In case you missed the live stream this afternoon, here is John Calipari’s Pre-Vanderbilt Press Conference.
Transcript of today’s press conference.
On if he was worried about ‘Camp Cal’ after the first few minutes …
“No, we were really rusty and when you watch the tape, it’s amazing how they revert. If there is game slippage, or when they get tired, the biggest thing they must learn and they just haven’t yet, is that every team that comes in here has unbelievable energy to start the game. We just don’t seem to think that matters. So you’re down 10-0, 12-2, 8-0. Maybe I’ve got to start people that understand it. But this is like every game now and it’s the same reason. They outrun us, they outwork us, they’re more alert to play than we are and then we kind of kick it in. I told them after the game that against a really good team, you’re down 20 and you’re not coming back. You’ll get it to eight or 10 and they’ll push it to 16 and then you’ll get it to six, and you’ll lose by 12. That’s what’s going to happen against a good team.”
On lineup changes …
“Yeah, but right now I look at it and say let me ride this out a little bit because we’re basically playing Alex (Poythress) and Dominique (Hawkins). I’m really proud of Dakari (Johnson). Dakari gave us great minutes. He’s just got to make free throws. I told him you can’t be a guy who can’t make any free throws because if the game is in any balance at all – if it’s an eight-point game and I put him in with seven or eight minutes left, (other teams) will just foul him. Just foul him. If he gets it, foul him. Put a guy in – he goes in, you go in – foul him. So, I told him, until you get this figured out, it’s hard to keep you in the game. He did everything else well.”
On Dakari Johnson’s growth …
“Again, as a Basketball Benny, I have to remind you that if I’m coaching the other team, I put in a guy that never plays and guards him. The minute I throw it to him, he turns to shoot, I foul the crap out of him. He misses two, I take him out, you take him out. That’s what is going to happen. You’ve got to be able to get up there. The same thing goes with Willie (Cauley-Stein). You don’t have to make them all. You just can’t miss them all.”
On Dakari Johnson’s game coming along the last few games …
“He’s running. He’s moving his feet. I told him right at half, ‘Look, I’m playing you this half and we’re going to score. If they double, kick it and re-post.’ I think he was ready for it. Again, he is not a bad free throw shooter. Most of this becomes the mental part of it.”
On the rewarding aspect of seeing a player like Alex Poythress grow …
“Yeah, I love it. Nothing makes me happier. Again, it took him awhile to accept the fact that he had to change. Most of it is just changing how you think and changing how you approach things, and change your mentality about practice and loving the grind and then seeing the results. They have to see results to build on that to get better. He is seeing it. Now, I want him to take some jumpers. He’s a good shooter. I love that he made his free throws. Now go get fouled. I want him to drive to the middle left to right and shoot his jump-hook that he has taken 9,000 times in two years here. Now do it in the game. You don’t have to go three dribbles, behind-your-back crossover, just take it, get the ball behind the man, take it into the lane and shoot the jump-hook. He’s got more game. I just like how he is settling into how he’s going to play. He’s in great condition, he’s in a great frame of mind, his mentality has changed, he’s changed how he’s thinking. He started the game with a one-handed rebound. He brought it in to go shoot it, and by the time he got it in the guy did rake his arm when you watch the tape. But, he didn’t get it up to the basket. If he would have grabbed it with two, he would have gone up and dunked it and it would have been nothing. But, he grabbed it with one. Those are the kind of things that we’re trying to get him away from. He’s defending better. He’s doing that better.”
On how Dominique Hawkins handles a sagging defense …
“Well he is a good enough shooter, but he knows that’s not his deal. He is going to have to get in the gym more because he is going to have to take some of those shots. The other thing he may have to do is we may have to cut him to the basket. The nice place to stand him may be pass it to the post, cut under the basket and stand right under that goal and then throw it right to him. He can dunk it. So you can do different things if you’re not playing him. I’ve had players like that before. I’m not even worried about that. You keep that energy on, you keep defending. He did some (bad) things in the game. He fouled a kid and gave him two points for no reason. What are you doing? ‘I don’t know, I’m sorry.’ He didn’t get back and he gave a kid a layup. OK, timeout, why didn’t you go back? ‘I was stopping the ball.’ You were stopping the ball? So he threw it to a guy who shot a layup? Why did you do that? ‘I don’t know.’ But he’s not the only one. That’s the answer. That’s like the common answer with these guys. Why would do that? ‘You tell me why I did that. I have no idea why I did that.’’
On changing the way they run the fast break and how he thinks the team did with those changes …
“They did a better job of fighting our post than our post did of creating space so we could throw them the ball. We had one guy that created space so we could throw it to him, who was that? You watched the game? So why did he do it, but our other guys didn’t? I don’t know. Dakari sat down, he made himself big, he yelled for the ball. So we are going to do some things today to get them in a stance. What I think will happen is I think teams will play us sagging to make us shoot jumpers. Maybe an opportunity for Derek Willis, but he hasn’t been shooting well in practice. My thing to him is, ‘I want to get you more minutes but you have to prove in practice you can make seven, eight, nine in a row. And we can go to you and your team is going to have confidence in you and so are you.’ But, I think they are going to sag and they put three guys on Julius (Randle) and that is how I think people are going to play us. But we started the game shooting seven 3s. Now what do you think one of our weakest areas is? So why would you start the game shooting them? Because it is easier than being down and ready and driving the ball. What did we do the second half? I said, ‘If you shot a 3 without a drive to the middle or a post you were out.’ So if you want to play you can either pass it or go like this and everybody is going to say, ‘What is wrong with him why won’t he play?’ Or you can either drive the ball or post the ball and that is what they did the second half. Defended better, but most of it came off that you demoralize them a little bit. Our zone offense was good. Our zone offense against a 1-3-1 was getting dunks and layups. Ran better in the second half because we defended better.”
On advancing the ball with passes …
“Yeah, we did and it showed. The other thing I thought was that we were in better shape. You saw in the second half we didn’t back up at all. But it is not that, do you understand how excited they are to play you? Yeah. You got to be as excited to play them as they are to play you because the one thing their coach is going to say, every coach, ‘You must outwork these guys to beat them.’ Then take that away. That is off the table, they are not going to do that. The second thing is going to be really sag off and hope they settle for 3s. Then don’t settle for 3s. How about that one? I know it is a crazy thought, but don’t settle for 3s. You are in the top one, two, three in the country in free throws attempted. So do that. Now let’s hope we make a few more. We are making 23. We should be making 29-28. We should be scoring five more points a game from the line. So let’s do that. We are on the path to get more steals then we’ve been getting. That is good. Now, let’s keep building it. We didn’t change, we played one defense. We didn’t do anything to confuse them and we still had a few more steals.”
On James Young increasing rebounding…
“We are playing him in a position offensively he just goes to the glass, so he got five. But playing the position he is playing where he is guarding one of the perimeter guys, not even the three, but one of those other perimeter guys. It seems as though those guys go back so he gets a free run at the ball. I think that has helped him.”
On transition offense …
“Because you need to get some free baskets. You get them on offensive rebounds. You get them on your blocked shots and your steals and you get some free ones. We are still bad. They still scored five baskets on throw it ahead, throw it ahead, basket, foul, layup. I mean, and we didn’t match them so we are going to cover some of that stuff today. We still have a ways to go. They show signs. In the second half, if they would have played like that in the first half you would have been up 20-something going into the second half. So why would you do this? Their answer is, ‘I don’t know. I have no idea. Do you know, Coach?’”
On Vanderbilt only having seven scholarship players …
“Stop. I had seven last year, don’t want to hear it. I could care less. You know, everybody felt sorry for us when we had seven.”
On the different bench configuration at Vanderbilt …
“We’ll have to talk more and we’re going to talk about it today. There are some things that if we’re not talking to each other and they’re not relaying calls, we’ll make them run. But the reality of it is that the game is going to start, that team is going to be fired up to play us at home on national television. Are you inspired to play them? Or does it not matter to you? Again, Florida State (football) said it best. In the first half we were playing for me, in the second half, we played for us. A guy said that’s why we won the game. What do you need for the team to play well? And I just keep coming back to that for this team. I’m asking you to do these three or four things. Why not just do them? Your team needs you to do these three things – can you do them? Well, if you don’t you’re coming out. I did a lot of subbing for that yesterday. Out. Next guy. (I’m) not going to keep telling you. Just sit down. So we’ve got a ways to go, but again, you see all these funky scores and crazy scores happening and you start in league play. You go on the road. Stuff happens. It’s hard to win on the road, it’s hard to win in your league. Everybody knows each other. Georgia going to Missouri. How about Arkansas and Texas A&M? Texas A&M had been struggling and they come back. Arkansas was 11-1 or whatever they were. They hadn’t lost games and they go there and they get them good. It’s crazy. It’s not just our league, it’s every league. You look around and you’re saying what is going on? That’s just what it’s like.”
On his son’s ACL surgery …
“He’s good. They kept him an extra day. I spent some time with him last night. He comes home today.”
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