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  • Kentucky basketball notebook: It's a different Kentucky this year

    By: LARRY VAUGHT



    CBS-TV college basketball analyst Bill Raftery sees a definite difference in Kentucky compared to the team that beat Wisconsin in last year's Final Four before losing to Connecticut in the national title game.

    Kentucky and Wisconsin play again Saturday night in the Final Four in Indianapolis for a spot in Monday's national title game against either Duke or Michigan State.

    "I just think that the size of the team this year and a couple years experience—for example, the last play of the Notre Dame game, to watch Willie Cauley-Stein shadow the dribbler (Jerian) Grant the length of the floor and then to be joined by (Trey) Lyles, I believe, and assert to make sure it was an impossible delivery at the end of the game," said Raferty on a CBS-TV teleconference today in response to a question by Daniel Solzman of Wildcatbluenation.com.

    "I think they’ve gotten older in terms of what they have to do on the floor. I don’t see them looking over at Cal (coach John Calipari) as much so I think they’ve grown in confidence."

    Raftery says UK's defense and the ability to "close out and challenge shots" makes the Wildcats different from any team he's seen.

    "The number of large bodies and length—even Grant had trouble getting that jump shot off on occasion, I think, with these guys," Raftery said. "I think they’re a better team and I think they’ve improved defensively where they can nearly contain the dribbler and also they can gamble because they have the trust that the big guys inside can take care of business. For me, I think that they’re a better basketball team."
    Rupp fan: Calipari says Kentucky has such a strong fan following because of former coach Adolph Rupp, who won four national titles.

    “He came in and established a program out of nothing. Back in the day, he wrote a book in 1941 that I've read, it's pertinent today. There are things that he was doing back in the '40s that were so advanced,” Calipari said. “He started teaching trapping, but they didn't have a term for it. They called it two timing. What? Two timing. They didn't have trapping.

    “There were things that he did back then that brought so much pride to this state. He wasn't afraid to play anybody. They got on trains and went and played in New York and Chicago. He played anyone, anywhere, anytime back then. He was a student of the game. It started right there.”

    He said coaches Joe Hall, Rick Pitino and Tubby Smith — who all won one national title just as Calipari did in 2012 — continued the tradition.

    “Everybody says, ‘Well, you got to win a national title.’ No, you got to be significant. They want you in the conversation (for a national title),” Calipari said about UK fans. “I've been here now six years. They'd like you to win it now, they'll be depressed if you don't for maybe a month. But they want in the conversation. They want in the conversation in recruiting. They want in the conversation when you're talking one of the best teams.

    “If they thought you should win it every year, we'd have 125 national titles. Doesn't happen. And they know that.”

    Calipari used two examples from UK home games to show the fanatical support.

    “You walk into our arena at home, the upper deck in the corners are filled 40 minutes before the game. What, are you crazy? Why are you here right now? The (postgame) radio show has 8,000 or 9,000 people that stay after. Our radio show would rank in the top 30 in attendance of games,” Calipari said.

    Then UK fans travel. Kentucky is expected to have more fans at the Final Four Saturday than Duke, Wisconsin or Michigan State.

    “I don't know how they get tickets. They know not to wear blue when they're trying to get tickets,” Calipari said. “They have to wear red, orange, another color. People don't want to sell them their tickets. They figure out ways of getting in.

    “They don't tell, because it's a secret. They don't tell anybody. No one knows. How in the world are they getting these tickets?”

    Calipari named: Calipari has been named National Coach of the Year by the National Association of Basketball Coaches for the third time in his career — only former UCLA coach John Wooden has more NABC awards with five.

    Calipari previously won the award in 1996 while at Massachusetts and in 2009 at Memphis.

    Calipari has led UK into a second straight Final Four this season, and the fourth in the last five years with a 38-0 record. Kentucky is the first team to enter the Final Four undefeated since 1991.

    Calipari’s 2014-15 Wildcats tied his 2007-08 Memphis team and his 2011-12 national championship Kentucky team’s NCAA Division I record for single-season wins (38) with Saturday’s Elite Eight win over Notre Dame on Saturday.

    Kentucky also set the school record for home wins with 19 this season.

    Kentucky has spent 19 straight weeks at No. 1 in the Associated Press Top 25 this season, tied for the fourth-longest streak in NCAA history. UK now owns the NCAA Division I record for most appearances at No. 1 in the AP poll in a single season at 19.

    Calipari was named Southeastern Conference Coach of the Year for the second time in his career earlier this season. He was also Sporting News National Coach of the Year, and is one of four finalists for the Naismith Men’s College Coach of the Year.
    He is also one of 12 finalists eligible to go in to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in September. The Class of 2015 will be announced on Monday at a press conference in Indianapolis, prior to the national championship game.
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    Harlow

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    Darrell KSR

    Re: Oakland v UK hall of fame

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    DanISSELisdaman

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