UK Athletics Photo
It’s not just starting lineups and substitutions that Kentucky coach John Calipari has suddenly become more creative with.
He’s only doing things off the court that might not seem like much but Kentucky has now won three straight after Saturday’s 76-67 win over Texas A&M — the third straight game it has been behind but rallied to win.
“We did something different today. My past life on weekend games, I always put my team in a hotel, and I did that because all I was trying to do was get them together more. I wanted two in a hotel room, not one in their own room,” Calipari explained after the win.
“As the season went on and we had what everybody used to call ‘Camp Cal’ (during semester break), every weekend game and every weekday game if there was no class we stayed in a hotel, had dinner together, had breakfast together, did everything — wanting them to be with us.
“I did it last night. You say, why did you do it? I don’t know, something popped in my head and said, why don’t we stay at the Hyatt. We have never shot in Rupp Arena prior to a game since I’ve been here.
“Now, Jimmy Dykes said coach (Eddie) Sutton did it every game. They shot in that building. We have never done it. Well, we did it this time, and then we start off and can’t make a shot.”
Kentucky missed six of its first seven shots, a common trait in way too many games this season. Still, Calipari was not upset with his change of pregame routine.
“Why not be together? Why not have a meal together? Why not go walk through together? Why not have a breakfast together? Why not walk to a shoot-around together? It’s something that I’ve done with different teams, I just never did it here, but going forward I think it’s something that we’ll probably do because this team is getting closer and closer and closer,” Calipari said.
He also did one thing again that he did before UK’s stunning upset a week earlier at No. 5 Tennessee.
“We also collected their phones and all their stuff, iPads, everything. We collected all of it. Then they woke up in the morning, where’s my phone?” the UK coach said.
5 Responses
The Tweak of the year!!!!!
Maybe. Wheeler getting hurt allowed the right 5 to get on the floor. It needs to stay that way.
Calipari will continue to fight the obvious. One day soon, he will proclaim that Wheeler has really only been playing at about 60% due to his injuries, but now he is 100% and good to go again.
Calipari is delusional if he thinks this team is a legitimate championship contender today. The UT win was very impressive. The quality of play in the last 3 games has been consistently above this team’s performance levels prior to the UT game. However, the quality of play today falls well short of contender status.
UK is better with CJ, Reeves, Jacob, Oscar and Cason or Livington on the floor. They jell together and appear committed to play to win. They have a nack at seeing, assisting and rebounding for the team. Go Cats!
They do play very well together Linda