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[B]Coach Cal’s Mailbag: Week of January 17[/B]
LIVE Chat with Cal Takes Place Monday, January 31 at noon ET
[URL=”http://www.foxsportssouth.com/pages/coachcalmailbag”]Click here to view Coach Cal’s Mailbag on FOXSportsSouth.com[/URL]
FOX Sports South, in conjunction with the University of Kentucky Men’s Basketball Coach John Calipari, presents “Coach Cal’s Mailbag,” an interactive webpage found exclusively on [URL=”http://www.foxsportssouth.com”]FOXSportsSouth.com[/URL].
“Coach Cal’s Mailbag” features Calipari in video responses to reader-submitted questions every week throughout the 2010-11 college basketball season. Readers can submit questions by visiting [URL=”http://www.foxsportssouth.com”]FOXSportsSouth.com[/URL].
In addition to the latest Wildcats basketball news and videos, “Coach Cal’s Mailbag” will also feature live chats with Calipari, the next of which will take place Monday, January 31, at noon ET on [URL=”http://www.foxsportssouth.com”]FOXSportsSouth.com[/URL].
[B]This week in Coach Cal’s Mailbag:[/B]
You’ve publicly stated that the team’s effort has been lacking and they need to break bad habits. How are your players responding to the challenge? Do they “get it” yet? – Deb, Lexington, KY
Coach Cal – “I don’t say they lack effort. I say there’s a difference in being content with what you’re doing and being totally committed – to each other, to the team, to execution, to winning. We’re not there yet… but you know what? I’ve got a great team… Our practices have [gotten] better, our last few games have been better. Now we’ve got to take it on the road and see how committed we really are.”
Were you always this smooth with the media? Be honest. Do you ever get nervous in front of the camera? – Trish, Pittsburgh, PA
Coach Cal – “You say that I’m good with the media or smooth with the media, but you have to understand, whether they admit it or not, there are agendas. There are agendas to damage certain guys and to build up other guys… I try to stay above that fray. But I will tell you, I’m comfortable because I speak from the heart.”
Ten seconds left on the clock and your team is down by one. You can only choose one player you’ve ever coached. Who do you want taking that last shot? – Chris, San Jose, CA
Coach Cal – “I had Derrick Rose – I wouldn’t mind him shooting that ball. I had Tyreke Evans. I had Antonio Anderson against Tulsa with two seconds to go. And Mike Williams when I was at UMass. Edgar Padilla… But of all of them [I’d choose] ‘Sam-I-Am’: Sam Cassell.”
Who was the biggest trash talker in the NBA when you were coaching? What was his best line? – Jason, Miami, FL
Coach Cal – “Well, [there was] a lot of back and forth and talking, but the guy that would intimidate the most was Michael Jordan… He was the kind of guy that would take your players out the night before and befriend them and then take their heart out the next day… Michael was the guy that moved people.”
Have you been in contact with any of the players from last year’s team that are now in the NBA? How are they adjusting to professional basketball? – Will, Lebanon, KY
Coach Cal – “Every player that I coach that goes into the NBA I stay in touch with. But in most cases they say the same thing: ‘Coach Cal, I wish I was back. I wish I was still [at Kentucky].’ It’s a family here; it’s a business in the NBA. [These players] like the drapings of the NBA, but I think they like the environment of what we have and the family we’ve created.”
If you could coach any sport outside of basketball, what would it be and why? – Greg, Salyersville, KY
Coach Cal – “I would say golf… Maybe track. The sport I could never coach, would never coach: football. Not because it’s rough. But how do you remember 70 names?”
