Cats face possible matchup with ex-Kentucky player Masiello and Manhattan

By: LARRY VAUGHT

Even when he was a walk-on player at Kentucky playing for coach Rick Pitino, Steve Masiello had a swag — or maybe even cockiness — to him.

While that may not appeal to some, it might be the reason Kentucky coach like Masiello, now the head coach at Manhattan and a possible NCAA Tournament opponent for Calipari’s No. 1 Wildcats.

“He and I have always been good because I think he's crazy like I am. I've seen some stuff and I tease him all the time. But I think he's a terrific coach. He's a great recruiter, gets after it, coaches his kids, not afraid to coach his kids,” said Calipari.

Manhattan will play Hampton in Dayton Tuesday with the winner advancing to play unbeaten Kentucky Thursday around 9:45 p.m. in Louisville.

Masiello sent Manhattan against Louisville last year and came close to pulling an early upset. His team was so impressive that he got the job at South Florida only to lose it when it was learned that he had not graduate from UK as indicated on his resume. The job instead went to former UK assistant Orlando Antigua.

Masiello insisted he thought he had graduated and only had a small amount of work to do to finish his degree. Calipari helped make sure it happened and Massiello got his job back at Manhattan.

“The stuff that happened here, I reached out to him and I called our people, 'Let's help him make this right.' Shoot, I even told him, 'Hell, you can stay there (at his pool house). If you need to be on campus, stay in the back. I'm fine with that,’” Calipari said. “But he got done what he had to get done.

“I was really proud of our school that there was no ... everybody just said, 'How do we help this?' He's bounced back and took all responsibility. 'I had to do this.' So I'm happy for him.”

Calipari admitted Sunday night he knew little about either Manhattan or Hampton and was not going to speculate on which team UK might play Thursday night.

“Manhattan is good. I watched them play the (MAAC) championship game. I watched some of that. I think they play hard, they pick up, they’re aggressive and they’re not going to back away,” Calipari said. “They’re not going to be afraid. Steve has done a great job with that team. They struggled early so they are at their best right now, but they have to beat Hampton.

“That’s the greatest thing about this tournament. And I’ve coached a bunch of teams in here and anytime you get ahead of yourself, you hurt yourself. And it’s usually a waste of time because the team you think is going to advance loses. They didn’t even win, so the best thing you can do is stay in your little pocket of those teams that we have to play. The 8-9 (seeds) in our region — we’ve got to (win) the first game. Just worry about those two games.”

Calipari rattled off a list of teams — Wisconsin, Arizona, Villanova, Virginia — that are playing well going into the NCA

“Let me tell you, it’s a one-game shot. Foul trouble, struggle, injury, have a bad game, someone else play out of their minds, which we have seen happen with us. It’s not the best of five. It’s one and done. I am telling you that my message will be and will not change. Let’s be the best version of each individual player,” Calipari said.

“Let’s be at our best, and if that’s not good enough I will live with the consequences. I will live with it. And I told them you would have to live with it. It’s not ‘OK, nine out of 10 they’d have beat them. But they didn’t beat them that time.’ I’ll live with it. I already lived with one in 2008. I did fine, I was good.”