CatsPause.com - Calipari aims to change Cats' approach

November 1, 2009

Matt May
CatsPause.com Senior Writer

If dogs really do travel in packs then John Calipari wants a team full of the junkyard variety as his first Kentucky basketball team takes the floor Monday night for its first exhibition. On the eve of the first competitive outing against someone in different uniforms Calipari said he's trying to pull a nastier attitude out of his squad.

"Do you want it worse than the other guy?" Calipari said while speaking to reporters in the Joe Craft Center before Sunday's practice. "What I told them was when they throw a bone into a pack of dogs one dog eats and the rest don't eat, that's just how it is. So basically do you want it worse than everyone else? Who's the meanest and toughest? Are you the toughest? Because when the bone goes in you either grab it or the other dog grabs it and then you (make a whining dog noise) and go away with nothing."

The Cats are clearly as talented as any team in the country but Calipari said he's had to assess and determine how to change the team's mental disposition as they enter what many feel could be a Final Four-type season.

"I talk in general terms all the time and I do it because I'm not trying to point out one guy but everybody, but when you throw a stone in a pack of dogs what happens?" Calipari said. "The one you hit starts yelping, 'What you're talking about me?' I'm talking in a general sense, why do you think it's about you? I tell them when I throw a stone into a pack of dogs the one I'm talking about will always make a face and yelp."

"It's invigorating for me because every day I go in here I know I've got to be right. I've got to be right and get back on an exercise routine that elevates me. I have to. This is a war and I'm trying to drag guys who are trying to fight for their old habits but they're going to change or they're not playing. I have to change them and get them to think different. There is so much stuff that has to change in their minds. Either their will is stronger than my will or my will is stronger than theirs and right now they have no shot and the know that."

Become a TCP premium subscriber and get more inside scoop on today's session with the Cats and coach John Calipari in The House of Blue.

CAMPBELLSVILLE at KENTUCKY (Exh.)
When: 7 p.m.; Monday, Nov. 2
Where: Rupp Arena; Lexington, Ky.
TV: Fox Sports South
Radio: Big Blue Sports Network

Matt May is the basketball beat reporter for The Cats' Pause. If you have questions or comments about the Cats e-mail him here.

Kentucky NEWS

[More]

Latest Headlines:

Resources:

FEATURED PRODUCT