John Calipari joined 790 the Zone in Atlanta with Barnhart and Durham to talk about the strength of the SEC in college hoops, he youth of his team and how getting tested is helping, on his desire for super-conferences, and Anthony Davis.

On the strength of the SEC in college hoops:

“Right now what you’re finding out is there is no league that is like way beyond any other. I made this statement to a couple of friends, the SEC right now has five teams that are Sweet 16 or better. When you talk Mississippi State goes to Vandy and Vandy was playing great, that went to Alabama and Alabama doesn’t lose there and did what they did, and no one is even talking about Florida anymore. Now you have Arkansas, they go and beat Michigan, and when we played Tennessee, they didn’t have that freshman. So whatever they did before that doesn’t matter. Now you’ve got Tennessee and they go and just womp on Connecticut. All of the sudden you’re going to talk about the five teams but what about Arkansas and how about this team? Mississippi is playing well. Here’s what happens. Our media doesn’t do what the media in these other leagues do but it starts with the coaches. We don’t promote each other so what happens is ‘well a team that loses at so and so.’ Well let me tell you something; go try to win at Tennessee, go try to win at Georgia who beat us a year ago, go try to win at South Carolina who beat us a year ago. Vanderbilt? I mean you’re in the end zone trying to coach and you can’t even talk to your team. The only league that I think has got, the Big 12, those top three teams are really good but our top five are really good and those other being Arkansas, Tennessee, and Mississippi aren’t far back. Go try to win at Auburn right now. This is a very difficult league especially on the road.”

On his team getting tested the way they have been and if he thinks that will help them:

“My team as you know we’re starting three freshman and two sophomores and what happens is every experience for these guys is new. That’s why I liked what Alabama did to us. They basically, one of their players said ‘our coach told us to be aggressive, hit ‘em, and rebound.’ I don’t know what hit them means but they hit us. What happens is every game we play is a different kind of experience. We played Arkansas and they pressed us. We needed that a whole game. We played other teams that played us a whole zone. It’s all a new experience. I have a point guard who has made great strides in Marquis Teague but you just don’t know. You just don’t know yet. The same with Anthony Davis. Anthony wasn’t ready for the body to body contact. Anthony missed three dunks. How can he miss a dunk when his head is near the rim? Well when that body is on you and shoving you into the cheerleaders it’s harder to dunk. You have to figure out how I hold my ground, how I bend over, and hold position as they get physical. All this stuff is new to my team. I like our will to win down the stretch. In all these close games you’re gonna start getting nipped. You know what I told them last night Tony? We met at my house. I said ‘we probably need to get beat so you guys will understand that you cannot let a team come in and kick sand in your face and accept it.’ You can’t do it.”

On his desire for super-conferences:

“What I hope what this starts moving us to is four super conferences. We separate from the NCAA, we do our own thing, we have a playoff in football, and now if you want to include eight teams or four, each league winner or their winner and runner up, and we have a playoff. The other teams all play in a bowl. We have our basketball tournament and you know what? We will include the other people from around the country. You’ll have to play your way into our tournament. Then we get a National Title and all the money stays within. Instead of having 20 schools vote against, vote against a stipend, a deserved stipend, for these players, vote against it because Tony do you understand now that the player I signed early get the 2,000 dollars? It should be 4,000. The other ones I signed in April will not get that money. How about that on your team? You like that? We need to separate. We need to separate. We need to have compliance go through league offices like it used to. How did you get me talking about that?”

On Anthony Davis and his shot blocking ability:

“He blocked about nine of mine when we’re doing walkthroughs. He’s a great kid. He’s like the kid Marcus Camby that I had. He doesn’t command the ball offensively, will do all the dirty work, he and Michael Gilchrist both do. Dive on the floor, come up with balls, and I get mad at my other guys because I say ‘oh you let him dive on the floor and you shoot all the balls. That’s how this is supposed to work?’ How fair is that? I look at those two and I said if I were you two I’d be walking over to the bench and I’d say hey coach, how about running a play for me? We have some issues we’re dealing with because you have to have a team full of guys that understands toughness isn’t one guy’s responsibility, it’s everybody’s. Either you’re aggressive and tough or you’re not. For us to do anything unique with this team I’m coaching, this young, we have to get tougher both mentally and physically.”

Listen to John Calipari on 790 the Zone here

He looked angry, frustrated, excited and perplexed all at the same time, which I didn’t really know was possible at the time. As he says in this interview, it was a hard look to describe, but people everywhere got it.

Tom Crean joined 1070 The Fan in Indianapolis with Dan Dakich to talk about his reaction to the game-winning shot against Kentucky, the intensity of the moment, where the team goes next, being a studier of late-game situations and the progression of Christian Watford.

Your reaction after the shot went in was pretty classic. You appeared stunned. What were you thinking?:

“I think I was still mad. I really do. I don’t know. My brother-in-law said that night, ‘I totally got what you felt.’ I don’t know. It’s hard to say. Just the intensity of the game and I was happy and when I saw that the basket counted, it was almost like, once they went to the monitor it was, ‘Let’s see here; is it too good to be true?’ … Then it was and it was a lot better. I felt like we almost squandered an incredible opportunity. I was probably mad at myself more than anything. But I’m ecstatic that we won. … You couldn’t have drawn it up any better. It’s beyond belief. In that sense, it’s awesome.”

It’s hard to react in the moment because you’re spending the entire game reacting and figuring out what to do next:

“Exactly. There’s no question about it. We can keep getting better. As you’re going through a game, you say, ‘You know what? I should’ve subbed this guy here, I should’ve subbed here.’ We did a little subbing, got a little quick-triggered when we got up. … That won’t happen again. … But we needed to be better defensively at the end and we wouldn’t even have been in that spot. And I’m not trying to rain on anybody’s parade because it’s been a long three and a half years to have everybody enjoy that.”

With another big game coming up, and finals this week, how will you handle it?:

“I think that the most important thing for this team, for us as coaches and them for players, the individual workout was outstanding. … I think it’s really important for us to control what we can control, which is making sure that the improvement is right, making sure that they continue to build that unity and togetherness, especially defensively. … We started the preparation early last week and we’ll start it again early this week. … We spent more time on concepts and breakdowns than just putting in the main offensive sets and things that they run.”

On late-game situations:

“The one area that [our assistants] do such an incredible job with the preparation and the scouting. The one part that I try to make sure that I’m locked in to as any of it is the situational stuff at the end of games, because that’s what so many of them come down to. Whether you’re trying to climb up, like we have been, or whether you’re trying to keep the climb going even higher and when you’re elite like this, so many of those games are going to come down to the end. You’ve got to understand what you’re trying to do, but you’ve also got to understand that, during the course of the game, that’s where you win or you lose. … All those things add up.”

On the improvement of Christian Watford:

“The thing that really set him back is, from the second day after spring break on … he did such a great job of building and getting better, but he got hurt two days before practice started and he missed a very, very valuable two and a half weeks. All of that chemistry of playing five-on-five together, getting up and down, knowing the strengths and weaknesses of every guy … we lost that with him. … After the second game, when he struggled, we had a heart-to-heart and I’ll give him credit because he bounced back.”

Listen to Tom Crean on 1070 The Fan in Indianapolis here

John Calipari joined ESPN Radio New York with Mike Lupica to talk about the team that he has this year, the landscape of college basketball in general, how he feels about last year’s team that he took to the Final Four, if he thinks he would be able to solve the lockout in the NBA, and what he thinks of players in the NBA going on world tours.

On why anyone wouldn’t pick Kentucky number one:

“Well the reason you won’t pick us number one is because you’re my friend I hope. It’s way, way early to tell, but this may be one of those years – you remember 2008 that all four number ones went to the Final Four and throughout the whole year those teams were above everybody else – I kinda have a feeling because of personnel that there are five this year that are like that. And maybe six because I think Vanderbilt, everybody’s falling asleep on that team, Vanderbilt has nine seniors back. They have their whole team back so you have those guys now in that mix of six that are kinda separated from the pack.”

How good he felt about taking his team to the Final Four last year:

“First of all I kept telling my guys all week I want you to handle this like it’s practice. You play this game like it’s practice. Then all of the sudden it’s game time and we walk up on top of the court which is six foot off the ground. There’s 75,000 people in the building and one of my players nudges me and looks at me and says ‘Coach it’s not practice.’ I knew we were going to have a tough shooting night. Doron Lamb shot the ball and kept us close…Terrance Jones rebounded the ball and kept us close. We had a three point shot, it’s not exactly what I wanted us to shoot but it was a clean look and he thought he was making it. I was happy in that the team had given everything they had and we got better. We lost six road games in our league and came on until the end of the year. That’s also a team that had a 3.16 Grade Point Average, the highest APR in the SEC, and made it to a Final Four.”

Whether or not he thinks he can end the lockout:

“No but here’s what I would tell you, the players gotta sit down  and make sure we’re gonna hold this out, like we’re gonna do this because if you’re gonna give up then give up now. Why wait two more weeks, three more weeks, four more weeks, and lose that money. If you’re gonna cave in then cave in now. If you aren’t then you gotta really come together and say how do we do this? I don’t know all the particulars. I want them to play. I have friends that are coaching in the NBA, guys that got jobs in the NBA, you’ve got every person in those arenas that are doing all that stuff, that’s their jobs. That’s what they do for a living and they’re out. I’ve got four players that were drafted this year and probably five that were drafted last year. Those guys at least have some money in the bank. These other kids don’t.”

Whether or not his players have called him recently for help:

“No, but a bunch of them are here. John Wall’s here, Brandon Knight’s here, Enes (Kanter) was in yesterday, Marcus Camby’s in town, Chucky Hayes was in town, DeAndre Liggins was in town so we have a lot of the guys here and they know they are welcome to work out and some of them are being worked out by our staff but they want to play basketball. They don’t want to be going through all of this. Come on man there’s a big pie let’s cut this up and move on.”

His thoughts on players going on a world tour:

“You gotta do it right and here’s my point though. The guys that they are taking out there to do that that are making the money don’t need the money. So if you’re doing it for the money those aren’t the guys that need the money. If they’re doing it and giving the money to the other guys that need the money then okay, but they don’t need the money. They did an event down here where we had them play the Dominican Republic, the team that I was coaching this summer, and it sold 25,000 tickets. Really it sold 42,000 because it sold like 24,000 here and 17 or 18 thousand in Louisville. If it’s done right and everybody walks away and says it’s great, but here’s the hard thing, you put these events together and guys don’t show. You think you are going to see x,y, and z and three of the four guys aren’t there. The guy you wanted to see is the guy that doesn’t show. When we did it those kids were emotionally tied to us and you knew they were going to be where they were supposed to be but that’s a hard deal. They are not college kids. They are professionals, they are adults, a guy gets hurt he’s not gonna play hurt, and there’s a lot of stuff that goes on with it. I would tell you if they’re doing it for charity which these guys have done, which I think is outstanding, to go around and do this stuff for charity is great stuff. Nothing wrong with that at all.”

Listen to John Calipari on ESPN Radio New York here

Right now, the only solution Calipari sees is one that others have certainly mentioned before: the creation of four superconferences for 64 or 72 teams, perhaps the number of programs right now that would vote to add that cost-of-living stipend. Calipari says that group would have its own playoffs and tournaments and then share the revenue equally that is generated by them, and that’s a way to get by Title IX and the other road blocks to paying players.

Perhaps that will become a reality under his new long-term deal. Perhaps Calipari won’t stay at Kentucky that long. Both seem like a bit of guesswork at this point.

John Calipari joined ESPN Radio New York with Mike Lupica to discuss his new contract extension, how Kentucky players did in the NBA Draft, if NCAA folks keep coming at him if he’ll go back to the NBA, how many people he thinks associate him with vacated titles and NCAA probations, if players will be getting paid by the time his new contract comes up and how he thinks it can work.

On his new contract which runs through 2019:

“It was funny, the AD came at me and said, ‘I want to reward you for what you’ve done.’ He and I sat down about two weeks ago and just talked about some things. … I wasn’t that concerned with it. What he ended up doing is moving some longevity bonuses up a little bit, some other bonuses around a little bit and then he put stuff toward the end of the contract. We added some buyout stuff so he felt comfortable. … I’m not looking to leave. This was about him wanting to reward me without going bonkers. I was fine with that. If we keep doing well at Kentucky, they’ll come back.”

What did you think about your players in the NBA Draft?:

“We have the third pick of the draft. If he had played, Enes Kanter would have been the No. 1 pick. We have the eighth pick of the draft, which I’m stunned that Toronto passed him at 5. No disrespect to Toronto, but it really surprised me. And then, I’m here to tell you that Joe Dumars and the people at Detroit were ecstatic. … And then how about my man Josh Harrelson going to New York. The New York people told me his workout was off the chain. … And then DeAndre Liggins goes. They were all drafted. If I’ve had nine players drafted in the last two years and we haven’t won a national championship, who’s coaching this team?”

If the NCAA folks keep coming at you, do you think you’ll tire of it and head back to the NBA?:

“The biggest thing is if you’re not doing anything, it’s only the point of trying to embarrass you. That’s why I’ve said, I’m fine. We’re doing things the way we’re supposed to do them. This is a players-first program with how we do everything. … The biggest thing for me is it took me a long time for me to get to a job like this. … It took me 20 years to get to a job like this. The job isn’t for me as much as it’s for my players. … There’s a lot of good stuff happening and it’s a great situation.”

How many people do you run into that tie in vacated titles and you leaving schools on probation such as Bob Knight does?:

“Probably most people don’t, but I’m not here, nor will I defend myself for any of that. At the end of the day, 50 years from now, when people look back, it’s more fact that they’re looking at, not emotion. … Our licensing revenue doubled last year and half of that double goes back to the general fund on our campus, $4.5 million in licensing. The other thing is we had 14,000 applicants for 4,000 positions for the freshmen, which is the highest in the history of the school. What you hope is you’ve added value … for everybody, not just me.”

Sometime within this new contract extension do you think we’ll see athletes getting paid?:

“It’s a living expense. Back in the day, there was laundry money, there was movie money. To do away with all that, they said, what? Amateur! We can’t give you expense money because it makes you not an amateur. You’re crazy; they didn’t want to spend the money. … There should be a living expense that an athlete gets to go to a school. Some will say, ‘Well they get a Pell!’ That’s the poor kids. Three of the kids I have on my team now aren’t poor enough to get the Pell, but their parents don’t have money to send to them. … What do you do with those kids? Can we call them the middle class? Now, the issue becomes this, if you’re going to do it, you’ve got to do it for women too now. You can’t just say football and basketball, you’ve got to do women. And if you do women, you’ve got to do all the sports. … It’s going to be over a quarter of a billion dollars. Where do we get the money? … If it’s voted on by the whole body of 360 schools, my guess is it’ll be 300 against, 6o for. … What’s the solution? If it is to get done, how do you do it?”

So it will never happen?:

“The only way it can happen is you do the four superconferences and those 64 or 72 schools have their own football playoff in each conference and then those four winners are semifinalists for the national title and then you have the title game and you have bowl games and all that revenue is shared between the 72 or 64 schools and then you do the same in basketball. You have their own tournament. … All the revenue from television to tournaments comes back. You get Title IX square, you get money back to the general fund … you give money to intramurals and you take care of this expense of cost-of-living expense.”

Listen to John Calipari on ESPN Radio New York here

Barkley joined ESPN Radio New York with Mike Lupica to talk about his reaction to last Thursday night’s NBA Draft, being impressed by Jan Veseley’s girlfriend marking her territory by kissing Veseley after his name was called as the No. 6 pick by the Washington Wizards, why he thinks it’s terrible for the NBA for the bad teams not to be guaranteed to get great talent early in the draft because of the reality that unready, young talent is constantly entering the draft, how he thinks Brandon Knight will be the better than Kyrie Irving, Kemba Walker and Jimmer Fredette, the other three guards selected in the top ten, how despite thinking Derek Williams is a great talent how he’s concerned about what position Williams is best suited to play at the NBA level, how big of a miracle it would take for David Stern to help avoid a lockout in the NBA, why he thinks Stern is the best commissioner in professional sports the past 25 years, what he believes are the two biggest issues surrounding the looming labor impasse, how he’s advised his good buddy Michael Jordan (and would do the same to other owners) to stop overpaying for mediocre talent in attempt to just squeak into the playoffs and be bounced early, and why he thinks it’s a better strategy to just lose a bunch of games and ensure that you get high draft picks.

On how much of the NBA Draft did he watch Thursday night:

“I watched the whole draft.”

If he caught the kiss Jan Veseley had with his gorgeous girlfriend after being selected by the Washington Wizards:

“I like the fact that she was marking her territory. She wanted everyone to know that ‘this is my millionaire and nobody can have them.’ I like that. Hey, millionaires don’t grow on trees.”

On which of the following four guards taken in the first 10 picks does he feel we’ll be talking about the most in several years time — Kyrie Irving, Kemba Walker, Jimmer Fredette, and Brandon Knight:

“You know, that’s a really good question. I actually think Knight has the biggest upside out of those four myself. I actually think the best player in the draft was Enes Kanter out of Turkey. If I had the No. 1 pick, I’d have taken that kid out of Turkey. But out of those four guards, I think Knight has got the biggest upside in my opinion.”

On if he’d agree that taking European players is the biggest crap shoot beacuse of how little they’re able to watch them:

“First of all, you’re correct. Even if they watched them play, they couldn’t have watched them…I think to watch a guy play, you have to watch him four or five times. But you can say the same about Kyrie Irving; he only played 10 games basically in college. But also, one of the reasons I don’t like the draft is because I would listen…Jeff Van Gundy is very good and Jay and Jon were good, but like, all you hear all night is ‘he’s a project. He’s got potential.’ See, that’s why I hate young kids coming to the NBA, because that’s not what the draft is for. The draft is designed for bad teams to get help; they’re not supposed to get a project. I think it does a disservice to the game, I think it does a disservice to the fans — because if I’m a fan and my team is a crappy team, I don’t want them drafting a guy that I’ve got to wait to see if he’s going to be any good; that doesn’t help me as a fan. The draft used to be designed as okay my team stinks, I’m going to get Hakeem Olajuwon, I’m going to get Tim Duncan, or Michael Jordan or Karl Malone or someone like that. To draft a kid No. 1 that only played overseas, or a kid that’s only played 10 college games or one year, he’s not going to be no immediate help to my team. That’s why I hate all these kids coming to the NBA.”

On what he thinks of Arizona’s Derek Williams, selected No. 2 overall by the Minnesota Timberwolves:

“I think he’s terrific. I think the only problem with him is what position is he going to play. Because in the NBA, you have to be able to play a certain position. The 3 and 4 are like night and day. The 3 he’s going to be chasing guys off picks; the 4 he’s going to clearly be the power forward and supposed to be a dominant defender and rebounder. So I think he’s the classic ‘tweener’. I think he’s good enough to have an impact on the game, but the only reason I wouldn’t have taken him No. 1 is I don’t know what position he’s going to play, to be honest with you because he’s a classic ‘tweener.’”

On the impending NBA Lockout and what a miracle it would be if David Stern would be able to bridge the huge divide between all the various parties involved:

“Well I think, and I’m not saying this because I’m in the NBA, if you go back and look, David Stern has been the best commissioner in sports the last 25 years. It would take a miracle on his part not to have a lockout and I truly believe that. I think there’s going to be a lockout, I think the owners are dug in, I think they want to send a message to these players. I think they’re really upset by this LeBron James / Chris Bosh situation, because their teams don’t have to be really good, but I feel like if they have a star in their market they can make some money. And if all the stars want to play together…we’re almost becoming like baseball where you’ve got a few good teams and the rest of them stink.”

But wait, even though there’s a handful of powerhouse teams in baseball, there’s still been nine different teams who have won the World Series in the past decade:

“Yeah but it’s different because we make all our money on television. And those teams…like the San Francisco Giants can win the World Series if they’ve got great pitching, but they don’t make any money on television like we do in the NBA. Then we have that rule where you can only show a team ‘X’ amount of times. So now we’re stuck. Why are we going to show the Cleveland Cavaliers? Why are we going to show the Toronto Raptors? We can’t do that. Now you’ve got the thing brewing with Dwight Howard, and now you’ve got the thing brewing with Chris Paul, and it’s like why would we show Orlando if Dwight Howard is not there? And why would we show New Orleans if Chris Paul is not there? I think because they’re upset that some of these players all want to play together…..I think the players are going to have to take a really shoddy deal not to have a lockout. And I shouldn’t say a shoddy deal, but they’re going to put some things in play where all these players can’t play together — that’s first and foremost. And I think they are going to bring these salaries down, as far as ‘X’ amount of years. I think they’re definitely going to do those two things.”

On how he feels his good buddy Michael Jordan is doing trying to build a winner in Charlotte:

“Well I think he made the first step [Thursday] night to be honest with you. I’ve been telling Michael — see, first of all under this current system you are correct — but what I’ve told him, and I actually told him two years ago, that team….Jeff Van Gundy was great during the draft last night, and I’ve been saying this for three or four years, a lot of people got mad at me — I wouldn’t be trying to win games if I were a mediocre team, I’d be throwing games. I want to get draft picks and draft space, the exact same way the Miami Heat and New York Knicks did it. This notion where you’re the No. 6, 7 or 8 seed every year and you’re going to lose, I think that’s the silliest thing in the world. Jeff Van Gundy said it last night — he said I don’t understand why these teams…you know, they gave me a hard time in Philadelphia last year; I said they’re going to be the 6, 7 or 8 seed and they’re going to lose in the first round. I said Philadelphia needs draft picks, young players and cap space. And Jeff Van Gundy said it last night, and I’ve been saying it for three or four years. I told Michael two, three years ago — you’re paying Gerald Wallace, you’re paying Stephen Jackson, you’re paying Okafor, you’re going to be the 6, 7, or 8 seed, and you’re going to lose in the first round of the playoffs every year. I personally think you should do it like Oklahoma City do it — they drafted well every year, and now they’re a legit contender. See this is my philosophy: my best player is going to make the most money. I’m not going to pay mediocre players. I think that’s the stupidest thing in the world. I forget the old baseball analogy, but a guy asks for a lot of money and they say ‘hey man, we’ve come in last place with you, we’ll come in last place without you.’ I 100 percent agree with that. I’m  not going to pay guys $10, $12, $15 million dollars and we lose in the first round of the playoffs every year. I think that’s absurd. And the fans, I would tell the fans ‘we’re not very good; we’re going to start over. You guys are going to have to be patient, because the way the system is now, I’m pay three or four guys $10, $12, $15 million dollars, we’re the 6, 7, 8 seed, we’re not going to get a good draft pick.’ And I think that’s the silliest thing in the world to be honest with you.”

Listen here to Barkley with Mike Lupica on ESPN Radio New York

Yet, here we are, one year later, and the Cats are back in the Final Four for the first time since 1998. Brandon Knight has Lexington forgetting about last year’s bunch as Kentucky is one victory away from a national championship game. Were they to get by UCONN in the national semifinal, they would certainly be favored against the winner of Butler and VCU.

Kentucky coach John Calipari joined Sporting News Radio with The 2 Live Stews to discuss the atmosphere in the state of Kentucky right now, the play of Brandon Knight and how he’s confident the kid can’t be held down for more than a short stretch at a time, why he wasn’t worried about starting fresh this season with a new-look roster after the slew of departures last spring, why he doesn’t care that people seem to overlook his ability to coach at a consistently high level, and what the Wildcats will need to do to slow down Kemba Walker when they face the Connecticut Huskies in next Saturday’s Final Four matchup.

What’s the atmosphere like in Kentucky?:

“I didn’t know it had been that long until someone said after the game that we hadn’t been there in 13 years. I didn’t know, but I do know this, the state’s going crazy. This is the commonwealth’s team. They’re jacked up.”

Is he getting mobbed the minute he leaves the house?:

“No, I don’t. They’re are people who recognize and say stuff and you’re not going to be invisible, but I think most coaches are in the same boat I’m in. … The thing is, they’re just excited about this basketball program. I’m humbled to be sitting in this seat. … Whoever has this seat has the same responsibility and understands the important that this seat has to the entire seat.”

Is he ever worried that Brandon Knight won’t flip the switch in a game?:

“No, I think he’ll be fine. Anytime he went in the game and didn’t shoot it well, the next game he was like on fire. … He’s a really prideful kid. The other thing you know is that he’s going to bring it. He’s going to do his best. … He’s like any other player, you don’t shoot it great every night out, but I’ll tell you what, he’s had a great year. … And he’s playing his best basketball down the stretch.”

Was he concerned about starting over this year with all that he lost last year?:

“No. Every year, every time we’ve lost a guy after a year, everyone’s said ‘You can’t do this, it doesn’t work. You can’t this…’ You’re trying to help these kids reach their dreams and if they really work hard and we have a heckuva year and they have the opportunity to leave after a year, I’m not going to talk them out of it. … Last year we lost four freshmen. … We lost seven players, significant players. And guess what? We’re fine.”

On how he and his staff put together great recruiting classes and whether it bothers him that his coaching ability might get overlooked:

“I’m just coaching my team and at the end of the day, 50 years from now, people will judge how we’ve done. … There will be no emotion in it, jealousy, none of that stuff. … Second, when they take away from me as a coach, they add to the players. So I’m fine with that. One, they don’t even realize they help my recruiting. … Instead of it being all about me, my system and how I coach and all this, and then no one knows the names of my players, I’d rather have them say I can’t coach. Just as long as I’m winning all the games, what do I care?”

What’s the breakdown of UConn and Kemba Walker?:

“You don’t stop him. You’re not stopping Kemba. You know he’s going to get his points and he’s going to score his baskets. You’re just trying to say ‘Make it hard.’ … They’ve got a terrific team and they’re playing as well as anybody in the country. … When you’re in this setting and you have the most dominating player, you have the best chance of winning. That’s just how it is. If the kid dominates us, then it’ll be tough for us to win.”

Listen to John Calipari on Sporting News Radio here

Harrellson has easily become a fan favorite in Kentucky featuring the nickname of “Jorts” that was given to him by Matt Jones of Kentucky Sports Radio. Wildcats fans have come to love Harrellson, embracing the “Jorts” nickname. Harrellson added 12 points and 8 rebounds in Sunday’s win over North Carolina as Kentucky reached their first final four since 1998. It’s been quite an unusual NCAA tournament this season with #11 VCU, #8 Butler and #3 UConn making it to the Final Four.

Josh Harrellson joined ESPN Radio with Scott Van Pelt and Ryen Russillo to discuss his stellar game against Jared Sullingerin their Sweet Sixteen matchup, if he could have believed earlier in the season that the Wildcats season would have gone this way for the team and himself, does he think being the guy who spent some time sitting around motivated him into being the player who relished every minute on the court, how would he describe playing for such a passionate fan base in Kentucky, and an explanation as to why his nickname is ‘Jorts’ including a rumor that claimed he tried throwing his ‘Jorts’ to a crowd of Kentucky fans on Sunday night after the win over UNC at the airport.

It’s been a remarkable run in the tournament. As I mentioned double figures in all four games. The [Jared] Sullinger game you went for 17-10. You seemed to have an attitude from the jump that you were going to take it to him. Was that your thought process?

“Uh yeah. I knew he [Jared Sullinger] was the best big man that I would be facing. I just wanted to come out and just give it all I had, just try to prove to everybody that you know the weakest link on our team does not lean aside and we can hold our own down there. Just coming out and playing against him and doing what I did it boosts my confidence tremendously and I’m looking forward to the rest of the tournament.”

If I would have told you before the season given you were behind most of the competition your playing against in terms of NBA status that this is how your year would have turned out what would you have thought?

“I would have been in disbelief. I would have never believed it, but it’s great what god does and all the situations he’s put me in. You know I’m thankful for it. I’ve made the most of everything he has given me. I’m still looking forward to finishing out this tournament right.”

Do you think sitting around for awhile has motivated you to be this guy who relishes every minute you’re out on the court?

“Definitely. My first two years here I didn’t play much. Now I’m getting an opportunity to play. I just want to take the opportunity in my hands and just do whatever I can with it. I guess take full grasp of it and not leave anything behind in my senior season and I’m definitely trying to end it out right and do everything I can for my teammates.”

Your fan base is the most passionate college hoops base in the country. There is nothing like it. How would you describe what it is like to be a Kentucky player and becoming a legendary figure on this team?

“You know it’s tremendous. Like you said our fan base for what they do for us, everywhere we go, our fans usually outnumber the others fans no matter where it is. I mean they went to Maui this year. We had 3,000 fans in Maui. They took over. It’s crazy is what they do. We love the support. We love that they support us so much and when we landed last night in the airport it was 11:30 p.m., almost around 11:30 [p.m.], there’s a couple thousand people around the gates just cheering for us. You know welcoming us back home and we come back home to where we live and there’s a couple of hundred, 500 people, outside waiting for us to arrive there. Just the things they do for us, how much they follow us just motivates to want to play harder for them.”

We got an email saying you tried to throw your pair of jean shorts out to a bunch of fans at the Wildcat lounge? This “Jorts” thing has taken on a life of its own I mean there’s some truth to that right? It goes back to your official visit back in the day?

“Yeah Matt Jones of KSR, Kentucky Sports Radio, he gave me the nickname. Ever since the first day I heard it I’ve welcome it with open arms and I love it. It gives me an identity. I couldn’t be happier with the nickname. I still wear jean shorts to this day. I did last night you know they were all chanting ‘Jorts’ so I was going to go out there and throw them a pair, but the police officer was right. He said ‘You probably shouldn’t do that because it might start a fight.’ I found a little kid out there, I autographed it and gave it to them. Hopefully they grow up with the memory of that.”

Listen to Josh Harrellson on ESPN Radio here (Interview starts at 24:30 in the podcast)

Try Kentucky on, for example. The Wildcats had a higher RPI than Florida, one of the nation’s top schedules and beat the Gators two times out of three, including in the SEC tournament title game. Yet, when the bracket was announced, the Wildcats were a No. 4 seed and the Gators were a No. 2.

Kentucky coach John Calipari says he doesn’t understand it, either, though is quickly brushing it aside. The Wildcats may be the toughest 4 seed in the bracket and perhaps the biggest challenger in the East Region to stopping tournament-favorite Ohio State.

John Calipari joined The Dan Patrick Show to discuss the Wildcats getting a No. 4 seed, why Florida got a higher seed, the selection committee’s shortfalls, the first-round matchup against Princeton, what he would do differently in his career if given one mulligan and the outlook for his team in the Big Dance.

His thoughts on being given a No. 4 seed:

“I think we played well enough to be better than a 4 seed. I think we were ranked 10th today in one of the polls and our RPI is a 7. I think our strength of schedule is a 7 or 8, so it appears as though we should’ve been higher. But who cares? … The path is a little easier if the seed is higher, but it’s still hard. It’s hard for everybody.”

Making sense of how Kentucky is a 4 seed and Florida is a 2:

“You have to ask somebody on the committee that sat in that room and looked at it. Obviously, you know what I’m going to say and what a normal person looking at the numbers and watching the games would say, but we’re not the people in that room.”

What do you think they factor in? Personalities? Coaches? Fans?:

“My only thing is the comment is ‘Every situation is different.’ I keep hearing one of those. … Whatever the criteria, if something should be weighted more than others, it should be in every situation. Duke beats North Carolina [in the ACC championship] and they get the higher seed, Connecticut beats Louisville, they get the higher seed. … It didn’t happen here.”

Does Princeton’s style still give people problems?:

“Oh yeah. The tapes that I’ve watched, they’ve got good size, they’ve got a couple of good shooters and they run their stuff, which is dangerous. You can’t say, ‘Well, we’re just going to go inside and we’re going to beat them.’ … They’ve got two or three guys I’m watching that are really athletic. I imagine you’ve got guys on their team that have a chip on their shoulder that, ‘We’re as good as anybody in the country. Just because we’re in the Ivy doesn’t mean anything.’”

If he has one mulligan in his career, what would he use it on?:

“I’ve said some things to kids that I regret later, my biggest thing. People would think I’d say going to the Nets. … Obviously when I went there they sold the team and I got fired, but that experience helped me become a better coach and helped me prepare players to be NBA players better than I could’ve. … But I’ve said some things to players in a personal way and I’ve said some stuff to parents at times. I made a mother cry one time. And I go back and say, ‘Was it necessary?’”

Can this team make a run at the Final Four?:

“I told them this morning that I’m waking up at 5 o’clock every morning because I’m inspired by them. We have stories on this team of kids … guys that were left for dead, who were playing and are all-conference and all-tournament. Our young guys are growing right before our eyes. They’re getting better and better.”

Listen to John Calipari on The Dan Patrick Show here

Calipari joined 106.7 The Fan in Washington D.C. to talk about all things John Wall, his other point guards in the NBA, how Wall has a will to win that he wasn’t aware of when he arrived at Kentucky, how he thinks the media made a big deal out of nothing concerning Wall being coachable, how he thinks DeMarcus Cousins gets a bad rap for his attitude, and other interesting topics as the NBA Draft inches ever closer.

On John Wall:

“Let’s talk a little bit about John Wall. I’m going to tell you – Sam Cassell, it was funny, those two got together and John Wall looked at Sam C and said ‘I thought you played at Kentucky. Coach Cal talked about you so much Sam, I thought you were a Kentucky player.’ Because I coached Sam obviously in New Jersey and I’m a huge fan of his. His basketball knowledge and ability. You know, Sam wasn’t into the marketing, Sam was into playing ball. Sam was into winning and taking teams to playoffs and he did it everywhere he was, including the team where I coached with him. But they worked out and we talked a little bit, and his time with him, he walks away saying, ‘Cal this kid is driven, this kid is a great kid.’ I said you got it, those are the two most important things. I think what will happen right now, you know, you guys got Stephen (Strasburg) and Donovan (McNabb) right now, you’re going to have some nice stuff to talk about. And it’s not going to end, it goes from one thing to another. And with John, you’re talking about a will to win that I did not know about in high school, because I hadn’t seen it. It was the one thing. Because coaching Derrick (Rose) and Tyreke (Evans), by the end of their freshman years before they went into the draft, you saw this will to win. And I hadn’t seen it. Well guess what? John did it the very first game he walked on the court and he did it about 10 other games where he willed us to win the game when the game was in the balance. But he’s got great size, great athleticism, his speed is what’s going to be his weapon. His ability to get by people and distort defenses, he should be a great defender because of his size and his length. And he hasn’t touched how good he’s going to be. I’m telling you. I didn’t put him much, and I told Sam, ‘Sammy, I didn’t put him much in pick and rolls because I didn’t want two people to have to guard him.’ But Sam will teach him. I didn’t post him up too much because I had this kid DeMarcus Cousins, I had this kid Patrick Patterson…And then I said, ‘how in the world did we lose? I must be the worst coach in the world to lose with all these guys. But I said there’s things you’ve got to teach him, but you guys are going to love him.”

On Skip Bayless’ assessment that Wall is not much of a passer:

“One of the things  is I’ve coached him so I would beg to differ. Okay. I would say that I don’t agree with Skip. But the one thing you have to understand about Skip – Skip’s going to cause controversy. I don’t mind him because that’s his makeup. Whatever you say, he’ll figure out the other side. And so you sit down, you know that’s how he’s going to be. You know, you take it with a grain of salt. He may really believe that. But then I would say, who are you going to take with the No. 1 pick? Who would you pick? There ain’t a whole lot…I mean, do you take Cousins? If it were me, if I’m not taking John Wall, and I’m biased because I coached him, I’m taking Cousins then. And he’s been given a bad rap, but let me tell you about the draft, the greatest thing about it: everyone lies. Everyone. They’re all lying. Agents are lying, and they’re lying to move their guy up; they’re lying to move another guy back so their guy moves up. The only team not lying right now is Washington. They’re telling you here’s who we’re taking. Everyone else is lying. They’re not going to tell you who they’re going to take. They may be trying to make trades, they may be trying to create a stir so a kid like DeMarcus drops to six or seven. Well maybe if we create enough of a smoke screen, maybe these people will pass on him and we’ll get him at seven. That’s how that stuff works. So I don’t buy any of it.”

On if he thinks that Wall will experience any growing pains during his rookie season:

“Well let me tell you about my last two point guards that have gone in the NBA. Derrick Rose, rookie of the year and an All Star, and this other kid, I think his name was Tyreke Evans. Was he rookie of the year? I think he was,  and I would tell you that they always ask me to compare those two and you can’t, they’re totally different kind of players but they’re going to be effective because they’re going to distort defenses. See, to be out there and be a 6-5 guy or a 6-7 guy, if you don’t create mismatches or you don’t distort the defense, you’re never going to be that max guy, the All Star where they got to do something to stop you. Well John Wall will do the same in a different way. He’s a little bit bigger than Derrick, they both have that kind of speed, he’s not quite as big as Tyreke. Heck, I was talking to Geoff Petrie, I said I called Tyreke and I said, I didn’t know you could post up like this? I threw you in the post and you didn’t score. He said you didn’t teach me well enough. Now I’m schooling on everybody in the post. So he’s bigger. He’s almost 6-6 with almost 7′ foot arms – well, they’re all different. But he’ll distort the defense. The first thing they’ll talk about is ‘okay, how are we playing John Wall? How are we going to play him in pick and rolls? Are we going to go under which is what they tried to do with Derrick Rose and Tyreke because they said they’re not great shooters. You and I know, in the NBA the quickest thing that improves is the shooting, because there’s about 6,000 shoot arounds. Okay? They’re either playing a game or shooting around. They just shoot better. If you back off Derrick Rose right now, he’ll try to get 50. If you back off Tyreke, he’s doing the same. When he gets in that league, and Stan works with him and Flip gets with him…you think about Flip and all the pick and rolls, when he was in Minnesota it was the hardest stuff to guard when I was with the Nets, the hardest stuff to guard was what he was doing in pick and rolls, and how he got into pick and rolls and what he did. Now, he’s got to be saying with he and Gilbert together, you’ve got two guys that distort the defense.”

On if Wall is coachable:

Let me tell you this. I’ve never had a player…see, we didn’t think… when it was December, we weren’t recruiting another point guard because I didn’t think Derrick would leave. By February, late January, I’m like this kid may be the No. 1 pick. With Tyreke, in February I wasn’t sure. By late February and as he marched into the NCAA Tournament, his last game I hugged him, he had 33 against Missouri and we lost, I said kid, you’re out of here. John Wall, the minute he stepped on our campus, he was the guy. To deal with all that, and to deal with it the way he did – amazing. He was like the prodigy, he was it, he was the No. 1 pick from the first game he played for us. Now what happened in that situation, he made some statements to the media that I didn’t know about. He did it on like a Friday or Saturday and I learned about it Monday. But he came into me after the game and said can I see you? And I said sure. He was like a puppy dog. And he says to me coach I’m really frustrated. I say about what? He says I don’t know, and I say  look kid, just play and have fun, you’re doing great. He was like I’m struggling..and I’m like, well it’s on your end, it’s not on my end. I’m fine. So he walks over to me and hugs and says I love you coach. And I go, what did you just say? You know what I’m saying? It’s like a young child walking up to you and saying I love you dad and you’re like wait a minute, what did you just do…Every time we talk, which is about once a week, he ends the conversation with coach I love you. He’s an 18-year old that had pressure on him. You know, they say that about DeMarcus. There were times when I would try to make him get mad to try to wake him up. Then he would get mad and everybody said look at the kid. I was like no, I’m happy, now go back in the game and play. You’re sitting here like the game doesn’t matter…”

Listen here to Calipari with LaVar Arrington and Chad Dukes on 106.7 The Fan in Washington D.C. (interview begins at 4:30 mark)

Patterson joined XL 950 in Indianapolis to talk about the pre-draft workout process, how he’s having fun and enjoying the opportunity to show off his game and his character, what he thinks of the Pacers as an organization, Butler’s Gordon Hayward, and how he would describe his game and skill set for those who haven’t seen him play much in college.

On if he’s finding it fun and enjoyable to do this pre-draft workout process despite it being nerve wracking:

“I’m loving it. I’m definitely enjoying it. To be able to go out there and show all the scouts, and presidents and GMs and head coaches things they haven’t seen in my game, things they haven’t been aware of and things they didn’t know that I could do on and off the court – I’m definitely just portraying and showing the areas of the game that I’ve improved the most on and just trying to impress them and show them what type of guy I am.”

On having spent a lot of time around the Pacers organization recently and the city of Indianapolis itself:

“I’ve become very familiar with the city. I’ve been here since May 10th so I’ve been out in the city, out and around, eating at the restaurants, seeing the people and definitely passing the stadium a lot. So as far as the city goes, I definitely love the city. It’s a fun place to be and it’s definitely a city that cares about the sports. And the Indiana Pacers are definitely a great basketball team, they have a lot of great history, a lot of great players who have played here. So I definitely feel like the Indiana Pacers are definitely a good program… a great program…and definitely they can have a great season next year.”

On what he thinks of Butler’s Gordon Hayward:

“I think Gordon is a tremendous player and a tremendous athlete. Not only is he a great person off the court, on the court he’s definitely skilled, he handles the ball extremely well on the perimeter, he has a good shot, he can hit the 3, go in the post, and you know, he’s just a great team player. And he has the will to win and the drive to become the best player that he can be.”

On if he’s paid much attention to the fact that he’s rising up lots of people’s draftboards or if he’s more focused on just letting his workouts do the talking:

“I’m just trying to let my workouts do the talking. Just trying to go out there and show each team what I’m capable of, show them the passion that I have for the game, show them that I’m a team player on and off the court, show them that I have great heart, and show them that I’ve improved. I’m a guy who can help out a team, come in and be a role player and just do whatever it is they ask of me. So I’m mainly just focused on going out to these teams, performing, showing them what I do best, show them what I’m working on and just showing them what type of person I am.”

On how much fun it looked like he and his Kentucky teammates were having with one another last year:

“Oh yeah, fun was definitely one of the main things that we tried to emphasize with every single game, every single practice. We knew how to have fun, but we also knew how to get work done. We definitely enjoyed being around each other, so I definitely think that allowed lot of us perform at the level we did every single night. Like you said, we had a lot of fun, we enjoyed every game, we enjoyed being around each other, and I think it showed every single night that we showed up on the court.”

On the possibility of Coach Calipari leaving Kentucky for the NBA and if he’d be interested in playing for him in the League if that were to happen:

“As far as Coach Cal leaving, you’d have to ask him about that. But hypothetically speaking, if that situation were to arise, I would totally follow him. Coach Cal is a tremendous coach, he’s a great mentor and an even better teacher, so I would have no problem having him coach me if that were to happen.”

On how he would describe his game to those who maybe haven’t seen much of him during college:

“My type of game – I’m a forward; I can be used as a 4 or a 3. I prefer a power forward, but I can be a 3 as well. My jumpshot has improved and I’m able to extend all the way out to the NBA 3 and hit that consistently as well as the mid-range. I can score pretty well with my back to the basket, I rebound and run the floor exceptionally well. I shoot a high percentage at the free throw line, and I’m definitely a team player on and off the court. I’ll help my teammates in any way possible, and just do whatever’s possible to help my basketball team, program and city just get back to the top.”

Listen here to Patterson with Derek Schultz on XL 950 in Indianapolis