John Calipari, Aaron and Andrew Harrison Press Conference Transcripts before Mississippi State Bulldogs

Mandatory Credit: Mark Zerof-USA TODAY Sports

On if he’s seen anyone taking charge off the court …

“I’m trying to teach everybody to lead, I’m not trying to teach one guy and then he’s the leader by himself. I’ve never done that and the reason is I’m responsible for a lot people’s children so if I’m being fair I’m teaching them all how to lead, what it means to lead. So at different points in the
season, different guys lead, it’s just how it is. If I teach them all how to lead, some may stay in the background because that just don’t have it but at least they know what they have to do if it comes time for them to step up to the forefront and say, ‘I got this.’ So we’re trying to teach them all and if you think leaders are born, like, he’s just born a leader; well I haven’t met one yet. I mean everyone that I’ve had to coach or player that I’ve wanted to lead, I had to teach it, I had to be in the room, I had to get in the office, I had to do it in practice, I had to sit them down by themselves, tell them what it means, how to do it. Leadership is not you running around and us doing everything for you, that’s not what a leader is about. A lot of it is new to them.”

On Andrew Harrison’s bad habit of standing straight up and not moving enough …

“You should have seen him the other day, he went down and we threw him the ball and it was basket, dunk, assist, basket like four straight times when he didn’t have it, it came to him and he just blew by. We’re just like, we’re looking around like, wow, maybe he got it. Then about five minutes later he was standing straight up and down. Stop. You’re standing. Because he’s done it 18 years that way. See the reason I’m saying think pass when you have the ball and think score when you don’t have the ball it flips on them how they’ve always played. The way they’ve played, and this is every terrific high school player, I’m going to score this ball and if I can’t score it I’m going to throw it to you but before I do I’m going to take one more look to see if I can score this thing and then I’m going to throw it to you and when I throw it to you I’m going to look at you now, see if you do anything. The other way is, I have it, I’m a passer, when I don’t have it, I’m down ready to score now. It could be James Young learning that, we’re trying to teach Julius when you throw it out of the post or double team, repost. Just throw it out and repost. But they didn’t know, they didn’t know it, they didn’t do it. But they’re making strides.”

On telling the players to think pass when they have the ball and think score when they don’t …

“It’s not a mental trick; it’s just to get them to think different. I tell them all the time, I’m telling them to run blind and I mentioned this on my show last night. Run blind is like a football player who is a wide receiver that is not receiving the ball but runs his pattern like he is receiving. That’s running blind. So I’m trying to get these guys to run the wing, run the wing blind. Don’t jog like; well I don’t think I’m getting this one. And the big guy, run blind, fly and maybe you get the ball, maybe you don’t. That’s what we’re trying, those are just ways of getting them to think different than they’ve thought.”

On the players knowing they have a bull’s eye on them every night out …

“They’re figuring it out. Well, believe me, every game we play the other team is so jacked up to play us they can’t see straight. I was talking to (Belmont head coach) Rick Byrd the other day and he said, ‘the best game we played all year is against you guys.’ And he said, ‘we’ve come down, we’ve
got to get it back up.’ But I’m laughing, every team we play, either they come in to play great and they’re emotionally ready, now we may take some game away from them because of how we play but the reality of it is it’s not based on them not being ready to play. But Dominique (Hawkins) has done well. He’s the typical guy that I’m trying to teach to have amnesia. Move on to the next play, it’s how he plays, he doesn’t worry about what he’s done, he’s just playing hard, he knows where he’s supposed to go and how hard he’s supposed to play. He defends. It’s been fun watching his
growth.”

On everyone getting joy out of seeing Dominique Hawkins succeed …

“They like him because they know he works hard and he’s a great teammate, he’s about his team, he’s not about himself. ‘What do I have to do to help the team?’ He’s established his role and he does it well and everybody respects that. They respect that in him. I have some of the recruits that we’ve signed, hit me on the text saying, ‘I love Dominique’s game.’ So you’ve got everyone watching it and it’s a good lesson, when you come with energy and you come to compete, you know, you stand out. You just really do.”

On how the team was about getting the extra workout in before this recent break …

“They were OK, some of them, not all of them. You know, Alex (Poythress) smiled yesterday, did something, dunked on somebody, just grabbed the ball, went up and just, he was smiling and I stopped and I said, can you imagine, Alex is smiling. I said, ‘Did he smile at all last year?’ Coach
(Orlando Antigua) said, ‘Yeah, when he was leaving the gym.’ It just takes time and every player is on their own timetable, it is. And you could say, ‘Well you’re letting,’ no, no, no. No. They’re all on different timetables, they get it at different places and we all. I just hope this team is getting it so we can move forward. I’m coaching more strategy and schemes and sequence than I’m coaching emotion, hustle, intensity, competitiveness. That stuff they need to bring every day, I need to coach basketball. What I was doing for two months in the other.”