UK Basketball: Time To Turn Up The Heat

OK Guys, that was better, now let’s go to work.

Guys, I am going to do my best John Calipari impersonation here when I say this, we have got to go to work. I hope all of you are listening when I coach this week, because I am going to be telling you several things.

First and foremost, good job Saturday. You played a lot better than you have been playing. I am proud of you. Now get over it. So you beat up South Carolina at home, great, but it is just a start. The roughest time that most of you have ever seen is about to start and will last for the next 6 weeks. From here on out, the expectations ramp up, the competition gets tougher, and the whole world starts looking in your window to see if you have what it takes or not. The media is going to scrutinize everything you do even more than usual, the “experts” are going to tell everyone if you are for real or not, and the fans are going to be on pins and needles watching your every move and trying to decipher if you are going to make a run.

For the next two weeks, you have got to put everything you have ever learned out on the court, and cannot hold anything back. You have to hit the other guy first, hit him hard, hit him a lot and cannot let him get back up. Your opponents know all of your weaknesses, and they know how to exploit them. You are not only going to be facing good competition the next few weeks, you are going to be facing championship competition, most of which is not only ranked, they will be ranked higher than you. They have deeper benches, they have more seasoned players, and they have been there before. They know your habits, they know how you think, and they know how you play. And you are still going to go out there and beat them at their own game. You are going to play smarter than you ever have before, quicker, meaner, smoother, and more as a team than you ever have in your lives, because that is what it is going to take to be successful. You have to make the other guys react to you, not the other way around. You have to be better than the other players as a team. You have to pick up your teammates, you have to work harder than you have before and make every opportunity count. Soon, there will be no second chances.

In the next two weeks, you will face a very dangerous Arkansas team, coached by a former Wildcat. As you know, Wildcats, both past and present, do not like to lose. You are going to see a Vanderbilt team that has already decimated you and gained in national prominence doing so, and they are now ranked even higher than you are. But before you can even get to them, you have to face Florida who is leading the conference. And after you do all of that, for your reward, you get to take a ride down to Knoxville and face the dreaded Orange Hoard.

But the fun does not stop there. Assuming you get through all of that and get out unscathed, and earn yourself a bye in the SEC Tournament, you could then have to face all of those teams all over again just for fun, to get yourself a place in the next stop on your journey.

Make no mistake guys, this is take no prisoners time. There are no more easy games, no gimme nights, no more easy shots and certainly no more taking anyone for granted. As the old saying goes, “it’s time to put the women and children to bed and go huntin’ for dinner”. You are going to have to rely on each other more than you ever have. You are going to have to put your team first, and you are going to have to be ready for anything.

The best part to all of this is that when you are doing what you are supposed to, focusing on just the game itself, and not letting other things creep in, you are one of the best teams in the country. Saturday showed that. For 20 minutes you played the toughest defense that you have played all year. And in the second half, you responded to every punch the other team threw at you. You made big shots, none of you were selfish and everyone played their roles to the hilt. It is going to take more of that every night to do this, but you all have the ability to do this and even more. I believe in you, the fans believe in you, and the rest of the country is soon going to know what we already do. This team is going to make a lot of waves the next few weeks, and they are going to be big ones. Make me proud, make your families proud, and make the fans proud. Only the best of the best get to wear that jersey. That KENTUCKY spelled across the front means you are legend. Not some upstart group of also-rans who just showed up to the dance. You are thoroughbreds and you are trained to win. Time to get the job done.

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