Vicky Graff Photo
As far as Kentucky coach John Calipari is concerned, losing to Texas A&M in the Southeastern Conference Tournament quarterfinals was no reason to worry going into NCAA Tournament play.
In fact, he believes getting two more days of rest than UK would have if it made the title game is a plus for his team going into Thursday night’s NCAA Tournament game in Pittsburgh against Oakland.
“I’ve gotten so many messages about how you can look at us getting beat,” Calipari said Sunday night after the NCAA pairings were announced. “Again, the people who aren’t fans. This is what we’re talking about. Trying to create stuff, not fans of ours.
“The others say, ‘You know what, that team played alright and they can get some rest.’ We play Thursday. Now we go on with fresh legs because we’re freshmen too. The preparation before our game with A&M, these kids were so locked in and worked so hard in practice. And wanted to compete like ‘Coach, let us go at each other.’”
Calipari said Kentucky had a terrific shootaround in Nashville before losing to Texas A&M.
“It just shows you they did everything they were supposed to. Came up a little short when I watched the tape. They never stopped playing. People should be ecstatic about this team and how far they’ve come,” Calipari said.
Of course, Calipari also said if UK could have won its first game at the SEC tourney it likely could have been a No. 2 seed instead of a No. 3 seed in the NCAA. Kentucky would play the Texas Tech-North Carolina State winner on Saturday if it beats Oakland. Houston is the No. 1 seed in the South Region while Marquette is the No. 2 seed.
“We have a heck of a team going into this. Hard draw, but there were a lot of hard draws (in the NCAA). If we could’ve gotten by that first one, I think we could’ve had a two Just on what was happening,” he said.
“And then by losing, I thought, we’ve done so much throughout the year, you can’t take away and say because this team won their last two they’re above you. … like an Auburn who’s played great, but we beat them at their place. That was, what, 2 1/2 months ago? No. It was a couple weeks ago.”
Calipari said his team “never stopped fighting” against Texas A&M but then again said he felt bad for the fans in Nashville just like he did after Friday’s loss.
“But you should’ve seen this locker room after the game. Dudes were in tears. They were in tears. Anybody that tells you they don’t care about that (SEC) tournament, you look at them and say you’re not telling the truth. They care, I just don’t put pressure on them. I say we’re playing for a seed,” Calipari said Sunday night.
“Don’t worry about the tournament, let’s play for a seed and win games. It’s how I’ve approached it. If we lose, what am I going to do? I take responsibility. I’m not trying to put that on these kids. Other people are because they’re not fans of ours. They’re trying to beat the kids down a little bit. They’re trying to get them to think what if this happens, what if that happens. They’re not fans of ours. Our fans are rejoicing.”
11 Responses
As a team we should skip the SEC tournament next year.
Stay in Lexington and rest so we can have fresh legs.
Cal is all over the place with these quotes. It was more a stream of consciousness than anything.
Hard to write a thoughtful, cogent story on Cal quotes alone these days.
He has done that for quite a while David
Calipari has brought this on this team. If you coach at Kentucky and make arrogant statements about how winning the conference or the conference tournament doesn’t matter, brag about getting OADs into the NBA, have multiple consecutive double digit loss seasons because you play pets instead of the better players, and then have early exits in both the SEC and NCAA tournaments…not to mention the first round loss in the NIT, surrender our winningest program in college basketball crown, and then become the first Kentucky team EVER to lose 3 straight SEC tourney games…most of BBN is going to come down on your azz! Even some of your azzkissers are going to denounce you as a FRAUD! You blame the kids through your lame excuses and then accuse BBN of being against the kids when we are coming down on your azz is the most cowardly thing any coach could do. But we don’t have a coach; we have a FRAUD! I don’t care if we win the national title this year, it’s time for the FRAUD to go! And take all of your azzkissing Jimmy Jimmy’s with you!
Since when does a coach decide who the fans are??? Since when does the coach "demand" how fans should feel?? This just shows how arrogant this man is and how much disdain he has for long time UK fans or anyone that disagrees with him. I enjoy UK basketball and have for nearly 60 years. Calipari’s misguided self image does not deter me from caring about UK Bb, it just makes me get more giddy waiting for him to leave. Because of his lack of character and the number of "bad" records he has set at UK, I would actually put him in a tie with Billy G. as the worst overall coaches in UK history.
Fresh legs haven’t been much help the past several years in the NCAA tournament.
Kentucky has had more talent than anyone since the arrival of John Calipari in 2009. With that said, the Wildcats haven’t won a national championship since 2011-12 and the last time they made the Final Four was 2014-15.
This year he has freshman guard Reed Sheppard, a phenom from deep, averaging a sultry 52.5% from the three-point line. He’s the type of player who can get hot and completely bust a bracket all by himself. Throw in fellow freshman guard Rob Dillingham (15.4 points, 3.9 assists per game) and you’ve got a high-scoring duo that completely swing a game off the bench…why both aren’t starting is a mystery to the entire nation, not just BBN. That’s not even mentioning Kentucky’s senior guard and leader Antonio Reeves, who is averaging 20 points and 4.2 rebounds per game this season. If you have three 20 ppg caliber guards and three 7 footers plus a 6’9” fifth year transfer…you should have a top 5 team that excels in tournament play. But then you throw in an average, arrogant, Hall of Shame coach into the mix and your program rapidly devolves into the next Indiana.
BBN is not down on the kids, you cowardly FRAUD, we are down on YOU! WHATEVER the outcome of this season, it’s time for you to do the honorable thing and leave.
The fraud has NEVER been a fan of UK !
He has only USED UK !
Real UK fans? I drove 2 times this year from Central Illinois down to watch ballgames. I’m not happy about S.E.C. tourney. Am I not a " real fan"?
You’re a real fan, just like the others who are so frustrated with the fraud destroying the genuine Kentucky Wildcats BB program.
President Capiluto needs to fire Barnie for all of his ridiculous contracts, some secretive, and hold him accountable to pay every penny the fraud is able to collect at the dual firing of 2 corrupt money manipulators.
Cal is the one that’s not a “real fan” of Kentucky basketball.