John Calipari Went Back to Old School Practice

Vicky Graff Photo

Losing to UNC-Wilmington was a stunning defeat for Kentucky but coach John Calipari said on his weekly radio show Monday that film review told him what his team did wrong is fixable.

He had his players watch film Monday for about an hour to point out mistakes that were made.

“Why didn’t we pass the ball? We had 45 possessions of no passes or one pass. You’ve watched us play all year, what in the world? Why?” Calipari said on his show.  “So what we did was show them, but then we showed them Miami (film).

“‘Well, you just passed the ball and created shots for each other.’ We did not create one good shot for each other in this game — everything was like pulling teeth.”

There was more.

“The second thing was about the turnovers. Are you kidding me? Wait a minute, what is different in five days? Less than that? What was the mindset going in? And were you desperate enough? Because they seem to be more desperate than us,” Calpari said.

The Kentucky coach indicated Monday’s practice was a lot different from other practices this season.

“I wasn’t cussing or swearing, wasn’t throwing balls, wouldn’t go nuts. But it was old school. There was an NBA scout in there watching the old school stuff, we literally had guys hitting the floor, like, falling down,” Calipari said. “Tre (Mitchell) went so hard that he had to stop. ‘Literally, my legs won’t move right now.’

“We did some wall sits today. Have you ever done wall sits? Have you done them until your leg shakes? We did wall sits why? I have two or three guys on the team who can’t get in their stance and stay there, so what happens is a straight-line drive right by you. My option is you’re not going to play or we can figure this out.

Again, there was more as Calipari went heavy on lane slides in practice.

“In the lane, elbow to elbow, side to side, you competing against a teammate? One of you gets to stop, the other has to go another time? You should have seen them go, oh my gosh,” Calipari said. “Jordan Burks and Rob Dillingham, Tre beat Reed (Sheppard).

“If you had seen Tre go, you would have said, ‘Where’s his motor like that? Why doesn’t he (do that more often)?’ I went back to some things I had done to get them to pass the ball and move the ball.”