NCAA experience leads Calipari to tell UK players: ‘Please listen to me’
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Men’s NCAA Tournament: Previewing Kentucky vs. Saint Peter’s
Click below to view more content from the Lexington Herald-Leader and Kentucky.com previewing Kentucky’s men’s basketball matchup against Saint Peter’s on Thursday night in the NCAA East Regional at Indianapolis.
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When it comes to NCAA Tournament experience, John Calipari can take his players to the hoop and dunk on them.
The Kentucky coach has guided 21 teams to the NCAA Tournament. It would have been 22 if the coronavirus pandemic had not led to the cancellation of March Madness in 2020.
His record includes six Final Fours, and, of course, UK’s 2012 championship.
As for the UK players, two have played in the NCAA Tournament. Davion Mintz played 14 minutes and scored two points in Creighton’s first-round loss to Rhode Island in 2017.
Kellan Grady played 39 minutes and scored 16 points in Davidson’s first-round loss to Kentucky in 2018.
“I have reminded them, please listen to what I’m saying because I’ve done this a few times . . . ,” Calipari said Wednesday.
Grady acknowledged that he expected there would be a difference playing for Kentucky in Thursday’s first-round game against Saint Peter’s than for Davidson against UK in 2018.
“For me, it’s kind of like a new level of excitement,” he said.
As for playing against Kentucky in 2018, Grady said, “we were all . . . on an emotional high. We felt really good and truly felt we were going to beat Kentucky.”
Despite its streak of making at least one three-point shot ending after 1,000-plus games, Kentucky won 78-73.
One of the UK players making his NCAA Tournament debut is Sahvir Wheeler.
“Something I’m super grateful for because as a kid every basketball player’s dream is to be here. . . . It’s definitely a blessing.”
When asked what NCAA Tournament memories came to mind, Calipari mentioned the 2012 national championship for UK, the title game loss in 2014 and “the shot clock violation that changed the rules.”
That was a reference to Nigel Hayes of Wisconsin making a shot after after the shot clock expired deep in the second half against Kentucky in the 2015 national semifinals. The non-call was not reviewable because it happened outside the allowed time for such reviews.
Subsequently, the time permitted for such a review was expanded.
‘Special icing’
Kenny Payne reportedly being announced as Louisville’s next coach later this week prompted a question.
Michigan Coach Juwan Howard was asked what it was like to coach for his alma mater. Hubert Davis (North Carolina) and John Scheyer (Duke next season) also fit that description.
“I’m just happy to be part of the school that helped mold me into the man I am,” Howard said.
Of himself, Davis, Scheyer and possibly Payne, the Michigan coach said, “these are dream jobs for us. . . . It’s a special icing on the cake.”
Job change
Longwood Coach Griff Aldrich, whose team plays Tennessee in the first round Thursday, has had an unusual career path.
A diagnosis of bladder cancer limited his senior season for Hampden-Sydney to 10 games. He wanted to coach. But with encouragement from Dave Odom, who was then an assistant coach at Virginia, he accepted a chance to attend Virginia’s law school
A law degree and successful law practice led Aldrich to found an oil and gas company while also working as managing director and chief financial officer of a private investment firm.
A devout Christian, Aldrich also founded an AAU team with the intention of helping inner-city youth.
By the spring of 2016, Aldrich was making close to $800,000. Then he accepted a job as director of basketball operations at Maryland Baltimore County. It paid $32,000.
“It was a spiritual calling,” Aldrich said.
Thanks, UK
On Jan. 15, Kentucky beat Tennessee 107-79. Since then, the Vols have won 15 of 17 games. That includes a seven-game winning streak.
UT players said B following A should be interpreted as A leading to B in this case.
“Losing that way on ESPN, it really lit a fire under us . . . ,” Josiah-Jordan James said of the loss at UK. “That was really a good message for us.”
Added freshman Kennedy Chandler, “we knew we were better than we played in that game.”
Since then, the Vols have pushed themselves “every single day,” he said.
Coach Rick Barnes said the team’s defense improved markedly after the loss at Kentucky.
Turnover
The moderator at the news conferences mispronounced Tennessee guard Santiago Vescovi’s name. He said Ves-CO-vee rather than the correct “VESS-cah-vee.
Vescovi smiled when he heard his name mispronounced.
This story was originally published March 16, 2022 at 7:28 PM.
