Calipari knows N. Carolina will be reality check
December 2nd, 2009 | 
Author: By LARRY VAUGHT
Kentucky coach John Calipari knows Saturday’s game with No. 10 North Carolina is going to be special for freshman John Wall, a North Carolina native.
However, he also thinks it might be a reality check for his unbeaten Wildcats (7-0).
“These guys need to get punched in the nose and have a guy beat them upside down and decide if they are going to step up. It can’t just be John Wall. It has to be every single guy saying, ‘This is not happening. We are bringing it,’” said Calipari.
The Tar Heels, last season’s national champion, seemed vulnerable when they lost to Syracuse, but they responded by beating Michigan State 89-82 Tuesday.
Sophomore Ed Davis scored a career-high 22 points and point guard Larry Drew II had a career-best with 18 points for the Tar Heels (7-1). North Carolina shot 58 percent and led by as many as 19 points early in the second half.
“We have a long way to go. We are just an okay team right now. Sometimes we are not bad, but we are not good,” the Kentucky coach said. “Other times we are just plain bad.”
Calipari knows that must change with games looming against North Carolina, Connecticut and Indiana in the next 10 days.
“We are not near those guys right now. I don’t think so. We are going to find out,” Calipari said of North Carolina. “You talk about a well coached team. They have McDonald’s All-Americans, a bunch of them.
“They play hard, they run hard. Their big men fly. If you jog up the floor and you are guarding a big man, you will get dunked on. They are as long, or longer, than us.”
Calipari said after Monday’s win over UNC-Asheville that he normally watched the five most recent game tapes of an upcoming opponent. “I figure stuff out that way,” he said.
However, he admitted facing teams he was not used to playing at Memphis will present problems, especially in Southeastern Conference play.
“Everybody we are playing is new to me. I am doing double duty and spending more time on my team than the other team, too,” Calipari said.
The Tar Heels are preseason co-favorites in the Atlantic Coast Conference with Duke despite losing four starters off last year’s national championship team. Senior Deon Thompson averages 17.3 points and 8.3 rebounds per game and is shooting 54.3 percent from the field. The 6-10 Davis adds 13.9 points and 9.4 rebounds and is a 70 percent shooter with a team-high 19 blocked shots.
Marcus Ginyard, a key player in 2008 Final Four run who missed most of last year with a foot injury, contributes 11.1 points, 3.6 rebounds, 4.5 assists and 2.0 steals per game.
Tyler Zeller is averaging 9.6 points and 4.0 rebounds and freshman John Henson has 10 blocked shots.
Zeller broke his wrist in last year’s win over Kentucky on a hard foul by Ramon Harris.
Ginyard, Drew and Will Graves lead Carolina’s 3-point shooting attack. The Tar Heels are 36-for-96 on 3-pointers and that trio has combined for 27 of the treys.
Kentucky freshman DeMarcus Cousins says he’s been looking forward to this game since he signed with Kentucky almost as much as the SEC game against Alabama, his home-state team.
North Carolina and Alabama are the two games I was most looking forward to when I saw the schedule come out,” he said. “I have seen North Carolina play on TV. They are a young team as well with great big men and a great coach.
But I am looking forward to it. My confidence is a lot better now going into that game and I don’t see any reason we can’t win.”
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15 Responses to “Calipari knows N. Carolina will be reality check”
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Larry- It’s Will Graves and John Henson I think.
Well, if Cal says we are completely out-classed, under-motivated and have NO chance of winning, then I guess I won’t even bother to watch the game. WAY TO FIRE UP THE BOYS AND THE FANS CAL.
Keep up the positive attitude Big Cuz. You may have to provide some verbal HOPE to the team to keep them from just going ahead and forfeiting the game or giving up basketball altogether, since they suck so bad.
Hasn’t Cal been saying that every game?
GUYS!!! It is OK… these young Guys have to be brought down to earth..I agree with CAL, these freshmen think they POOP icecream, Atleast that is what they have been lead to believe for 2 or 3 years now…I don’t think our upper classmen take this the wrong way at all, after having to hold up that PHANTOM coach for 2 years they have hardned IMO!!!! Wall has ice in his vains..He is a machine, point him in the right direction and he will be waiting on you there LOL… Bledsoe has sooo much talent and speed, it seems like his biggest problem is trying to contain himself..BIG CUZ is going to will his way to being great..Orton is a CHUCK HAYES clone..Just tell me what you want coach and get out of the way.LOL!!!!I don’t think CAL’s words will get to this group, It will get to us before it gets to them..LOL GO BIG BLUE!!!
The season starts Sat. It will feel like March Madness. There was a student cheer practice called “Cats at Rupp Arena” on Wed nite. Expect a raucous student section. Expect Wall to put on a show that will cement his 0ne and Done status. Expect an overtime. Expect the first big win in the Calipari era.
You are right Jim. sorry about that.
And thanks for the update Barry. That is pretty cool
TRUBLU, it already HAS gotten to me. I understand the need to not praise them too much, but Cal gets a little ridiculous at times. I would hope that he at least tempers his comments when he addresses the team directly, because what he says in public is just BRUTAL. I’m sure he is not that harsh in practices. No matter how tough we think these kids are, they are still just KIDS. The psyche is a very fragile thing. You can turn the hardest of people into a blubbering idiot with the right words. Trust me, I spent my career having to do it, at times. There is such a thing as a self-fulfilling prophecy. If you are told something enough and hear it enough, you will start to believe it and perform to that standard. I hope that Cal keeps on the right side of that fine line. I guess I just feel bad for these guys after all they endured last year. They are 7 – 0 and deserve to feel at least a LITTLE good about it. GOOD feelings and GOOD attitude will breed EXCELLENT performance. GO BIG BLUE!!!
[...] Larry Vaught of the Danville Advocate-Messenger writes that North Carolina will be a reality check: “Kentucky coach John Calipari knows Saturday’s game with No. 10 North Carolina is going to be special for UK freshman John Wall, a North Carolina native. However, he also thinks it might be a reality check for his unbeaten Wildcats (7-0).” [...]
I’m not trying to bash on Cal. Maybe I was a little harsh in my last post. Let me put it another way:
I think we all get that there are a TON of problems with this team’s play. Inconsistency, lack of effort at times, mental lapses, offensive and defensive lapses and on and on. I think we all know that this team is close to losing and losing big, if they don’t start getting on the same page with Cal. Cal is computer savvy. If he just reads one message board, he will know that he is preaching to the choir. I GET it, so I don’t need to read it in every interview he does, every day.. Tell us, in one round of interviews and then spend your next days worth of interviews telling us how you are working on it. Tell us about some of the techniques you are using. Tell us a bedtime story, I don’t care, just anything besides how bad this team is, over and over. At this point, I would have to believe, that even the nutty fans who thought this team was going to go undefeated have realized that it isn’t going to happen. If their opinions haven’t been tempered by the first 7 games, then they haven’t been paying attention.
CAL, WE WILL FORGIVE YOU WHEN THIS TEAM FINALLY LOSES. WE UNDERSTAND THE GROWING PAINS AND THE PROBLEMS YOU ARE FACING. PLEASE, JUST BLOW A LITTLE SUNSHINE UP OUR POSTERIORS OCCASIONALLY. WE PUT UP WITH THE ULTIMATE “NEGATIVE” COACH FOR 2 YEARS. WE ARE JUST ENJOYING THE DAYLIGHT AFTER ALL THE DARKNESS. GO BIG BLUE!!!
What`s with all the Cal bashing? Everything he has said is true,Some people are just not capable of handling the truth.Any team can be a good team when they play inferior teams at the start of a season and that`s who we have played so far. Now the real testing begins to see what we are made of.I think we will surprise a lot of people on our ability to win. Now and then we might loose a game do to the fact that they are hot and we are cold,or vise-verse.What ever the case i`m 100% for the Cats win or loose.
I think Cal is a little hard on them, but I think they need it and I don’t believe he goes overboard. He’s a great motivator. Does anybody remember Pitino’s first season at uk? He spoke very similarly about that team.
Cal is intimidated I think, by UK fans. We’re a very unique group. A little crazy.
He’s trying to teach a whole team his system. Not just freshmen. It’s a lot of pressure to teach and win games at the same time, but he’s doing it.
HOWEVER, if I hear the line about UK being “everybody’s Superbowl” too many more times, I think I’ll punch my wife.
don’t do that Goose. He’s going to keep using it.
Remember how many No. 1 draft picks that Pitino’s teams used to always face. Must have been 40 a year. Cal is the same way. He’ll never underestimate an opponent
The DOG goose. Punch the DOG. The SPCA will be easier to deal with than the KSP.
Guys, Calipari is just keeping them humble. Keeping them in the moment, he is a realist. And, he knows this is a dangerous game. For his reputation and his standing with the BBN….. It’s the way the “game” is played! Can we win, hell yes! Could we lose, of course we could. But we’re back to believing, at least for a moment, that we’re something special. And, any team that dares trod onto the hardwood at Rupp Arena, needs to know that we are a team to be reckoned with! I like our chances honestly, Cal do what you do. Get them boys ready! And, let’s lace em up and play some hoops!!
easy goose easy!!!..I can remember Patino doing this with Donte Jones “BUILT HIM UP” Before the SEC Championship..And twan Walker getting Schooled by Jones and getting a little snippy with Patino and riding the Pine the 2nd half of that game..But Man did Walker respond in that run to Glory!!!I think CAl has this team’s mind in the right place, from everything i’ve read and heard…I’m curious to see how DODSON plays in this one..He is going to get alot of open looks, and he better be ready to guard Graves that kid can play…Bledsoe will have a big day if he stays undercontrol….GO BIG BLUE!!!!