What they said: Rival SEC coaches talk about Kentucky and Calipari

Kentucky and Coach John Calipari received some high praise and, maybe, a touch of skepticism from their rivals in the Southeastern Conference last week at Media Days.

Comments by South Carolina’s Frank Martin and Tennessee’s Rick Barnes, showed an affection and admiration for the UK coach, while Texas A&M’s Ben Howland wasn’t ready to say Kentucky was better than last season’s SEC regular season champ, the Volunteers.

Here’s what some of the SEC coaches had to say about Kentucky and Calipari last week.

Alabama’s Avery Johnson

“I think the grad transfer is really the big addition with Reid (Travis) and his size and athleticism and strength, just with that power game inside.

“You know, they already beat us up on the boards. I think they had 20-something offensive rebounds, so they’re always going to be a really good rebounding team, and I just think with the addition of Reid — obviously, they always add dynamic freshmen — but I think having that experienced guy is probably going to help them, especially during conference play and in the tournament.”

Auburn’s Bruce Pearl

On what it means for Kentucky to have some returners back …

“I think what it means is, they have a chance to be better early. Because he’s had a summer trip this year and he’s got a little bit more experience coming back. Those two things and when you add in the kind of schedule that Kentucky plays — they play the best schedule in the country — they’ve got a chance to really help themselves and the league because they are going to be a little bit more veteran of a team.

“Which teams can handle adversity the best is the team that’s going to win this league. Last year, when Kentucky left Auburn, they had lost a few games in a row. And I don’t think Coach Cal got nearly enough credit for keeping that team together, and they turned it around and really were playing some of the best basketball of anybody in the country.

“… I think a more veteran team having been through it like they were a year ago — I think those are factors that could contribute to the fact that they are picked to win the league again this year.”

Georgia’s Tom Crean

On Calipari ...

“I like John. I think he’s a good coach. We’ve been friends for some time. We competed at Marquette, we competed at Indiana — when he was at Memphis and then at Kentucky. “If we’re not playing them, it’s always a team that I watch. And it’s always a team you can learn from. He’s a very good coach.”

Mississippi State’s Ben Howland

“Kentucky’s always putting out (NBA) first-rounders, and Calipari and what he’s done is incredible, but the rest of our league is doing a heck of a job. There are a lot of big-time talented kids in this conference.”

On Tennessee ...

“They return everybody from a championship team last season. There’s no doubt in my mind they’re the team to beat.”

South Carolina’s Frank Martin

“Cal doesn’t get the credit he deserves every year with a brand new team. He does not get the credit he deserves. Now, if you sat Cal in a room by himself and you said to him you could have your real good freshmen become sophomores, he’d say ‘I’ll take it every time.’

“Think about the job that he does with those kids when they’re freshmen and where they are at the end of their freshman year. Imagine keeping them for another year. … Reid Travis, I watched him play, he’s a good player. Adding him is going to be tremendous for those young kids …

“Every time Kentucky’s had experienced guys coming back, they’ve been a problem for everybody. And he’s got experience coming back.”

Tennessee’s Rick Barnes

On Kentucky being picked to finish first in the conference ...

“It’s easy to make that pick. I think anybody can do that. John does an outstanding job. He always does. And his teams have always gotten better. I think they’ll be better earlier in the year, because every year he has to start with five or six new guys, and he does an amazing job getting them better as the year goes on. But the fact that he’s got some guys coming back, he’s going to be starting ahead of where he has in the past.

“I think Kentucky’s going to be as good as any basketball team in the country.”

On Calipari ...

“John means a lot to me. We’ve grown up in this business together more so than people think. I met John back in 1977-78 at the University of Pitt’s basketball camp with Tim Grgurich, and John had just transferred from Wilmington back to Clarion. … We both got in the business, me at Providence, him at UMass. He’s a person that I trust. He’s a guy — and I really believe this — if I need something and I called and ask him for it, he wouldn’t say ‘why?’ or ‘what?’ He’d say, ‘you name it, whatever it is.’”

“I know he cares a lot about what he’s doing. I know his got a great passion for this game. I know that he wants to protect this game. I’ve been around he and Frank Martin, and I’m telling you I know their love for this game. The fact is they want to protect this game. But John, I think oftentimes, he’s been accused of things that aren’t true, and I will say that. But what I do know about him — I consider him a brother. I really do.

“He actually, before I took this job, he actually called me and told me ‘you need to take this job. You need to do that.’ And he told me all the right reasons about it. He spoke nothing but great things about the University of Tennessee and what he thought it could be so for that and for many reasons, he’ll always be a special person to me.”