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  • Kentucky basketball notebook: post-Hampton

    By: LARRY VAUGHT



    LOUISVILLE — When Willie Cauley-Stein missed some early shots against Hampton, Kentucky coach John Calipari jumped off the bench and screamed for him to “dunk it” after the misses.

    Cauley-Stein said sometimes he’s expected to be able to dunk at any time on anyone.

    “They swear I’m Superman or something and I can just fly over everybody. I mean, a lot of it I probably could, but you’re not thinking of it like that,” said Cauley-Stein. “You’re not thinking you can just jump over somebody and dunk it until you actually do it and you’re just like, ‘OK, well maybe I could do that.’

    It’s just all the way you think and the way you come into the game. I thought I came in real aggressive and just missed shots. You’re going to miss shots. The good thing that I’m thinking is I’m not down on myself for missing shots because I know I’m going to make them eventually. Eventually they’re going to start falling just like last tournament (Southeastern Conference).”

    Cauley-Stein was most valuable player in the SEC Tournament after a so-so-start against Florida before dominating against Auburn and Arkansas. But he knows anything can happen in tournament play.

    “They could have come out and all of them just clip 3’s on us. Stuff happens like that. When we were in the tunnel (before the game) we were, ‘Stay the course and stay with each other and go in and play as hard as you can.’ Only good things can come out of that,” Cauley-Stein said.

    He thinks UK did enough against Hampton to be happy going into Saturday afternoon’s game with Cincinnati.

    “We did some good things, we did some bad things. I think overall most of the guys are happy with the way we played as a group,” Cauley-Stein said. “There are some guys like me, Aaron (Harrison), Book (Devin Booker), we weren’t hitting on the offensive side, so obviously you’re going to be down on yourself for that. You miss four one-footers that you should probably dunk, OK, but I didn’t, so you miss some.

    “To me, I’m not looking at it, I’m not killing myself on it because I know I’m going to make them. I just happened to miss them tonight. Same way with Aaron and Book. Those dudes hit shots all the time. Today they’re not hitting. Hopefully Saturday they’re hitting.”

    Close calls: The first three games at the Yum! Center Thursday were one-point wins for UAB, UCLA and Cincinnati before UK beat Hampton 79-56.

    Kentucky coach John Calipari wasn’t sure how much of those games his players watched and said he just watched the final 30 seconds of the UCLA-SMU game.

    “I watched three minutes of Villanova. I watched — I barely watch. I’m not watching any because it has no bearing on us. Now, whether they’re watching them or not, I don’t know. The thing I keep telling them (the players), you could have a 12-point lead, and they can evaporate quick, and then the stuff comes back on you,” Calipari said.

    “Most of the time, it’s not so much what the other team does — maybe a tough play or two — it’s that you choose to breakdown, whether it’s pick-and-roll, whether it’s how you’re playing the post, whether you give up on a plan. You stop playing. You don’t block out, and the guy gets a tip in. Those are the plays in this tournament that wipe you out. And this team hadn’t done that all year. We didn’t start the game the way we wanted to, but we’re sitting here, what did we win by? We win by 23. We were up 30, whatever we were up, and I’m trying to get more out of these guys.”

    He also awoke Thursday morning with an inspirational message.

    “I woke up this morning early, and the thought was in my mind, love your team. This is the time of year you just love your team. I told them, I don’t know where it came from, but just love your team,” Calipari said. “I told them, ‘I love you guys, and it’s unconditional, but I’m still going to coach you.’

    “But it’s time that I shouldn’t have to do as much, really shouldn’t. They know what to do. It should be way less of me and way more of them. Go do it. I said, ‘I’m loving you. You’ve got to love each other. Let’s go have fun and do this.’”

    Kentucky connection: Cincinnati associate coach Larry Davis has a special passion for Kentucky basketball.

    “I was born in Kentucky, and my father was a huge, huge basketball fan, loved Kentucky. I did grow up a Kentucky fan. I ended up moving to Indiana. So I was born in Kentucky, grew up in Indiana. I had no choice but to be a basketball coach,” Davis said. “My dad took me to my first high school game when I was 6 years old. We used to listen to Kentucky on the radio.

    “So your whole life, you grow up as a coach, and you either want to coach at Kentucky or you want to beat them. I'm getting the chance. When you're a guy from Kentucky, I should say that, when you're born in Kentucky as a kid, that's something you think about. So I got the latter. I'm happy. That's all I can say.”
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    Harlow

    Re: Oakland v UK hall of fame

    See ya next guys with a new coach

    Harlow 03-22-2024, 08:36 AM Go to last post