Is Kentucky the exception to the cliche about playing ‘em one at a time?
During a teleconference Tuesday, Davion Mintz was asked if Kentucky players feel pressure to receive a 2021 NCAA Tournament bid. His response was part political correctness and part remarkable candor.
“The perfect thing for me to say is we don’t think about it,” he said. “We’re taking it one game at a time.”
Then Mintz, a grad transfer who has been around the basketball block, dropped the pose.
“In all honesty, we do think about it, and there is pressure there,” he said. “At the end of the day, you have to have the mentality of one game at a time. We just have to put a few games together and go on like that three-game win streak that we had. And let’s try to bump that up to four or five.”
That effort begins Wednesday night at Georgia.
Mental health
UK Coach John Calipari expressed concern about the players dealing with an unusual set of circumstances on and off the court. In addition to a 4-8 record (worst start to a Kentucky season since 1926-27), there’s the isolation brought on by the coronavirus pandemic.
“I keep coming back to we’re in a ‘bubble’ here,” he said before adding, “the problem is we’re in a ‘bubble’ here.”
To break the monotony, Calipari said that UK had rented out a movie theater for the players. “You and I know that’s dangerous,” he said. Players had come to his home (not staff nor managers). The team has also gone to a restaurant for dinner.
In dealing with the players’ mental health, Calipari said he was “totally unqualified.” He added that he has consulted with sports psychologist Bob Rotella and brought in another sports psychologist to work with the players.
“We’re all sensitive to how we approach what we do this year,” Calipari said of himself and coaching colleagues. “And kids are a little more fragile across the country because of this.”
Balancing act
Calipari spoke of not wanting to crush the spirit of a player who is not performing well. But how to balance that concern with a reserve who deserves more playing time?
Time and patience will make it work, Calipari seemed to say. “What usually happens during a year? . . . Does the cream rise here? And that’s what’s going to happen, now.
“Some guys will step up. Some guys will take a step back.”
New starters?
On his radio show Monday night, Calipari said he began practice that day with a challenge.
“Anyone who wants to start, go dominate,” he said he told the players. “We had a couple guys who haven’t started that have moved into a starting position.”
The UK coach did not name these two players. But he did say that starter Brandon Boston and substitute Dontaie Allen have been rooting for each other.
Offense/defense
In considering two lineup options, Calipari said neither excels at both offense and defense. Hence, more juggling and experimenting to come.
“This is tweaking, analyzing , looking at numbers,” he said. “At the end of the day, I told them, you guys can be as good as anybody in the country.”
Boston the beast?
In explaining why Boston playing on a standout AAU team has not automatically translated into college excellence, Calipari said, “the competition is different, so you’re not playing now against high school players. You’re playing against somebody who is three years older than you, more physical, more trained.”
Plus, COVID disrupted preseason workouts.
Boston has to get in a habit of driving and drawing fouls rather than flipping up low-percentage shots, Calipari said.
As if in Boston’s voice, the UK coach said, “I’m a downhill runner. I’m a free-throw drawing beast. I don’t have to be strong, but I’m drawing free throws.”
Desperate
Davion Mintz said Calipari has advised the UK players to play with “some sort of desperation.” Are the UK players desperate?
“Oh, very, very,” Mintz said. “It’s been a really tough season. I can’t lie. . . . We, obviously, can’t give up. We have a lot of people depending on us, a lot of people supporting us still.”
Georgia
Georgia (8-4 overall, 1-4 in the SEC), is coming off its best shooting performance of the season. In winning 78-74 at Ole Miss on Saturday, the Bulldogs made 58.7 percent of their shots, 60 percent of their threes (nine of 15) and 88.2 percent of their free throws (15 of 17). All were season highs.
As Sharife Cooper’s belated debut gave Auburn a boost, so K.D. Johnson has done for Georgia.
Johnson averaged 17.5 points (making six of nine free throws) in his first two games and was named SEC Freshman of the Week for Jan. 11-17.
Anthem update
For Georgia’s home games, the national anthem is played right before the introduction of starting lineups. The teams are at court side.
Georgia players have stood on the court with arms locked during the playing of the anthem before each home game.
Etc.
Mike Morgan and Debbie Antonelli will call the game for the SEC Network.
