John Calipari does not hold back on open Kentucky Wildcat internet practice
By Paul Jordan
Welcome back to the work week, Big Blue Nation. It’s that unique time between Christmas and New Years when Christmas falls on a Sunday and Tuesday really is a Monday and the week is in reality just three days long due to a holiday weekend starting on Friday and to be honest, no one wants to work at all. Yet here we are, poring through the interwebs to bring you your five morning stories while realizing our internal clock is going to be screwed up all week. So here we are.
In case you misssed it, John Calipari’s Christmas present to the BBN was an open practice on the internet yesterday and that was kind of a cool thing. I was actually in the process of having a family Christmas the day after Christmas which is yet another reason my internal clock is screwed up today, but the Kentucky Kernel’s Aaron Smith tells us the practice was as real as possible:
"And then we got to watch that. It’s one thing for Calipari say he yells at his players. It’s another to actually hear him yell. Many times, “behind-the-scenes” features more closely resemble “behind-the-scenes-we-are-OK-with-showing” features. This was not one of those. The filter wasn’t in place; while this led to overhearing both the good (a random guy unaware of the mic singing “My Old Kentucky Home” at the beginning) and the bad (an n-bomb dropped by someone), it was why the live stream was a success.It wasn’t a manufactured, toned-down distortion of reality. It was a legitimate depiction of how Calipari operates in practice."
Hey look, the NBA and John Wall are back also. That was different from the last time we talked. And with the NBA comes a huge influx of former Wildcat players in the NBA. That;s just another example of the “Kentucky effect”. In case you are keeping count, Kentucky has 15 pros in the NBA this season. That is tied for the second most among college schools. Duke has 17 pros this year and Kentucky and UCLA have 15. Adam Zagoria has a list of the top schools.
According to Jerry Tipton, it appears that “the smart money” is on Kentucky ending the series with UNC next season. In a Christmas Day present to the LHL readers, Tipton had some other scheduling notes, delivered with his usual upbeat, cheery style:
"The smart money would be on Kentucky ending its series with North Carolina. That would mark the third time UK has walked away. The patience-and-forebearance award in this series must go to UNC.If UK again refuses to play, the current agreement will end after each team won six regular-season meetings. How even was the competition? In that span, each won twice on the other team’s home court. In 12 regular-season games combined, UK scored three more points.Calipari has told fans not to fret. He will substitute a quality opponent. Perhaps a rotation of “name” opponents such as UCLA and Duke. Home-and-home? Maybe, but more likely neutral-court sites.Speaking of neutral courts, UK fans should not be surprised if the series with Indiana returns to Indianapolis and Louisville. Perhaps, Calipari had enough of Bloomington this season."
In case you think that the holidays are all gingerbread men, Christmas shopping, and open practices for John Calipari, you would be wrong. Jody Demling tells us that the holiday season is actually recruiting season for John Calipari. To tell the truth, I’m not that surprised.
Just because there is no bowl for UK des not mean that we stop talking football, right? Well UK commit Patrick Towles did some talking lately and he has big plans for his time at Kentucky:
"As crazy as it sounds, I think we can win a national championship. We’ll obviously have to build, but as I get past my freshman year, we’ve got to be able to beat the teams in our conference and hopefully build from there. I’m really excited to get to Lexington and get to work."
Got to love the way the kid thinks. Check out the rest of the interview here.