d be sad if you were playing in another league. This is what you dream of.”

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