John Calipari

NEW ORLEANS - Since he insists he “can name 50 coaches” that have had a chance to win a national title and didn't, Kentucky coach John Calipari insists “my friends and family” probably want him to get his first championship even more than he does. “I'm at Kentucky, one way or another we are going to play the best we can every year. I'm not looking at it like validation, I'm just not, my wife will tell you,” said Calipari. “I'm concerned about our team playing great and those guys getting all those accolades and that stuff happening.” Calipari knows how badly Kentucky fans want an eighth national championship.

Kentucky coach John Calipari took time Monday during his satellite camp at Boyle County High School to talk to the parents and other adults in the audience about body language and what it can say about young players, using his son, Brad, as an example. “My son's 16 years old, he's a good kid, a good student. But we all think they know, and they really don't until they get in situations,” he said. “With my son, I watch him one day, this is about three weeks ago. He sleeps over with a friend, it's a 9 o'clock in the morning game, he didn't sleep, and he's got, like, an attitude and a body language on the court.

Kentucky coach John Calipari will be the keynote speaker at the Henry Iba Citizen Athlete Awards on June 3 in Tulsa. “We have had the big names of college basketball as well as baseball and football here,” said Greg Kach, chairman of the Iba Athlete Awards for the Rotary Club of Tulsa. “I don't know John personally, but I know his reputation as a giver and someone that likes to be involved in the community.” Calipari's foundation has raised millions of dollars to help people in need.

LEXINGTON - John Calipari had a long list of potential problems facing his Kentucky Wildcats early in the season - difficult opening games with Maryland and Duke, lack of experienced players, huge expectations coming off a national championship season. Yet it wasn't hard for him to explain Thursday during UK's Media Day what he likes about his freshman-dominated team. “I like what they'll look like in March in my mind. Right now, that's the only thing I can live with,” said Calipari.

LEXINGTON - Even though Kentucky coach John Calipari insisted Wednesday that he was “not hearing” the talk about his team being a lock to win next year's national championship, he said he could “imagine” the talk is out there. Apparently he's the only one that doesn't know for sure the talk is out there even if the Wildcats didn't get Andrew Wiggins on Tuesday. “It's probably because people are really rooting for us to do well. So that's probably part of the reason. They want us to do so well, they're putting that out there to help us build this team right,” joker Calipari.

LEXINGTON - Kentucky coach John Calipari said Wednesday that there are “30, 40 teams that could get to the Final Four” based on what he has seen and heard. “And I don't think there's any clear-cut national champion winner,” Calipari said. “If you talk about Louisville, they've got to be right there as one of those if you're talking four or five. Possibly a Duke. I like Michigan. They're doing it shooting. “(That)¿scares me sometimes, because sometimes you go on a run, you'll go a month and can't make a shot.

While he's an admitted John Calipari fan, there was a time that former Clarion State coach Joe DeGregorio left Calipari stranded in Philadelphia because he was late for a team bus. DeGregorio, an ex-Marine who now likes to spend time playing golf with "Johnny," as he calls the Kentucky coach, says his team had to travel by vans at the time Calipari played for him. "We were playing Philly Textile, which was ranked sixth or something in...

On Monday, parents gathered their children together in the Boyle County High School gymnasium for one of the 2013 John Calipari basketball camps. As a part of the satellite tour this summer, the camp seeks to teach young, aspiring basketball players the essential tools of the game. The main activities of the day are taught by the University of Kentucky assistant coaches and a few returning players of the team. At the start of the camp, the parents, children and others circled around the gymnasium for a chance to have coach Calipari autograph their basketballs, photographs and other memorabilia.

Perhaps the 80 youngsters expected to be entertained with inside stories about Kentucky's upcoming basketball season or learn about John Calipari's recruiting secrets. Instead, the Calipari Satellite Camp at Boyle County High School on Monday was more of a chance for Calipari's staff and some players to show youngsters basic fundamentals. Calipari, as usual, was off limits to local media other than being able to listen to what he said to camp participants, but there were still several interesting tidbits to glean from the three-hour camp.

Jackson Ives got just what he wanted at John Calipari's camp - and not what he feared. The Stanford boy was looking forward to his chance to meet Calipari during the Kentucky coach's satellite camp Monday at Boyle County High School. He was a little apprehensive, however, about the idea that Calipari might coach the kids at the camp like he coaches the players on his team. “I figured that coach Cal was going to be yelling at us,” Ives said. Ives was also worried that he might have to do some running, which was what he liked least when he started practice last year for his first season of organized basketball.