John Clay's Sidelines

A few highlights from John Calipari’s meeting with the media before today’s practice as Kentucky gets ready to meet an SEC-winless LSU on Saturday in Baton Rouge.

• 1. The head coach is a little under the weather. If you noticed Tuesday night, Calipari was doing some coughing and didn’t quite seem 100 percent in the post-game press conference. He was a little worse today, and before he met with us, sports info director DeWayne Peevy mentioned that Calipari was a little under the weather. Nothing a good performance in Baton Rouge wouldn’t help, of course.

• 2. Calipari said he put three questions on the board for Thursday’s practice: (1) Am I playing as hard as I can play? If not, why not? (2) Am I making the easiest play I can make? If not, why not? (3)Am I doing what he’s asking me to do? If not, why not? “Those three questions being answered in a positive make us really, really good,” said the coach.

• 3. Calipari said that LSU may be winless in the league, but the Tigers have had chances to win “three or four games.” He said he would show the team some tape of LSU’s 59-54 loss last night to Tennessee to prove that the Tigers are capable.

Here is video of the first 4:15 of Cal’s press meeting. (I’ll have the rest up shortly.)

• 4. Cal said that another NBA general manager told him that he loves what Patrick Patterson has done since coming back The coach said that the “butcher and the barber” and the relatives and friends are looking for one thing, and NBA people are looking for something else. “It’s just me,” said Calipari, “but I’d give (the NBA people) what they want.”

• 5. Asked about still letting leads slip away, Calipari said, “We don’t value the ball the way they should.” He added later on that it could be important against LSU, which will surely try to slow the tempo on Saturday.