Before taking any questions on a SEC teleconference, Kentucky Coach John Calipari spoke of a trip he took to Haiti last week. The trip was a follow-up to the Hoops for Haiti telethon he launched last year. It raised $1.5 million in reliefs funds for the earthquake stricken country.
“I wanted to go and see” the relief effort, Calipari said. “I can tell you any money given saved lives.”
That said, Calipari added that much more help is needed.
“It’s a total mess,” he said. “So I hope people haven’t taken their eye off the ball.”
With Kentucky again having a freshman-oriented team, Coach John Calipari emphasized the need to make up for the lack of experience when UK advances deep into the NCAA Tournament.
When asked on a SEC teleconference Monday about lessons he learned from last season, Calipari said, “You can win a lot of games. But thoselast three games with a young ream” make a big difference.
By last three games, Calipari said he mean the region final, national semifinal and national title games.
Noting the poor shooting against West Virginia in the 2010 East Region final, Calipari said, “We were just too young and started breaking down defensively.”
Calipari linked that experience to a central goal for this coming season. “How do we finish it off?” he said. “We did everything short of the last few games.
“If the rules don’t change, we’re going to have a young team just about every year.”
Calipari again voiced his opposition to the rule which requires players coming out of high school to wait at least one year before being eligible to enter the NBA. But if the rule stays the same, Calipari indicated he would continue to recruit one-and-done players.
Speaking on a SEC teleconference Monday, Kentucky Coach John Calipari stuck with his contention last week’s NBA Draft marked the greatest day in UK basketball history. UK had an unprecedented five players taken in the first round.
Some people, including former UK players, argued that winning a national championship would surpass any NBA Draft day. Of course, Kentucky has won seven national championships.
“It was the biggest day in Kentucky basketball history,” Calipari said in comments he made before taking questions from reporters. “I wasn’t talking about the past. I was talking of the future.”
Calipari said the NBA Draft represented “a two-hour infomercial for our league and the University of Kentucky and will speak volumes for five years.”
Calipari again said that UK was a “players-first program.” He suggested that the publicity of having players drafted can attract future players to the program. “Players will win us national championships,” he said.
Royce White, a player whose legal problems led to a suspension last season, told The St. Paul Pioneer Press that the chances of him returning to the Minnesota team were “slim and none.”
Kentucky is one of the teams that has been linked to White.
Here’s the story from the St. Paul Pioneer Press:
A leaner Royce White, featuring his self-described ‘warrior’ haircut — a modified Mohawk — returned to the basketball court Monday night and said he expects to play in college next season, but probably not for the Gophers.
White played in the opening game of the Howard Pulley pro-am summer league at the St. Paul Salvation Army gym and looked both powerful and graceful on the court.
White, 10 pounds lighter at 240 but an inch taller at 6 feet 9 than he was when he left the University of Minnesota team as a freshman last February, wouldn’t address a Pioneer Press report that he’s being recruited by Kentucky.
“There’s a list of schools,” he said.
Chances of returning to the Gophers?
“Slim and none at this point,” he said.
Because?
“It’s a ‘they thing,’ not a ‘me thing,’ ” he said.
White, 19, said he considered turning professional after working out with NBA training guru Tim Grover in Chicago. But “I didn’t want to go the agent way,” he said.
White, the Mr. Basketball Minnesota at Hopkins High School, said it was difficult not getting to play for the Gophers last season due to legal issues.
Kentucky made history at the NBA Draft by becoming the first college team to produce five first-round picks.
In perhaps bit of runaway hyperbole, UK Coach John Calipari has suggested it was the beset day in Kentucky basketball history.
Radio host Dan Patrick questioned whether a NBA Draft could be the best day for a program that has won seven national championships and has more victories than any other Division I program.
“Depends on your frame of reference,” said Calipari, who appeared on Patrick’s show Friday.
Calipari went on to note that four players had graduated and that UK was in a “players-first program” that had seen the NBA Draft fulfill dreams.
“I’m going to encourage it,” Calipari told Patrick. “. . . I like coaching the best. That’s why I like goingn on a radio show with you. I like talking to the best.”
Later, Patrick asked Calipari a pointed question: Which would the UK coach prefer: a national championship or a night like the NBA Draft?”
Calipari avoided a direct answer. He said he’d won both. Then he said that having multiple first-rounders would lead to a national championship eventually.
According to the NBA rookie salary scale, here’s what the five Kentucky players drafted in the first round Thursday night can expect in guaranteed salary their first two seasons:
John Wall, the first pick: $4,286,900 his first season and $4,608,400 the second second.
DeMarcus Cousins, the fifth pick: $2,812,200 his first season and $3,023,100 the second season.
Patrick Patterson, the 14th pick: $1,519,400 his first season and $1,633,300 the second season.
Eric Bledsoe, the 18th pick: $1,237,500 his first season and $1,330,300 the second season.
Daniel Orton, the 29th pick: $857,000 his firrt season and $921,300 the second season.
Kentucky Coach John Calipari issued a statement through the school in reaction to the NBA Draft. Here it is:
For a program that makes history pretty regularly, Thursday night was a truly historic evening,” he said in a statement. “An unprecedented FIVE Wildcats were chosen in the 1st round of the 2010 NBA Draft. I am so proud of John, DeMarcus, Patrick, Eric and Daniel and I love the way they have represented our University, our program & the Big Blue Nation.”
As expected, the Washington Wizards selected Kentucky guard John Wall with the first pick of the 2010 NBA Draft.
Wall, who became the first UK player ever selected with the first overall pick in a NBA draft, stood immediately when his name was called. He buttoned his suit coat, kissed a young woman at his table, took a Wizards’ cap, hugged his mother and then headed for the stage.
Never smiling, Wall approached NBA Commissioner David Stern and shook his hand. Something Stern said made him smile. Maybe Stern noted that the Wizards last overall No. 1 pick in a NBA Draft was a big bust, Kwame Brown.
Or maybe Stern let Wall know that the NBA rookie salary cap calls for a $4,286,900 salary next season and another $4,608,400 in 2011-12.
Then Wall left the stage to begin a round of interviews.
As expected, Kentucky Coach John Calipari is sitting at DeMarcus Cousins’ table at the NBA Draft.
Calipari arrived five minutes before the start of the draft. He looked casual in a dark sports coat, striped shirt and no tie. He stopped to shake hands at the Patrick Patterson and John Wall tables before taking his seat.
Jerry Tipton of the Lexington Herald- Leader has covered Kentucky basketball since the 1981-82 season. That time includes five coaches, five Final Fours, four athletic directors, two interim athletic directors and many memories. Before coming to Lexington, Tipton worked eight years for the Huntington (W.Va.) Herald-Dispatch. He covered Marshall’s basketball team for two seasons before coming to the Herald-Leader.
