HOOVER, Ala. – John Calipari, master of the hyperbole, was it at again, this time trying to convince a room full of Southeastern Conference reporters his latest loaded Kentucky basketball team isn’t nearly as good as everyone suspects.
The phrase the coach left out was ‘right now’, which means little as it pertains to what Kentucky will look like a month from now. Still, Calipari wasn’t giving an inch.
“They can rate us high all they want but there are 40, 50 or 60 teams right now we could not beat. Maybe more. Maybe 100,” Calipari said. “Because we’re just not ready to play a basketball game. We have no pace. We barely have out of bounds plays. If you pressed us, oh my gosh. And don’t play a zone because we have no zone offense right now.”
The Wildcats are just two weeks into their latest quest for an eighth national championship, arguably with their most talented roster in Calipari’s three years at the helm. They have size, depth, skill and experience, even with four highly touted freshmen being counted on to play major roles this season.
But Calipari being Calipari, all of that was washed away under a current of defensive mistakes in the previous night’s Blue-White Game, a scrimmage that saw Terrence Jones score 52 points. When he arrived at The Wynfrey Hotel for SEC Basketball Media Days he was more concerned with explaining why he has yet to mix up his squads in practice than discussing the Cats’ standing as the league’s preseason favorite.
“I'm trying to keep them playing against each other right now to compete,” Calipari said. “The reason Darius Miller has improved so much is he's going every day against Michael Gilchrist. And if you don't show up for practice, you'll get dunked on. And so will Michael. Michael's not gone against a guy like Darius every day.
“Terrence is going against Anthony Davis every day, so if he does not get into his body to shoot a ball, the kid's blocking it. If you don't go above the rim to rebound the ball, you're not getting the ball. Then you have Doron Lamb going against Marquis Teague every day. So you're talking two physical players. Then you have Kyle Wiltjer going against Eloy every day. Now we have to start changing around. We've got to get ready for that top six or seven being on one side and the other guys on the other side. We're just not there yet.”
The Kentucky contingent – Calipari and sophomore forward Terrence Jones – was repeatedly asked about the challenge Vanderbilt could pose to the Cats’ league supremacy this season. The Commodores return nearly their entire roster from a season ago, including perhaps the nation’s top shooter in John Jenkins, a lockdown defender in Jeffery Taylor, big man Festus Ezeli, and a host of complementary pieces.
Calipari wasted little time heaping praise upon the Commodores.
“An NBA team went up and watched them, then watched us, and they said, ‘Cal, they’re really good,’” Calipari said. “That’s what they said: ‘They’re really good.’ Well, what’s making them really good? He said, ‘They all do what they’re supposed to do. Right now, they could play games.’ And they looked at my team (and said), ‘You could not.’ … They’re going to be really good.”
While you’d be hard pressed to find anyone who believes Kentucky won’t be right in the thick of things come postseason play Calipari maintained the lofty expectations have little to do with the actual product the Cats will put on the floor. Furthermore, Calipari playfully suggested the preseason No. 2 ranking his team enjoyed was designed as reverse psychology.
“(The voters) did that on purpose to try and out pressure on us,” Calipari said. “I don’t know. I think they’re out of their minds.”
