By LARRY VAUGHT

John Calipari didn’t want to discuss the specifics on the NCAA ruling that determined freshman John Wall would have to miss Monday night’s exhibition game against Campbellsville, not play in the regular season opener against Morehead and repay almost $800 for expenses his AAU coach provided.

“We are moving on. It is behind us and we are getting ready for this (exhibition),” said Calipari. “The kid is a great kid, the mother is a great lady, and they have always tried to do the right thing. I’m glad it’s behind us.

“ I don’t know how much time they have to pay (the money) back, you have to talk to them. I didn’t get into any of that and like I said, I’m not worried about it. Obviously, they’ll do it in the time they have to. All I know is the kid always did the right thing and the mother always did the right thing.”

Wall, who was not available to the media Sunday, must repay the money that Brian Clifton, his AAU coach who was also briefly a licensed agent, spent on him before he can play in Friday’s exhibition game against Clarion or any other UK game. The money will go to charity.

Calipari stressed Sunday he was more concerned with seeing daily improvement from his talented team than anything else.

“They need to come out every day with the mentality that we are getting better, so they expect to win. They also need to understand that you do it together,” the UK coach said. “You have to be fundamental and better defensively. You have to be fundamentally skilled in habits and rebound with two hands, not one hand. You have to know every play matters. You have to know every possession matters.

“I want the team to have fun. I want a person watching our team to say, ‘There is no team in the country that has more fun than that team.’ That doesn’t mean joking around. It means doing it together, achieving together. It means doing things you never thought you could do, which puts a smile on your face.

“They recognize each other for plays, they chest bump each other for great defense. They know they are locking down and they smile at each other for playing great. They talk to each other. That is how you have fun playing, but they have to develop those habits first. They have to have discipline and they have to have maturity. They have none of that. It is hard to have fun right now with the way we are playing.”

Sophomore Darius Miller says the players don’t know who will start Monday’s game, especially with Wall not playing. However, he says the players are ready to play different competition.
“We have been going against each other for a while now and we are ready to play against someone else,” Miller said. “Practice has been pretty intense. It is really competitive.”

Freshman center Daniel Orton says while starting is important, it’s not the biggest concern for him.

“All that matters is that I can play and we are winning. There are no egos on this team and everyone understands their role,” Orton said. “Guys don’t have too much pride over starting positions, but we still battle for starting positions. The competitiveness on this team is incredible because everyone loves to compete and everyone loves to have fun.”

Senior Ramon Harris said Calipari told them he was confused after last week’s Blue-White Game about whether the offense was good or the defense was bad.

“We really worked on our defense and are trying to be a solid team no matter who is on the court. On a defensive stand, we want to make the other team feel like we have six guys out there,” Harris said.

Calipari says he has shown this team video of his former teams to emphasize what he expects defensively.

“We aren’t where we need to be defensively. We aren’t in the condition we need to be in. Probably Patrick (Patterson) and John Wall are the best defenders right now. Even those two stop playing. We aren’t near what you’ll see on tapes and clips when we play. There is a lack of discipline and maturity because they are young,” the UK coach said.

“If we are to be what this program wants to be, we have to be defensively vicious. We have to be a two-handed rebounding team that goes after every ball. We have to be a team that makes easy plays and works harder than the opponent. If you are going to be a good defensive team, it starts with fundamentals and being active with your hands.”

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