Bruce Pearl's passionate pregame speeches have not gone unnoticed by John Calipari. (Auburn Athletics Photo)
Forget the road wins at Kansas, Alabama and South Carolina. Forget the decision not to play Shaedon Sharpe this year. All you need to know to believe that Kentucky is back in the national championship chase is a look at the swag coach John Calipari has regained after last year’s 9-16 loss — or early December loss at Notre Dame.
Calipari can’t help himself when he’s feeling good about his team and probably let that lead him into taking a jab at Auburn coach Bruce Pearl and the No. 1 Tigers Friday.
Pearl and Calipari have had an intense rivalry starting when Pearl at Tennessee and Calipari was at Memphis and it has fired back up now that both are in the SEC.
Pearl has made no secret of several passionate pregame speeches — that have worked — this year and didn’t try to hide his joy after the Tigers swept Alabama when he took a broom on the court at Auburn to signify the sweep.
Calipari said Friday he doesn’t have to do those things at Kentucky.
“For the entire season, I do not make one game bigger than the other,” Calipari said. “There are no Knute Rockne talks prior to the game, ‘You’ve got to do this!’ And we’re sweeping the floor and jumping on stuff. I don’t do any of that.
This is, let’s become a machine. Everything is day-to-day improvement. Stay in the moment.”
Remember, Auburn did beat Kentucky in the only regular-season game between the two and that’s why the Tigers have the SEC lead.
Here’s hoping there is another UK-Auburn game in postseason play. Don’t forget that Calipari was not amused that Auburn students stormed the court with shirts off after the win over UK and then the Tigers tried to claim it was not a “big” win to beat Kentucky.
“I hate to see them when they play in a big game,” Calipari said on his weekly radio show after the Auburn loss. “Take your shorts off, maybe? I don’t know. And I’m not being disrespectful. Isn’t that everybody who plays us? It’s everybody who plays us. We’re in that environment every time we play.”
