John Calipari Playing Quotations

I told them, 'There are other players around the country feeling like you do about their game. Just keep working at it. You'll be fine. We may not be playing great right now. Don't worry about that. We're winning the way we're playing, but they're going to have to start playing a little bit better.

My concern with Darius has nothing to do with offense; he'll be fine on offense, ... It has to do with whether he can guard the position. Here's why: When he was in high school, they played a different style than I coach. It was, 'press all over and try to steal the ball.' You can't play in college or the NBA that way -- you have to guard somebody. Now that he's playing for me, it's going to be different.

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.

For a while there in the second half, we played not to lose instead of playing to win. We had a chance to lose the game, but we won it, and we will move on.

He stands for three things: his family, his players and winning. I will miss playing him, but he will be coaching again.

That was a heck of a game. I told their coach, 'Let's hope we are playing in April. Let's hope we are the last two standing.

They could be playing like this is destiny and find the adrenaline to go crazy. Or they could be worn down.