Tomorrow at 1pm…it’s a tough time of day to watch a Wildcats basketball game. Unless of course you followed our tip and have yourself in good position to call in tomorrow. If not, Nation of Blue will be here to take you through the game and hope that you’ll be able to join us. In the meantime, here are the quotes from Coach Cal during today’s pre-game press conference.[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
[B][I]On the rumors of having interest in coaching the Dominican Republic basketball team…[/I][/B]
“My daughter came downstairs last night, racing downstairs, Megan, and says, `Are you coaching the Dominican team?’ I go, `What are you talking about?’ `Well, it’s all over (Kentucky Sports Radio).’ And I go, `I don’t know what you’re talking about.’ So, my comment to everybody, including my daughter, I have not been contacted by anybody. It would be an honor to be considered for something like that, but I don’t know the timeframe, I don’t even know if I could do it. So, where that got started, or whether they’re considering me, I don’t know, you’d have to talk to them. There’s been no contact.”
[B][I]On if that would be something he would consider doing…[/I][/B]
“I don’t even know the timeframe so I can’t even tell you that. But it’s an honor that another country would say we would like you to coach our national team. The great thing that I was doing with China was that same kind of deal, you’re working with those guys and you’re teaching so it’s kind of neat, but I’m worried about beating Winthrop, you guys are worried about the Dominican Republic. Again, with (current UK assistant coach) Orlando (Antigua) on the staff, I coached a kid, Rigoberto Nunez, who was Dominican, you can see where that stuff got started, but it’s not.”
[B][I]On the adjustment to defense at the college level and how a player can earn time on the court because of their defense…[/I][/B]
“Well that’s how they stay on the floor. Now I want you to understand, if a guy comes down and he’ll rebound, and he’ll stop, and he’ll help his teammates, and he’s talking, they’re not going to score that many baskets. So even if we don’t score it’s even. I can leave him on the floor. But the minute he walks in and he doesn’t rotate and they get a free layup, and then he gets a ball jerked from him – and it’s anybody, not just Stacey (Poole) – and they make another basket, it’s one that we didn’t get and they got. That’s a four-point swing. You do that once or twice and all of a sudden you’re an eight-point negative. You cannot be on the floor, freshman, senior, sophomore, you can’t be out there. And so, `Wow I made a basket.’ OK, that’s two points for us, eight (points) against us. We’re losing, so you can’t be out there. That’s what you’re trying to tell them. Part of that is a will to win. Part of that is understanding that every possession is important, and most freshmen don’t know it. What I’m happy about is we have three other freshmen who are slowly coming through. You may say well they’re playing a lot more. Yeah, they deserve to be too. So now what happens is, just like in life, you get your opportunity, are you ready for it? If you’re not ready for it you cannot blame anybody but yourself. Are you ready for your chance to play? I told Jon Hood and Stacey Poole yesterday, `We need you on this team and we need you to perform.’ Why? There may be foul trouble. Someone may get hurt and you’re going to be thrust into the position. Are you ready? Or are you just going to grab balls as you’re falling down and throw them at the basket? You can’t do that. I can’t leave you on the floor. I think you hold the bar high and tell them exactly what they have to do and they either do it or don’t do it. I mean, it’s in their hands. The one thing with the way we play is we’ve always been a defensive oriented team. So is this team. We’ve been a team that gives you space offensively to do what you can do. Now, you try and do stuff you can’t do, you can’t be out there. Those are all things they’ve got to learn as they go. I’m still telling you Stacey and Jon will play a part in this season. They have to get themselves ready. I said this, `You know we’re trying to condition a couple other guys other than just Josh (Harrellson), why aren’t you two out early? You two tell me you want to play, why aren’t you out here early? Why aren’t you conditioning? Why aren’t you weight training? You want me to give you a spot.’ It’s the same with Eloy (Vargas). `Eloy, have you not watched what Josh did? Now why wouldn’t you chase that and do the same?’ Because he’s capable. Josh is like the success story, early season. Early season, but he’s been the success story. And again, I told those guys he’s changed his habits which may end up changing his life. It’s a crazy statement but that’s the truth.”
[B][I]On what he is seeing and what he wants to see from freshman forward Terrence Jones in the hours leading up to a game…[/I][/B]
“He’s got to figure that out. They said to Michael Jordan – who gets chased every game when he played, he was the target, everybody that went against him was going to give their best, everybody was going to get a good night’s sleep and be ready to go, and they were going to go try and make their name at his expense, every night, 82 nights, every season if he was on that basketball floor, forget late career, same – they said to him, `What do you do to get yourself ready?’ He said, `I do something different every week. I do something different. One game I’ll think about my own children, and for that week that’s what it’s about, my children. There will be another game, I’ll go into the arena next week and I’ll pick out a young man in the stands and say I’m playing for him, that’s who I’m playing for, and every game I’m playing for him. One week I was thinking about my dad, and the whole week that’s all I thought about, was getting ready and playing for my dad.’ Well, what he has to learn as a young player is this isn’t AAU, there’s not another game at 3. There’s not another game at 7. We’re not going to McDonald’s to get a burger and jag around and don’t worry about warming up, just go play, and if you don’t play well in the first half – well, he’s got to learn. And that’s what I said. The loss at North Carolina, if he learned a lesson it was worth losing that game because it will carry over for us later in the season. The same thing in this last game in the second half, if he learned he didn’t get ready to play – I went right at him. I’m trying to prove a point. I’m going right at him, I got young guys. The same with Brandon (Knight) where I’m talking about leading. You can see him now – you can’t come in as a freshman and say, `I’m going to lead this team.’ You haven’t done anything yet, you can’t do it. You have to work your way into it. I kind of like the fact when I’m watching the Miami Heat that that’s what LeBron (James) did. Early he deferred, but you see as they went on and on he grabbed the mantle and will lead now and it will make a difference in their team. There’s no disrespect for Dwyane (Wade) or anybody else. It’s just that that’s what he does best, and on our team it’s going to be Brandon and you’re seeing it slowly, he’s starting to lead. He’s starting to talk, he’s starting to run, he’s coming over to me. He’s not mad at himself and worried about missing a shot because it’s not about him, it’s about our team. He had to learn that. Doron (Lamb) had to learn how to play with his motor running. This is what we do. It’s what coaching is about. I’m trying to get these guys to learn and understand.
[B][I]On Winthrop…[/I][/B]
“(They’re a) good team. It was a 10-point game with Dayton last night. They beat Wake Forest by 20. They beat Jacksonville, good. Who did Jacksonville just beat? Florida. Yeah they beat them good. They play, they run good stuff, they’re physical, they play some zone, and they’ll press us a little bit. This is a step up for us and we better be ready. It’s a scary game because we’re going home for Christmas. And don’t think everyone in that locker room, managers, players, coaches, is not thinking, `What time does this game end?’ It’s just how it is. It’s just what we have to deal with.”
[URL=”http://www.ukathletics.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/122110aaa.html”]Source[/URL].
