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John Calipari quotes from his first SEC Coaches Teleconference

Guy | Jun 29, 2009 | Comments 0

Courtesy of Eric Lindsey and Cat Scratches:

Men’s basketball head coach John Calipari participated in his first Southeastern Conference Coaches Teleconference on Monday and, as usual, he had plenty to say. Like we did during the regular season, we’ll have a complete rundown of what Calipari had to say.

I’ll also have a few comments from some of the other SEC coaches following this post in just a little bit.

Calipari talked about the first days on the job: “We’re going on 90 days, which I think the only more important days than those first 90 when you take over a program are those game days. Those first 90 are vital that you get off running and really do so many things. One of them is learning and I’m learning as quickly as I possibly can.”
Calipari said he’s had to learn about the campus, the SEC, the facilities, the schedule, etc. He said he’s also used the first 90 days to touch as many people as he can. He said he wants to set the tone inside and outside the program of what is acceptable and what isn’t. “They’ve been hectic and exciting,” Calipari said of the first three months.

One of the biggest things he’s learned so far is that “the fans are raving fans, in a good way.” He spoke about his Twitter account and said he imagines that they’ll have one million followers by the beginning of the season.

People have told Calipari to slow down, but he’s not planning on doing that anytime soon. “People say, ‘Slow down,’ but this is how we do things.” Calipari said he went into Louisville just to meet people because he wants as many people as he can underneath the UK tent.

He said the “roster stuff is still playing out.” Calipari said they have 12 scholarship players right now. He said he believes most of them have cleared academically through the NCAA Clearinghouse. He said they’re still waiting on Jon Hood’s transcript to come through and one more player has late paperwork to turn in. “At the end of the day it’s about the kids,” Calipari said. “You try to be honest about who is going to play and where you see them fitting in. You try to do your best to do the right thing for the kids.”

Calipari raved about Darius Miller: “I had six workouts with Darius and I’m going to tell you, I was excited about him as anyone on the team. The way we’re going to play the dribble-drive motion, the wide-open style – he has a knack for getting balls in the basket. He’s a good athlete, not a great, great athlete, but he’s a very good athlete and he can shoot runners. He scores the ball well enough from the perimeter that you have to guard him. He’s good enough with the ball and has a feel when he’s playing fast.”

With Miller, it all comes down to confidence. Calipari is hoping that the experience with the under-19 national team will build some confidence in his ability to do those things. “I think he’s a terrific basketball player,” Calipari said. “He had to work for the tryout. Early on, when you’re playing one style and then you go into that environment, which is a lot like pickup (ball), he struggled a little bit at times. Then at the end the tryout he kicked it in and did better. What I’m hoping is we come back and I’ve got a much more confident player. I will tell you before he left for tryouts, the kid was doing two-a-days. I’d be in the office 11 o’clock at night and he’d turn on the lights. I could see the lights on and look out and it was him. He’d be out there shooting and going hard. I think this has lit a fire, which I love to see in players.”