Coach K talks up Kentucky basketball (and tells John Calipari about his favorite Wildcat)
John Calipari has been teasing his appearance on fellow Hall of Fame basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski’s podcast for the past several days, and that show dropped Thursday night.
It was filled with praise for the current Kentucky team, nearly all of it coming from Coach K.
Krzyzewski welcomed Calipari onto the show by wondering if he was the only person that actually calls him by his first name, then asking if he needed to call him “Cal” instead.
Calipari said his wife calls him “John,” too, but that’s about it.
“I’ve been called worse,” he said. “The last couple of years, you can’t believe some of the things they called me. Whew!”
Krzyzewski was quick with the reply: “I’ve called you worse at different times in my career.”
But the former rivals — Coach K retired following the 2021-22 season, his 42nd at Duke — were friendly throughout Calipari’s appearance on the weekly “Basketball & Beyond” podcast hosted by Krzyzewski.
The five-time national champion coach of the Blue Devils was also quick with the praise for Calipari’s Cats.
“I want to tell you — I’ve watched your team a few games,” he told Calipari at the beginning. “I like your team. You’re doing something different with this team. The fact that you share the ball without turning it over. And somehow you’re using your bigs different. You’ve always done a great job with the perimeter guys — giving them freedom.”
Krzyzewski marveled at the way these Wildcats have shared the ball — they’re third nationally in assist/turnover ratio — and was clearly impressed with their balanced scoring attack.
“You have my favorite guy in Reed Sheppard, who’s like a wind-up doll that never makes a mistake,” Coach K continued.
Calipari stopped him there, interrupting to point out that the Kentucky freshman fouled a 3-point shooter — while UK led by four points — in the final second of the Cats’ league opener at Florida last weekend.
“What in the world was he thinking?!” Cal shot back.
“He had to show that he was human,” Krzyzewski said. “Because up until that point, he was not human. And then the look on his face, like, ‘Am I a dummy or what?’ I loved it. I loved it.”
The ESPN cameras caught Sheppard with a sheepish grin on his face immediately after the foul. Kentucky won the game by two points, and the 19-year-old hit six free throws in the final 19 seconds to help ice it for the Wildcats.
Calipari got in a dig at Krzyzewski, claiming the Blue Devils “copied” his one-and-done formula for success in the final seasons of the Duke coach’s legendary career. Coach K disagreed with that assessment, but the two Hall of Famers kept it cordial and quickly moved on to other topics.
They found mutual ground on what they perceive as some of the current problems with college basketball — and college sports, in general. Krzyzewski wondered aloud about the future direction of college hoops, and the transfer portal came up as a topic of discussion.
Calipari, who took UMass to the Final Four in 1996 and parlayed his success at the mid-major school into an NBA gig with the New Jersey Nets, said he wasn’t sure he would have been able to pull off that program-building feat in the current landscape of the sport.
“I don’t think we would have gotten it done, because kids that played well there would’ve left,” he said. “My best teams had four-year players, three-year players. … I can tell you — my early guys — they wouldn’t have stayed four years. No way. No way.”
The coaches also touched on football’s influence on the rest of college sports, the future of the NCAA Tournament, issues with the NCAA, in general, and the lack of direction from NCAA leadership. Krzyzewski was also clearly impressed with the rise of SEC basketball over the past several seasons.
The Hall of Fame duo moved to the topic of player compensation, and Calipari noted that Kentucky is still waiting on the NCAA to clear freshman Zvonimir Ivisic, who has been on campus since October but still hasn’t received the final word on his eligibility status as a college player.
Calipari has been fairly restrained in his public comments surrounding Ivisic’s case, only recently pushing for a quicker resolution, one way or the other. UK is not commenting publicly on the case as the process plays out, and Calipari has offered few specific details on Ivisic’s eligibility situation, but he did speak more on it during his podcast appearance.
“He made a stipend,” Calipari said, clearly talking about Ivisic, who spent time with a professional developmental team in Europe before committing to the Cats. “You’re saying it was too much of a stipend? Juniors and seniors in high school are making hundreds of thousands, and you’re talking about his $200 too much — or $300 too much — whatever it was? We’ve gotta move with the times and what’s going on right now.”
Whether or not Ivisic makes it onto the court this season remains to be seen. But Krzyzewski said he would be watching the Wildcats, and he noted that he’s “excited” to see how they develop over the next couple of months.
“Your guys are making each other better,” he said. “And talent makes talent better, if talent is not selfish. And that’s what I see in your team. And, as a result, you’re seeing different talents grow, individually and collectively. I really like your team a lot.”
This story was originally published January 11, 2024 at 9:43 PM.
