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UK Basketball: SEC analyst Dean Jr. likes Cats' mix of experience and youth

November 14, 2011|By LARRY VAUGHT | larry@amnews.com

Southeastern Conference Television analyst Joe Dean Jr., who was an assistant coach at Kentucky under Joe Hall, admitted going into last season that he thought a case could be made that Kentucky might be only the fifth best team in the Southeastern Conference Eastern Division. Of course, the Wildcats went on to win the SEC tournament and advance to the Final Four, something Dean says many friends who are his friends didn’t let him forget.

“I may never live that down, but going into last season, and even for part of the season, Kentucky just did not look like a Final Four team,” Dean said. “This year, it’s not that way.”

Dean shared these insights on Kentucky, which plays Kansas on Tuesday night in New York:

Question: What do you see for Kentucky this year in the Southeastern Conference?
Dean: “Obviously it’s late October and lot to be determined by the new players, but John Calipari’s track record tells us he is pretty good at bringing in new players and getting a lot of good performance out of them. I¿have them picked as the No. 1 team in the SEC without a doubt. With Terrence Jones, Doron Lamb and Darius Miller back, and they are all really, really good players and good leaders, they will be good. If the new guys perform the way I think, they will be very good.

“I am a big John Calipari fan.¿I think he is a very underrated coach.¿I think he is a great teacher, motivator.¿I have watched him in practice and how the kids pay attention to him. They work their tails off and he knows how to get the most out of these guys. We have seen this from him for a long time, and especially what he has done at Kentucky.

“I think the Big Blue Nation has a right to feel very, very good about their chances to win it all this year.”

Question: How good is Calipari not only at recruiting players, but developing players when he gets them?
Dean: “I think we have seen a lot of very good high school players come into college programs and not meet expectations. Since John Calipari has been at Kentucky, all these freshmen have come in for the most part and either met or exceeded expectations for the most part and put themselves in a position to go to the NBA.

“I live in Birmingham and when Eric Bledsoe came out of high school, there were people who questioned how good he really was. A year with John Calipari, he is a first-round NBA draft pick. To me, that says it all.”

Question: How important is Darius Miller to UK’s national title hopes?
Dean: “Every championship team has to have a player like Darius Miller. He is not the best player on the team. He’s not the most gifted athlete on the team. But he does everything well, he is a team player, he has the respect of his teammates and he is kind of the glue to the team. You have to have a guy like that. And he’s a home-grown Kentucky young man. That means he cares and it means something to him and he can convey that to the freshmen and how important this is and the tradition of Kentucky basketball. I think Darius is probably the key to the Kentucky team for all those reasons.”

Question: How much does his experience, especially in Southeastern Conference play, mean to Kentucky?
Dean: “The experience of going around the SEC, he can share that with the players. As great as Kentucky’s program is, when they go on the road they always have a bullseye on their back. They are the other team’s biggest game every night. Some of those freshmen coming in really don’t understand that. It’s hard to assimilate that in practice until you experience it. Darius Miller knows when he goes into somebody else’s arena, it is their biggest game. Full house, the whole nine yards. You have to be more mentally tough than anyone else.

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