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UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY MEDIA CONFERENCE


October 14, 2010


John Calipari


Q. How important is Enes to what you guys can do this season?
COACH CALIPARI: They're all important. I mean, every kid you have on your team has an importance. It's one of the reasons I spend time with players who aren't playing much. You want them to know they're important. You want them to know that the success of our team is about everybody on it, so they're all important.

Q. I know you're not going to talk about Enes, but specifically the summer when stuff was written in Birmingham and in New York Times, how, at times, frustrated did you get by some of the things that were put out there?
COACH CALIPARI: If I read everything you guys wrote -- see, that's why I said, everybody thinks Jerry and I have a problem. I have no problem with Jerry, because I don't read any of the stuff he writes (laughing). And if I read it, they say I'd probably have a problem, but I don't. So I don't read it.
And Dewayne will tell you, the only thing I'll say is there anything I've got to deal with about how we operate? And I'll say Dewayne is there anything I need to deal with? In most cases he'll say, no, you're fine.
And so, you know, the one thing I found out coaching at Kentucky, a lot of people want to know about this program and want to watch it, want to hear about it. Mitch reminded me when we interviewed in Chicago that I said listen, guys, you understand I'm going to be a lightning rod, and some of it is really going to be good stuff, and then they've got some other people out there that won't. I'm going to be a lying thing rod. This program is a lightning rod. So now you've got two lightning rods.
You could either say I don't want to deal with that, so don't coach here. It's just how it is, coaching at Kentucky. That's why you have 23,000 at every game, you have 1.2 million on the Twitter. I have 200,000 dear friends on the Facebook, and that's part of being at Kentucky.

Q. I do read what you put out.
COACH CALIPARI: Oh, do you (laughing)? You're one of 1.2 million though.

Q. Enes did not participate?
COACH CALIPARI: I thought we were not going to talk about Enes. Why are we talking about Enes?

Q. He did not participate in the women's clinic basketball portion?
COACH CALIPARI: Did he? I thought he did.

Q. No, he didn't do the triple drive stuff. Has he participated in the scrimmage tomorrow night?
COACH CALIPARI: We don't know. We don't know.

Q. Could you talk about your team going into the first practice? What can your team expect tomorrow night for the next month or so?
COACH CALIPARI: Last year when I sat in front of all you people, I said that it's a new team. Don't expect much. I said we've got six new players and six returning players have to mesh.
We've got all new staff. We've got an all new offense, a totally different way to think about playing. We're going to start off slow. Do you remember me saying it? We're going to start slow. We're going to lose some games early. There are things you're going to look at turnovers. We're not going to be what you think, no high expectations. This year I really mean it.

Q. So you really don't know what to expect?
COACH CALIPARI: No, no. I just think the good news is the Canadian trip gave us some time to get a little bit of stuff in.
But still, we practiced yesterday for an hour and a half. There are sometimes like wow, and there are other times where it's like we're really not close. The biggest thing we were last year, we took time.
We became a great offensive team. We were fun to watch, we played a style that everybody enjoyed. I'll say this about last year's team, we were really fast. We were like really fast, but we were the best defensive team in the country come the end of the season.
Showing our team now, I show tape of the Cornell game, two parts of it. We were down 10-2 to start the game. Do you remember? We were down 10-2. Every game we play is someone's Super Bowl. Every game out of the gate, the other team's going to be on point, execute, it's how. They're going to make shots they won't make the rest of the season. They'll make them.
But after it comes down to, it comes down to do you really defend. They saw us defend for the next 25 possessions. How we guarded, how we helped a helper who helped a helper. Looked like we had six guys on the floor. I said that's where we want this team to go. We're not close. We can't stay in the stands. We don't help each other. We don't jump the balls. They're all freshmen. They have no idea. Coaching a group of 17 and 18-year-olds, 19, that's what we're coaching.

Q. How do these freshmen deal with being compared to last year's freshman class?
COACH CALIPARI: I don't think they will. You can't. Anybody that's compared to that group of kids, you're going to be on the short end. So I don't think our fans are going to compare. The great thing about the fans here, I think they just want to see how good can these guys be? How quickly can they come together?
It's not fair to anybody to compare one guy. That's why they ask me about Derrick Rose and Tyreke, and I'm not going to. They say what about now, Jon wall, and how do they compare, and Brandon compare? You can't get into that.
I think our fans know that we're worried about this team and how this team improves. And will they come together like last year? Last year's team, the biggest thing they did is they sacrificed for each other. There are some things, yeah, you want to compare.
Will this team come together and share the ball and do the things they have to do to be their brother's keeper? Will you be your brother's keeper? Will we have servant leadership which we had a year ago where our leaders cared more about the team.
How about Patrick Patterson? He scored less than the year before. He rebounds less. He goes from being thee guy to one of the guys. And he goes from maybe being the 25th to 28th pick in the draft. By giving it all up, by servant leadership, by giving it up and sacrificing, he goes 14th in the draft, and I hear they're loving him in Houston, loving him.
So I hope there are lessons from last year this team looks at, but the reality of it is this is a totally different team. Not even totally. We'll have to execute better on both ends of the floor. We may have to do some things to get us into dribble drive which I didn't really have to do last year.
We have no one that even remotely looks like Demarcus Cousins in March. And I'm not talking about Demarcus in November, Demarcus in March. No one remotely like him. So we're a different team.

Q. Can you talk about the healthier team? How are they looking?
COACH CALIPARI: They're okay. Everybody's okay. Darius had a strained hamstring, but he's been fine, because these workouts are two hours a week. I would go one hour, one hour, and sometimes I'd put a week in between for Darius.
It's all pretty good. They're conditioning and training and that stuff's all where we want to be. I don't want my team in November to look like they should in January. When it starts in November, I want them to look like it's November.
So in December and January, I don't need them looking like January and in November. Let's just take it a step at a time. Get in great shape. I just want to keep that growth going, because that is the self esteem you build, so by March they feel that they're one of those groupings. They're one of those teams.

Q. Jon's 100% now?
COACH CALIPARI: Yeah, he's been fine. He's been fine. As a matter of fact, we practiced yesterday for an hour and a half and we were going to go two hours, and he made a jumpshot. So I stopped practice right there. Stop. Done. We walked right off the court.
I said, that's it, he finally made a jumpshot. Now I know he can shoot, let me have that mental picture before Friday. That's it. Stop. But he's a great kid. He's a play-making kind of player, that is really long.
This is going to be a fun team to coach. It's just not last year. It's going to be totally different. For me, the excitement is I've got to figure out how does this team play so they're at their best? We may do a lot more pick-and-rolls this year. I haven't done pick-and-rolls maybe ever.
I went down and spent time with Larry Brown in Charlotte. We went over situations and how I could utilize it and different things just so it's an exciting part for me to say how do I have to do this? It's not to get them together as a team. It's not to get them to defend. It's not all that. It's how do we play that is the best way to play for this team?
Last year, everybody, the dribble drive, and we looked and it wasn't the best way to do it 100% of the time, so we didn't. But by teaching it, it taught us to be aggressive. So now John Wall and Bledsoe, and Darius did things that people didn't know they could do, because they were aggressive.
But we weren't in the dribble drive at about 30%. We probably will go more, but we may run something into it.
In other words, we're not going to come down and just start. We may have some motion, some action, some different things. And we enter our spacing and start driving that ball.

Q. Talking about and figuring out how was best for him to play, how much of that can you figure out in practice? How much of that has to come in November?
COACH CALIPARI: It's a good question. It's both. We'll see in practice. There will be stuff that I think is good, then I put it in and it stinks and that's done. I'm not doing it.
Some of the stuff will work in practice, and we get in the game and see how other people guard it, and it's not as effective.
Most of the stuff though, we're trying to teach players how to play versus run plays. There is a big difference in how we do this. In teaching players how to play, how to be aggressive. How to beat people in the dribble.
I just watched officiating team. If you drive and a guy bumps you, it's a foul. I just watched the tape. They showed three different drives. You bump, you do this, you do that, it should be called automatically.
Well, we're driving every time down the floor four or five times, And if you do that, what am I going to be yelling? That's a foul. I had to watch the tape. You made me watch the tape for an hour.
Hopefully, there is some good stuff they're doing with the rules to make it more consistent. This is what it looks like.

Q. Do you still think this will be a better shooting team than the one you had last year, or is that just time will tell?
COACH CALIPARI: I remember we started the season last year, and you guys said they're the worst shooting team and that will be their Achilles heel. And it was, not 35 times it wasn't, but three times it was. One time it really was. It was a stake in the heart one time.

Q. (Indiscernible)?
COACH CALIPARI: They send a tape around that I must watch. It's an officiating tape. They see the emphasis. And one of the things they're talking about is elbows above the shoulder. If you swing those, they are now, whether you meant it, didn't mean it, it's intentional foul or flagrant foul, depending on how vicious you were.
So there's no, well, that was just a common foul. Nope. Anything above here that you turn and hit, it's a flagrant or intentional. You know, the penalties that go with it.

Q. Does there have to be contact?
COACH CALIPARI: Yeah, but you know what, they showed one where the kid moved his head away. But if you're swinging, it's going to be intentional or flagrant foul, which means you can give up free throws and a ball.
They also talked about breakaways. Okay, like fouls, intentional fouls where you're trying to foul. If you're not making an attempt at the ball to breakaway lay-up, that is an intentional foul:
The other thing was if you want to move, and the guy doesn't let you move like you're trying to get in a pick-and-roll and he nudges you, that's a foul. Right now, that's a foul.

Q. Is that tape uniform? They send it to all coaches?
COACH CALIPARI: All coaches and all officials. So it's good stuff. If you look at the game, it's gotten so physical, and so much bumping and grinding, spread the game out and drive the ball. If you're holding people up and not letting them go where they need to go. They're saying it's going to be called fouls, so that's a good thing.

Q. Lot of players grow up with this, so how difficult will that be to coach against it? And how much will it open up the game?
COACH CALIPARI: One of the things I'm going to do with that, I'll show my players the tape of the elbow, swinging elbow, and let them get exactly what the NCAA guy's saying about how to do it. But it's hard when you get pushed, and your first thought is what I'll teach pivot away. Pivot away from it. You can't turn up.
We've always taught if you've got the ball and the guy comes in you, to get him off you, what do you do? Open up that. You can't now. If you do that, that's an intentional or flagrant foul. If you meant to do it, it's flagrant.
With movement and cutting, you can't hold people up. The issue is will it consistently be called? And I think it will. When they do things and make it a focus, usually there is a change.

Q. (Indiscernible)?
COACH CALIPARI: I hope so, that's what their point is.

Q. Can you scout the SEC for us a little bit? The divisions look differently than they did a year ago?
COACH CALIPARI: I'm looking at six teams. Hopefully we'll be one that will be considered an NCAA team. I'm not sure we are, but I'm hoping we would be.
But there would be six teams I would look at. The problem is four of them in our division. The other thing I'm going to tell you is "Sports Illustrated" came out and said our schedule non-conference was the second toughest non-conference schedule in the country.
Some in here think it's awful. There must be a ton of awful schedules out there if we're number two.
If we play in Maui and play Michigan State, they say by far the toughest non-conference schedule played will be by Kentucky. And, so, to have the youngest team playing the toughest non-conference schedule, who is the dummy that did that? I just didn't know other people would schedule the way they scheduled. I tried to make it so that I would think we'd be all right. But we've got a tough row to hoe.
In the SEC it's gotten better. Guys got guys back. Florida will be outstanding, Tennessee will be outstanding. I'm telling everybody, you guys are missing the boat on Georgia. Georgia has two of the best players in our league coming back.
Mark Fox is a terrific coach. Does a great job. Mississippi State, you're talking about the big kid coming back and the pro that really wanted to be a pro and then came back. He'll be playing when they play us. What is the kid's name? Yeah. The kid that put his name in the draft. Wanted to be a pro, stayed in the draft, wanted to be a pro and then he came back. He's missing some games.

Q. Have you notice a difference in the way Darius and DeAndre are more vocal?
COACH CALIPARI: It's hard to say more vocal, because neither one of them -- they're more than they've ever been. So every once in a while you'll hear them say something. They're not that. But they're leading by example. And a lot of times we have to talk as a team to each other, not just expect two guys to talk.
Yesterday I stopped practice because there were two people talking as we were working, myself and John Robic. I said there are two people talking here, he and I. Talk to one another. Talk offense, talk on defense, that's all being young.
There are so many things. I almost stop them and I can't believe I'm having to teach some of the stuff. But then I think back to November, October of last year.
It's the same. These kids are the same. They don't know how hard to play. They don't know how to finish a possession. They don't even think about that wasn't my man. Yes, it was. My man's this guy. I know, but you've also got to play him. How am I going to play two guys? That's how you play basketball. You play yours and one other. All that stuff they're looking like what is he talking about?
So the talk thing comes. And I'll say this, this is one of those teams that I look at that needs to get beat up a little bit early so they can figure out that everybody's game is a Super Bowl.
Every team they play they're going to play beyond what you see on the tape. That is the biggest game of the year. That if you don't do this together and communicate and help each other, you'll struggle all year.
Sometimes only -- the only thing that brings about change, the only thing that will bring about change is when you have like catastrophe. Then all of a sudden, it's like oh, my gosh, we better change.
Right now they're just too young. They're listening, but they still revert, so...

Q. Does this team need that lesson more than last year's team?
COACH CALIPARI: What last year's team had is so many guys you could learn and still win like we should have lost Stanford. We had no business or Miami, or Sam Houston State, or the games we can go back and look at, or Georgia in the first game. But we had enough to get by and we learned from a lot of close winds.
This team, I don't know. And again, we'll see early. The schedule early is going to be some dings. Unless they coming to in a hurry, unless, you know --

Q. You mentioned Patterson earlier, his physical ability aside, how much will this team miss the intangibles he brought?
COACH CALIPARI: We'll miss both. Yesterday we did the rebounding drill, and either we're the best offensive rebounding team in the country or we're not a very good rebounding team. Last year there weren't a whole lot of rebounds to be had. There were a lot more blocking.
Yesterday we blocked more shots than we had because I made it an emphasis. Go block shots. So they blocked a couple of balls yesterday. But we'll miss him. But let me tell you, we'll miss all five of them.

Q. Could you talk about Brandon Knight and what he brings to your team this year?
COACH CALIPARI: Well, Brandon is an extremely hard worker. He's in the gym early. Comes back at night at 11:00 o'clock. He's running the team, but he's learning. You're talking about a young man that has to change a little bit of how he plays.
It's kind of like really about every point guard I've had. They've had to go from John Wall trying to shoot 25 times a game, to try to run a team and shoot and score when you have to and try to get people involved.
Tyreke Evans scored 42 points a game in high school. How would you like your point guard to score 42 a game? You're fine, unless you're one of those other players on the floor. So he had to change how he was going to play. Derrick Rose had to shoot more. He didn't score enough. I mean, you know, we need you to go get baskets.
So they all are something different. He shoots it better. You know, he's just -- the great news is defensively I watched him yesterday. We finally did a few defensive drills only so that when we start Saturday morning with defense, I don't have to totally teach drills.
So I did some defense yesterday just so we could practice without having to stop too much. But he really works hard. Great kid, great attitude, great teammate, all those attributes.
But, again, he's totally different than Derrick. He's totally different than Tyreke, and he's totally different than John. He's a different player. You guys watched him in Canada. He's a different, you know --

Q. How is he different?
COACH CALIPARI: Well, they're all different. So if you want to say with Tyreke. Tyreke is a 6'6" point guard. Derrick Rose is smaller than him, but way more explosive, could jump higher.
John Wall is probably more athletic than him and lankier, yet he shoots the ball better. He's skilled maybe with the ball better. But they're all different. I mean, he's fast. You know you say is he as fast as John Wall? Well, I went up to see Derrick Rose and John Wall go head-to-head for one thought. I wanted to see who was faster, because you all have asked me a thousand times who is faster.
So I went and watched them play, and even then I can't tell you. All I can tell you is they're both really fast. I can tell you after watching them probably had a lot to do with all those wins.

Q. The uncertainty surrounding Enes, probably brings an increased role for Josh. Can you talk about what they bring together to the table?
COACH CALIPARI: Everybody has an importance to the team. We don't have 15 guys. Everybody's going to play an important role. I'm watching Jarrod play. He's doing great stuff. You know the great thing about Jarrod, he knows what he doesn't know.
You have some guys that just talk and act like they know everything, then they try to be that way. You're looking at them like you know how dumb you are trying to be that way? And there are others that I know what I don't know. I'm not dabbling in that. I don't know that. This is what I know and this is what I do.
Well, Jarrod only tries to do what he does. He knows I'm not trying to get outside of what I'll be on this team. And he does. Yesterday he drove down and the middle, and got his floater up and made it.
At one point he tried to do something, and I said, hey, whoa. He said, my fault, what was I thinking. So every one of them will have an importance on the team.

Q. You probably had a little time this summer to reflect on the first year. How looking back on it, is there anything about this job that really surprised you?
COACH CALIPARI: One thing is I haven't had a whole lot of time to look back. But when you're in this thing, it's 24-7. I was at a 24/7, the coats on you. Everywhere, everything, anywhere. Look at you goof balls in here.
I went to a nursing home in Winchester, Brooks Place. And I walk in and all the ladies and a few gentlemen were in the nursing home. And a lady says, Coach Cal, Coach Cal, can you come over here. And I walk over, and she was sitting. "Are you working on free throw shooting?" "Yeah." "What drills do you do on free throw shooting? Coach, do you understand the difference between winning and losing games? In most cases it's free throws."
I said, "Ma'am, how old are you?" "96." I asked the ladies there, how many of you watch the games in Canada? I'm in a nursing home. They all watched. How many of you tape the games? Half of them raise their hands. They watch the tapes more than I watch the tapes. That's Kentucky basketball.
I mean, that's stuff I didn't realize to that point. I knew the fans were great and they were on it. But they're crazy, they're absolutely crazy. But the other side of it when you're coaching, it's what you strive for. Then you say be careful what you wish for.

Q. Any special guests for tomorrow night that you have from last year?
COACH CALIPARI: That's a secret. In most cases no one's told me anything. They tell me when to show and when the bus leaves and that stuff, so I don't know.

Q. What do you see Darius Miller's role as far as being a leader on this ballclub?
COACH CALIPARI: He's going to lead. We need him to be a catalyst. A guy who makes plays when they matter. A guy that comes every day, and it's more consistent than it was a year ago. There were other games that it was like come on, man.
So if you're going to be a catalyst, our team has to know you show every game. It doesn't mean you make every shot, it means you have the same kind of mentality every time you play, and you figure it out however you feel.
So the good teams have more than one catalyst. We'll have two or three catalysts on this team if we're going to be what we think. And that means two or three guys come in and make plays. That happened to us last year.
We ended up having a great will to win, but it was because those catalysts made plays at crunch time, and they were ready to make plays all the time. It wasn't just one guy.

Q. You said nobody even remotely looks like Demarcus. How much of a concern is that? What does that mean for the team?
COACH CALIPARI: I've never had a guy that remotely looked like Demarcus. And I had to coach a little different. I never had a guy that remotely acted like Demarcus. So I had to figure out -- we treated him like a son. That's what he needed. He had to grow. He was a 14-year-old when we got him here. And about 16 when he left (laughing).
But we coached him. And my wife and I, he was like our son. That's how he needed to be coached. So, you know, I never had a guy that size that was that talented. That was the first one I've ever had. He's that good.

Q. How old is he now?
COACH CALIPARI: I tell you what. Paul Westphal called me and said that he is unbelievable. He said he has his ups and downs and I knew what that meant. But I bet you he's Bussing up at 19, 18, 17, somewhere in there.

Q. Since (indiscernible) went with you to Canada, can you talk about what you hope he does?
COACH CALIPARI: Well, we need him to perform. We need him to give us a presence. His size, rebounding, scoring ability around the goal. We need Josh to do the same. Josh has to elevate his game and get in better shape. With his minutes, prove that he needs more minutes. You know, we have that, and big Enes will be fine.

Q. In terms of because he wasn't with you in Canada how is his conditioning?
COACH CALIPARI: One of the things was Coach Hall comes to about just about every practice we've had. But his comment was he's better than I thought, which is good for me to hear. So he's better than I thought too.

Q. Can you talk about Randall Cobb getting ahold of you, and what that conversation was like? Were you surprised?
COACH CALIPARI: I was with -- you know, he is a unique athlete, student, person. He was talking about leadership and asked me some things. What I kept coming back to is I don't know football, and I did throw that ball 40 yards on a dime. Did you see that in Louisville? But I really don't know football.
But I know people, so we just talked in those terms. One of the things I just asked him was does anybody work harder than him? They said no. In practice? No, he's it. I said well, then you have a right to lead by example and try to help, be a servant leader. You don't need to drag and have them there for you. Just how can I help you play better? What can I do? What more can I do? Is there anything else? So we just talked in those terms.
But it was a good conversation because he's just a wonderful young man.

Q. Have you ever had an athlete from another sport reach out to you like that?
COACH CALIPARI: You know what, I'll have -- I'm trying to think. Yeah, I've had some -- sometimes they're afraid. This kid had the courage to come in and say can I meet with you?
But I meet with coaches of different sports. I've watched them teach. They'll come in and watch me. They may have me talk to their athletes. I had golf teams over my house last year when Bob Rotella was in. We talked to the golf team, and then Bob did his thing with them.
I've done it before. But this is -- I just want our football team to win, and that's what he wants, and they're right on the cusp of that.
He's just is there anything to get us to that, to eliminate those five plays that are costing us games right now. Whether it was at Mississippi or this game, he just was I want to win those games. We could have won those games. We were right there to win those games. Was there something? And that's great. That's how bad he wants to win.
He's searching out the basketball coach, is there anything you can give me that may help me, may help my teammates? Pretty powerful stuff, really.

Q. Is he going to play basketball for you?
COACH CALIPARI: I did ask him that. That did come up as he walked out of my office.

Q. What did he say?
COACH CALIPARI: He said I'd love to do it. But I've never watched him play basketball. I think he's a lefty. Is he a lefty, because he went like this? I was thinking is he left-handed?

Q. His first love.
COACH CALIPARI: Do you know how many players in this state grow up saying I want to play basketball at Kentucky. So when you say your first love, I'm the biggest fan of Kentucky basketball ever. Do you know how many of those people I've met?

Q. He's from Tennessee though?
COACH CALIPARI: Where's he from? No, I know, I know.

Q. Can you talk about Doron and Jon Hood, what you see from them?
COACH CALIPARI: Well, Jon Hood's playing much better, he's comfortable. He still has a mindset if he misses shot making, it affects him for the next five minutes. He's got to get through that. He's got to get more either mentally tough or more confident in his own ability.
Which sometimes players like Jon, I have more confidence in than they have in themselves and that is part of what coaching is to try to bring that out of them. Doron is like a multi-position player. He could play point guard, if had he to he could be a three. The positions we have are all interchangeable anyway.
Whatever I told this team, whoever rebounds the ball, you bring it up. Here's the point. Here comes Terrence Jones, rebound the ball, and he'll go.
But we're expecting a lot from guys. The great thing is there are opportunities. You know, there weren't -- there were chances. Last year's chances for some of the guys to play. There just weren't.
These guys were good. You talked about our top 7 or 8, we were at every position, you better have been really good to beat somebody up. Now there are spots there for those guys as they leave and we bring in new guys. Those spots are all open. Take it. Take one of those spots.

Q. Do you have a five right now?
COACH CALIPARI: No.

Q. Would you say that you're not as deep as you were last year?
COACH CALIPARI: I would say losing five first rounders will have an effect on us, and I don't mean that to embarrass you.
We've replaced them with a lot of guys, but even everybody healthy and playing, everybody, we're not going to be as deep as we were last year.
Now I had one team in Massachusetts that I played six guys. It was the best team, team I've ever coached that executed on defense and offense. And those six players were really happy players. I've played six before. I'll play six if that's all I can play.

Q. I'm sure your kids are on the computer. Is there anyway to shelter them from this, or do you have to let them just sort of improve?
COACH CALIPARI: Well, I was going to tell them you're not allowed to Twitter, and I thought, I better not do that since I'm doing it. But you try to tell them -- but you're telling them what you're doing. You're trying to explain it. Because you almost got to approach a 17-year-old like he absolutely knows nothing, because in all likelihood, that's true.
Here's the one thing that I'll tell you, the information age is coming at you pretty fast. Life's changing in this room. It's just how it is. It's changing for them too.
The information age that they're getting that's being thrown at them. When we played -- I'm 35, so that wasn't that long ago, we never knew of a ranking, an NBA ranking, like where you were ranked as a player. We didn't see any of that.
The other thing is I never talked to another player on another team in another school in another state, because I would have had to pick up that phone. I was at a university. I talked to the students the other day, and I talked to them about rotary phones. They didn't know what a rotary phone was. They didn't know what a rotary phone was. Oh, my gosh.
But that just tells you how this has changed so fast. Now my players -- well, let me throw this at you. To get ahold of you when you grew up, they had to call your house. If you weren't there, they called your house. If you weren't there, what did that phone do?

Q. Kept ringing.
COACH CALIPARI: How long would it ring?

Q. Forever.
COACH CALIPARI: 50 times. How many of you -- we've even got young guys looking at me saying I don't know what this dude's talking about. The phone rang, and some of us rang it 50, 60 times. Why did we do that? We hoped you got home by the time I hung up the phone.
Now the call waiting, now the if I can't get you at home, I'll get you on your cell. They get you. Before, they had to fly to your town to come in and try to meet with you. Now it's open season. Anybody can get ahold of anybody at any time of the day or night. Think about that.
Now the other side of it is anybody can write and say anything they want, even if it's not accurate. They can write it and say it. Now you can fight windmills or say what you want, do what you want. I've got to be above it.
It's easy for me at my age because I've had about -- I don't want to say anything new that's never been written, because there's nothing new, because then somebody will try something new. But the reality of it is when you're 18 and 19 it does have an effect, it does.
So you try to tell them don't buy into all of that. I try to tell them. I don't buy into it. We know who we are and what we're not. But it's harder.
The other thing happens, they talk to each other at school. So now stuff that used to go on at school that coach could get away with, they all talk. So now they all know how this coach is to his players. They all know how he is to his players.
If approximate everybody transferred and those guys that transferred talked to 25 people that they were around or recruited. How about this one. Recruits now talk to each other. Let's go together. Let's recruit each other. That never happened before.
But you didn't have this information out there where they could get in touch. They were at an event. Normally you'd go to an event, you'd see them, hi, and leave. Now you go to an event and all of a sudden you're like best friends. That's what I deal with. You guys are dealing with this information age. It's like time, and time matters.

Q. What is the status of John (Indiscernible)?
COACH CALIPARI: He's no longer here.

Q. Now that you've been here and on your second year, has your relationship, friendship with your coaching peers across the nation, can you sense it's changed any or do you still have the same?
COACH CALIPARI: I still have the same friends, yeah.

Q. Job hasn't made any difference?
COACH CALIPARI: No, I don't think so. I mean, maybe me being at Kentucky makes it a little different.

Q. But you found out who your real friends are?
COACH CALIPARI: No, my friends are always been friends. The friends I have, and I have many, many friends in this profession. But I think you're coaching at Kentucky, it's dangerous, if you know what I'm saying, because this can be a juggernaut. This is a competitive business. I know I don't have many fans in Florida or Knoxville.

Q. Or Louisville?
COACH CALIPARI: We have a lot of fans in Louisville. But there are a lot of places where they're not supposed to like me. I'm supposed to be the hated. You go to Georgia, do you think they love me? Oh, they love you in Georgia. What? They don't love me in Georgia.

Q. (Indiscernible)?
COACH CALIPARI: Who is that?

Q. Darnell?
COACH CALIPARI: Yeah.

Q. Any rule changes you're not happy with or you have to adjust and we need to know about?
COACH CALIPARI: No, the stuff that I saw I liked, because for the dribble drive the way it was, it was good stuff.

End of FastScripts




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