Calipari asks UK veteran trio to solve attitude problems. ‘So that’s off my plate.’
As the Three Wise Men are part of the Christmas story, so Kentucky Coach John Calipari has asked three players to help bring salvation to a season that — by UK standards — has begun with a success famine of biblical proportions: five losses in the first six games.
Calipari said that the three, whom he did not name, are tasked with dealing with what he called “non-negotiables” regarding how the team functions.
Dealing with player “attitudes” would be among the trio’s responsibilities, the UK coach said. “How you accept coaching. I’m not dealing with any of that now. So that’s off my plate.”
Calipari said he wanted to see Kentucky play better in the final minutes of close games decided by possession-by-possession execution.
Calipari again sounded confident that his players’ shooting will improve. “At the end of the day, I believe we’ll start shooting better,” he said.
“The main thing you’re hearing me say right now is ‘Go!, Go!, Speed!, Speed!,” he said. “Because we’re trying to get some easy baskets. Even that, if they don’t understand, and I have to prod them into flying, we’re not going to be where we want to go by the end of the year.”
UK will look for progress going forward beginning with Saturday’s game at Louisville.
The thinking seemed to be if teammates did the prodding, it might be more effective.
When asked to identify the three leaders he selected, Calipari only said, “You have to have older guys. You have to have guys who have the experience of this.”
Why three?
“I want them to back each other and basically run the team,” Calipari said.
Graduate transfer Davion Mintz said Calipari called “a couple guys” to his office to discuss this role.
“He talked about taking the stress off him of having to deal with the non-negotiables. That would be the responsibility of the guys he selected.
“Everyone is on board with it.”
Freshman Lance Ware declined to identify the three older players selected by Calipari. A guess would be senior Olivier Sarr, sophomore Keion Brooks and Mintz.
“We know who those are in the locker room,” he said. “And that’s where it’s kind of going to stay. They’re going to handle all the stuff like the little attitudes that most people have, especially when you come to Kentucky and be around other great players. You have to learn what you can and can’t do. . . . Sometimes in high school, I did a few things that I would never do here.”
To help the process, Calipari said he had a sports psychologist meet with the players individually and as a group.
“Is your mentality that you’re a 1-5 team?” the UK coach said. “That’s not my mentality.”
Kentucky plays better than its record suggests, but not yet for an entire 40 minutes of a game, Calipari said.
Calipari spoke again of how the coronavirus pandemic hindered team bonding. He said players would come to his home for Christmas and perhaps spend the night.
“Anything I can do that brings them together . . . ,” he said. “They have to do something together. . . . And we’ve got to do it in unison.”
The schedule has become another hurdle for Kentucky. Five straight losses have come against four teams from a Power Five conference plus a Richmond team that has been ranked or received votes regularly in The Associated Press’s weekly Top 25 poll.
“The competition hasn’t given us a chance to play just OK and win a game and start believing . . . ,” Calipari said. “The other teams, they are too good. They’re making us pay. They’ve got veteran players. You break down, they’re not missing that play.
“That’s what’s happened to us over and over.”
Louisville (5-1) has not had a carefree start to the season. The Cardinals, who start two freshmen, have dealt with injuries and a positive COVID test that resulted in an 18-day gap between games. The nadir came in an 85-48 loss to Wisconsin last Saturday in which team leader Carlik Jones was sidelined because of a positive COVID test.
With Kentucky and Louisville both dealing with internal issues, the struggles might suggest the shine has been taken off this year’s staging of the rivalry.
Mintz rejected the notion of a diminished UK-U of L game this season.
“Oh no . . . ,” he said. “We understand the magnitude of this game. And we know what we’re representing.”
With opposing teams seeing Kentucky as vulnerable, the competition will only get more intense, Calipari said.
“People are seeing blood in the water,” he said. “And you’re Kentucky. This is their chance — and I’m not talking specifically of Louisville — I’m talking about every team in our league. ‘This is our chance to smack these dudes.’
“We’re not going to face a team that doesn’t play hard or (does) play poorly. . . . I expect Louisville to play well. What I’m hoping is we’ll play better. And if we play better, and we see it and we compete, we’ll live with the result.”
Next game
Kentucky at Louisville
When: 1 p.m. Saturday
Where: KFC Yum Center in Louisville
TV: ESPN
Radio: WLAP-AM 630, WBUL-FM 98.1
Records: Kentucky 1-5, Louisville 4-1
Series: Kentucky leads 37-16.
Last meeting: Kentucky won 78-70 on Dec. 28, 2019, in Lexington.
