Everything John Calipari Said About Kentucky's NCAA Tournament Draw

Below is everything that Kentucky basketball head coach John Calipari said after the revealing of the 2023 NCAA Tournament bracket:

Opening Statement

JOHN CALIPARI: Before I talk about the tournament, I'm going to talk a little bit — there's two thing. I named Jacob (Toppin) and Lance (Ware) captains. Now, I never named captains, as you all know. But this is going to fall on enabling them to lead each other and to hold each other accountable. So those two.

Last week, we had four guys not practice Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, including Jacob, who had a hamstring (injury), so they did not practice, the four of those guys. This week I told them, You will either practice Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday or you will not start and you will come off the bench if you're a starter. And if you're on the bench, you're going to be deeper on the bench. When you're just doing scripting, and you're not competing, it takes an edge away. We have to compete before we go in. So those are just some things.

And someone said Jacob said he wasn't hurt. Well, Jacob knows not to make an excuse when someone beats us. He knows we give them all the credit. We don't take away from their win, and we weren't going to and that's why he said what he said. But like I said, we've got to make some adjustments in how we're preparing, what we're doing.

Q: They have to practice all three of those days? Or just one?

CALIPARI: Well, no, they gotta practice. That's what happened last time, they practiced on Thursday. We weren't the same. So, you gotta be here practicing, or you're coming off the bench and you're not gonna play as much, unless you get in there and we need you and you play well? Okay, we'll leave you in.

The only guy I'll give some dispensation, will be Sahvir (Wheeler) because of the injury that he has. But I just told him, if it gets rough and you want to step off, I'm okay with you. Because he wouldn't, in all likelihood, be starting anyway. But he practiced a little bit, but wasn't live up in Nashville.

Q: You get to play against Bryce Hopkins, your former player.

CALIPARI: Bryce is such a great kid and he's A terrific basketball player. And he had an unbelievable year for (Providence). So, the guys smiled. The guys know. We all like him. It's, you know, a player out there that we enjoyed being around, and he is a wonderful person and so is his family.

Q: What about Ed Cooley (Providence head coach)?

CALIPARI: Ed and I have known each other. We were assistants — well, I may be a little bit older than him. But he was an assistant as I was moving through the ranks at UMass, but I've known Ed. Coach of the Year a year ago...is a great coach. Great Communicator. Motivator. He's terrific.

Q: Your team has responded time and time this season again after adversity. Just how much confidence do you have going into the postseason like this that they can respond?

CALIPARI: I think they're going to be fine. Look, when I woke up on Wednesday, I was going to hold all four of those guys out of that (SEC) Tournament. At least the first game, but the players wanted to play, they wanted to win the tournament. And you know what? They said 'our fans bought all those tickets. We got to go play.' And I said 'you know what, you're right.'

But I will tell you that we have played well when everybody said 'they're done, stick a fork in them.' And so, this is a team that, if we're focused and we're gritty, and we're prepared physically and in the mindset we need to be in, you know — but teams have played out of their minds against us. They seem to figure out it's Kentucky and they make shots. You don't know where this goes. But all I can tell you is if we're in the right mindset, and we're ready to go, i'm coaching a team I want to coach.

Q: What do you see out of your team when you look them in the eyes with so much up and down, up and down, all year? Do you see a team that is finally ready?

CALIPARI: Well, I don't know that, but I'll say this: We just have been inconsistent. But most of it has been from total focus, locked-in, aggressive play to not be in that way. And now all of a sudden, another team, you give them a chance and they come back and beat you, and guys make seven threes who hadn't made it all year, and another guy's four shots at the shot-clock expires and they bank one, that kind of stuff does happen if you're not locked in ready to get after somebody.

I told them downstairs. The inconsistency is what's gotten us. And you know, being a little bit beat up and all that stuff has effected us, but we've overcome that. I just would like to have a full team going into this thing.

Q: How surprising is it to you, given this IS one of your more veteran teams, to be up and down with focus?

CALIPARI: They haven't been there. This is all new to them. You got a lot of guys that this is the first time they're witnessing or being in a position where – Alright, one of you got to step up. Last game, not only do we miss the free throws, no one stepped up, like somebody's go make three straight baskets, we miss five straight shots. So that's important.

We got the guys — I sent them a text today that went, 'why we're capable of doing this.' And I went through every player and what they add and what they've been able to do and where all of them — including the walk-ons and all that we've been through. There have been personal attacks, vicious, some of the stuff. They went through a ton, who's more prepared for us than us? Going through the toughness, the mental toughness that you need to overcome some of the stuff.

We understand, the staff, like we're going over there tonight, we're going to do everything we can to prepare them. I named captains. It's a different way of doing things. You're more of a cheerleader, if you have to really get on a guy. Take them out, just take them out. You know, at times this year, we were down to two and the rent was due. But we didn't have many guys and so you're begging guys, and you're being aggressive with guys to get them over the hump. Not now. Do what you're supposed to do. Get it done, you know what's expected, go get it done."

Q: Along those lines, Lance (Ware) is a guy from game-to-game, may or may not play a lot, if at all. He's a captain though, what does that bring?

CALIPARI: It's really simple why I did it, because he is one that everyone listens to. And my thing to him is, when they know a guy is leading and may or may not play, yet he's been the same, they will follow. They will follow. I'm putting this on Jacob because I need him to be more. And when he's more, we're pretty good.

So now instead of the inward thinking, you're a leader, it's outward thinking, it's about the guys — 'what do I have to do?' 'How do we got to do this?' And I think those two will hold guys accountable, but we got a great group of young people. I'm just telling you.

Everyday I walked in the gym I had fun with them. And I want to enjoy this run. And it starts with a very hard game against a really good opponent. So we're going to focus on one thing: That game. They had to tell me downstairs where it was, I said 'where are we playing?' They said 'North Carolina,' I said 'okay.'

Then they had to tell me who's in the other two, who is it? And so to be honest, don't ask me because I don't remember right now, but the first game in that little corner of the world is the only thing I'm worried about. I won't watch TV. I could care what people say, because a lot of it is their hope and not their opinion. This is going to be decided on the basketball court around the country.

Q: Any hesitation about putting Sahvir in there and that situation where he hadn't played for what, six weeks?

CALIPARI: That's why he's gonna practice for three days and he's got to show us that he's what he needs to be. And I said there's nothing that would make me happier than him to impact the game. And then everybody say 'Man, if we had this dude all year, what would we have been?' Because, when we struggled, a lot of it was guard play. I tried to put Bruiser (Flint) in one game, he said 'I can't, I can't run anymore.'

Q: John, it seems to remember you haven't liked your seed at least once or twice, you okay with your seed?

CALIPARI: You know, what I was looking at today more than anything else, was what teams would be left out. You know, because I feel for those coaches and those kids. That's why I kept calling TJ over, 'who is it that's hanging there? Who is it that's not getting in?' You know, I feel bad for Vandy and their team. They played great at the end of the year. I have no idea why their "NET" was what it was. I have no idea, but you know I feel bad for them. But the teams that got in, I mean, there's excitement. You can tell. Everybody's juiced.

Everybody's 0-0, and all these records mean nothing now, everybody is 0-0. You take care of what's in front of you. You stay in the moment, you enjoy this together. Shut your phones off. You don't need anybody else in our circle. They'll want to be in there. Oh, they want to tell you how to play and — just don't. Shut the phones off. Worry about each other.

Q: It seems as though the M.O. now is to try and bully Oscar (Tshiebwe) and get him to retaliate. How do you —

CALIPARI: It isn't. It isn't that. You guys have watched him play all this time. Has he ever done that? So what does that tell you that's happening? Did you see the play where the kid grabbed him and held him and the one where they pushed two hands in his face when he hit? What do you want him to do?

Now I know, well, he's 255 pounds, what are they going to do? Foul! Just call 100 fouls. And they don't, so he finally had enough, and this is the nicest kid ever. But It's hard for me to say 'what are you doing?' It's hard. I mean I'm watching it too. He's looking at me. I said 'I can get thrown out of the gym or keep trying to coach you.'

Q: You mentioned Vandy, eight SEC teams in, including a couple first-year coaches. What do you think about that and the future of the league?

CALIPARI: You got terrific coaches. You got great facilities, you got commitments to basketball that wasn't there. And now all of a sudden you got a bunch of teams that, you know, it wasn't what it was when I walked in here, where there were five or six teams that were practicing at the women's gym. They were flying commercial everywhere, including recruiting.

We're all on that level. And it's great. It's great. It makes it, I'll tell you, i've been in leagues where you had to win every game. And if you lost one game in your league, you're done. Now, think about it, eight teams in, and not only eight teams in, eight teams have a chance to win a national title. That's the kind of league you want to be in.

I'd like more separation for us, but you know, we're still going to get the best players, that kind of stuff will not change. We got good kids now, but we got a good group coming in, a couple of kids coming back, and all of a sudden you're looking at it like 'okay, let's just keep going.'

Q: I know how much you want it for the kids, but it's been a while since you've coached a team that won in the NCAA Tournament. How much do you want it?

CALIPARI: You know what disappoints me is three years ago — that's not 100 years ago, that's three — we could've won the national title and they canceled the season. What happened last year, first time in my career. First time in my career and you know what? Hurt like hell. But you move on, and you move to the next. For me, this has got to be a ball, because they are going to feed off of me.

If I have to listen to 'you gotta win' because — I know you won 9000 games, have been to Final Fours and you got an 80% — 'but last year you lost do you feel' — They gotta see me saying 'he is loose and ready to go,' because they're gonna feed off of me. And I'm excited about it. I'm excited for these kids that where they are and me knowing individual players, not just one, where they were and what we had to do to keep bringing them along. And now here they are.

I had one of the greatest responses to my text to the guys. And I read it to them. And I said 'now who sent me that text' and they went around the room. And the kids said 'there's no way it would have been him,' and it was him, and one guy went 'wow!', But it shows me the growth of these young people, and that's our job. That's what we do here. Getting them prepared for the rest of their life and what they want to do. You know, it's been a good run and a learning experience.

You learn sometimes, when people show you who they are, believe them. Believe them. And what I would say in all this stuff, that by overcoming this, I told them there's nothing you're gonna go through that will be like this. And you did it. So when anything hits you, you're gonna say, 'Dude, you should have been through the '23 season.

You want to know something, we got the greatest fans, they travel, they're into it. No one has the fan base that we have. And the other side of it is we got the greatest fan base. It's really intuitive and passionate. You got a small portion of them that are really aggressive. That's all part of being at Kentucky. But for those players, to live through that great experience for the rest of their lives.

WATCH: Calipari, Fredrick, Ware react to draw

More on Bryce Hopkins HERE.

More on the bracket reveal and Kentucky's draw HERE.

Kentucky needs to get healthy, fast. More HERE.

More on the SEC Tournament loss to Vanderbilt HERE.

Everything Calipari said after the loss HERE.

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