John Calipari Trying Quotations

When we coach against another team, we're trying to make it as hard as we can on them to beat us. On this committee, we're trying to (make it) as hard as we can for them not to give us (the No. 1 seed). They may not, but we made it very difficult for them by winning the game.

When you're trying to build or change a culture, what do you do? I always say you take players from state championship teams because they only know one thing, winning.

We have guys who just haven't played together. We're just trying to figure it out. Offensively, we're taking so many bad shots right now it's almost making me want to vomit at times, but we are being aggressive.

The thing I've tried to tell each of these players is be ready for your moment. What if I only play Andre Allen eight minutes this game because Darius is really playing well? What if this game is better-suited for Kareem Cooper than it is Joey Dorsey? What I'm trying to tell our players is that you have to live with that and march on to the next game, and that may be your game and your opportunity to be the star.

They have fresh legs and fresh minds and that's what we're always trying to strive for in March.

Hopefully he'll respond to this and understand I'm trying to do whatever I can to make sure he understands there are boundaries,

I did a better job last year than I did this year. Awards are great. Our award we're trying to get here is trying to win this tournament. I'm happy for Rodney, happy for all the players who get these awards because they've worked hard for them.

When you're trying to make somebody the best version of themselves, you have to keep defining that over a period of time because sometimes it changes.

The best players I've coached make really hard things look easy. Like you may say, well, that was easy, and then, well, go try it. You think it's so easy, go ahead and do it.

If we're going to stay the gold standard, we're going to stay ahead of the curve, well, then, when people try to do the things we're doing, we're trying to do more. We're trying to do something different. We're coming at it a different way. That, for me, to be honest, is the fun part.