During a 45-minute conversation with the Lexington Rotary Club on Thursday, Kentucky Coach John Calipari spoke optimistically about his team already showing that the losing record last season will not be repeated.
When asked how UK will perform that basic basketball skill of shooting, his answer was direct and succinct.
“Better,” Calipari said. That wasn’t setting a high standard — Kentucky’s 41.7-percent shooting last season was the program’s worst since 1962-63.
To make this point, Calipari used a familiar basketball quip. “We’ve always had shooters,” he said. “We just haven’t had many makers.”
Kentucky will also have a depth of talent.
No lineup is set at this stage, the UK coach said. He added that he’s been “messing around” with different lineups: some with two point guards.
“Our guard play makes everything easy for everybody,” he said.
Great expectations
When a Rotarian asked about expectations for Kentucky in the 2021-22 season, Calipari responded with a question.
“You want me to tell you the expectations of the fans?” he said before answering this question. “It’s win every game by 20. No, 30, with a national championship and go undefeated.
“And that’s an easy task.”
Rotarians responded with a mix of claps and laughter.
Ease of schedule
More seriously, Calipari said — not for the first time — that last season’s schedule was too difficult.
“What I did was a mistake,” he said, “and I knew it from day one. I should have done what other teams did. We’re playing all games we can win and figure out who we are.”
Calipari advised his audience to see that Kentucky’s 2021-22 schedule isn’t different from other elite programs.
“People want us to play every good team,” he said. “We’re building a new team every year. . . . It takes time.
“We’re going to be ugly early. We’re going to be throwing balls and shooting shots that you’re going to look at (skeptically). That’s how it is here.”
Care about winning?
Without being prompted by a question, Calipari addressed a familiar fan complaint: that his selling of Kentucky as a springboard to the NBA raises a concern about how much the UK coach cares about winning in the here and now.
After pointing out the success Kentucky has enjoyed since he became coach 12 years ago, he likened the persistence of the does-he-care to the alternate realities in U.S. politics.
“Kind of what’s going on in our country,” he said of people who question his desire to win. “You just say it enough (and) it’s ‘true.’”
Rule changes
While changes like name, image, likeness and a transfer portal filled with more than 1,700 names took up a large percentage of Calipari’s appearance, a Rotarian asked about what rule changes that affect play would be in effect.
“You can’t throw your head back and flop and do stuff like that,” he said. Rotarians applauded their approval.
To do so can lead to a warning and, if repeated, a technical foul, the UK coach said.
Then, Calipari added, “They’re saying they’re going to call physical plays.” He then coughed in a theatrical way, which prompted laughter from the Rotarians.
Reducing overly physical play has been emphasized repeatedly, Calipari said. “How many years? Ten?” he asked. “That’s been the primary thing: physical play.
“Then, we go beat the hell out of each other.”
Style changes
Calipari spoke of how basketball play is changing. Formerly, players were taught to survey possibilities after catching a pass.
“You are now a ball stopper,” he said. “No one wants to play with a ball stopper.”
Now, coaches want players to “drive the catch” or “shoot the catch,” he said.
Another change is the shot known as a “floater”: No squaring of shoulders and follow-through required. An off-balance toss to get the ball to the rim is the objective.
“When we played, when you shot a floater, you were coming out of the game,” Calipari said. “Now, if you don’t shoot the floater, you come out of the game.”
Friends and enemies
A Rotarian asked Calipari what fellow coaches he liked to match basketball wits with.
“I don’t like coaching against former assistants,” he said, “because I’ll be happy if we win, and then I’ll be sick if we lose. If I’m happy and they’re sick, I just don’t like doing it.”
Calipari will do just that when UK plays Tony Barbee-coached Central Michigan on Nov. 29.
“If I really don’t like (a rival coach), I don’t coach as well,” Calipari said.
In those circumstances, the UK coach said he gets too emotionally involved.
“I want to kill this guy,” he said. “I’m not as good when I don’t like the other guy. I try to make it not personal. I don’t make it personal unless you make it personal.”
Important upcoming UK dates
Sunday: Pro Day (5:30 p.m., SEC Network)
Oct. 15: Big Blue Madness (7 p.m., SEC Network)
Oct. 22: Blue-White Scrimmage (7 p.m., SEC Network)