Photo: KYForward.com
With 12 different lineups in the game last night, it almost looked like organized chaos with so many Kentucky lineups in the first exhibition game with Northwood.
John Calipari is trying to figure out which lineup is the most compatible with each other for the best chance of winning ballgames, and last night, he definitely got a wide variety of different looks.
The most talked about lineup recently has been playing both Nerlens Noel and Willie Cauley-Stein, a revisitation of the Twin Towers of old.
Going as far as having former Kentucky coach Joe B. Hall diagram having both bigs in the game with mustard and ketchup bottles, the freshman towers seem to play well together, albeit against a much smaller lineup in Northwood.
“Well, you may look at one lineup and say, this one is better,” Calipari said. “I may not like that starting lineup. You can’t start that way, so maybe we start different, and then you just rotate. And I’m telling you, it does not matter who starts, it’s who finishes the game, so maybe a starting lineup is different for us.”
John Calipari seems almost frustrated with his young team right now, trying to figure out who can do what and the way he wants them to perform just isn’t up to par right now.
“It’s just like I told them after, I’m just not settling for that. If you want to stay on the court, it’s not about missed shots or turnovers, it has nothing to do with that. You can never say he takes me out every time I make a mistake, I can’t play, because I don’t do that. If you don’t sprint back, you’re coming out. If you’re not rough and the guy throws you out of the way, sit down, you’re not ready. If you don’t dive for a loose ball, if you don’t help a helper, if you’re standing there watching the play, you’re out. It has nothing to do with a missed shot or turnover.”
Most Kentucky fans have faith with John Calipari’s coaching, and it is really hard for anyone to argue the results since he has been at Kentucky.
Calipari also knows how the Big Blue Nation is, and is sure they already know which group he should play.
“Did anybody look at the points per lineup or the score in the lineups?” Calipari asked. “There are fans who have already broken it down. It’s great for your story because just go on the boards, they’ll tell you who scored, what the score was with each lineup and then you put it in your story. It’s good stuff.”
The question is, is this team too young to figure everything out by March?
If you ask Cal, he says he really likes his team, and we all have seen the results when that happens.
