Photos by Clay Jackson, and property of Schurz Communications, Inc., and vaughtsviews.com. All rights reserved; images may not be reprinted in print or online without permission of the owners. Reprinted images must be attributed to vaughtsviews.com and linked to the original site.
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Photos by Clay Jackson, and property of Schurz Communications, Inc., and vaughtsviews.com. All rights reserved; images may not be reprinted in print or online without permission of the owners. Reprinted images must be attributed to vaughtsviews.com and linked to the original site.
Click on the photo above to view the video.
By GARY MOYERS
First of all, we at vaughtsviews.com have been overwhelmed by the response to Larry’s CatAlist app, focusing on UK basketball. We have more than 22,000 subscribers to the app, completely exceeding our expectations. To that end, we decided to make it better.
Currently CatAlist is down. That’s because we’re updating it, moving it to a bigger, faster server, and installing Twitter’s new API in the process. It will return in a couple of days, and very shortly a version for Android will be available as well. You’ll also see see a football version available in the next few days.
Thank you for your patience while this upgrade is performed.
Photos by Clay Jackson, and property of Schurz Communications, Inc., and vaughtsviews.com. All rights reserved; images may not be reprinted in print or online without permission of the owners. Reprinted images must be attributed to vaughtsviews.com and linked to the original site.
Click on the photo to view the video.
Barrett Curlis has his UK boots autographed by coach John Calipari. (Clay Jackson photo)
By SARAH CORNETT, sarah.cornett@centre.edu
On Monday, parents gathered their children together in the gymnasium of Boyle County High School 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. Barrett Curlis was no exception.
As a native of Lincoln County, Curlis was born and raised a Kentucky basketball fan. Like many other die-hard Kentucky fans, Curlis has certain traditions when it comes to the Cats. During every UK basketball game he makes sure to wear his favorite UK shirt and hat. Recently, Curlis added a pair of custom UK cowboy boots to this ritual.
“Well, I decided to make the purchase only about a week ago,” Curlis said. “It turns out only a little while later I managed to run into former coach Joe B. Hall. I asked him to autograph the right boot and he did.”
For Curlis, the camp had given him the opportunity to get the left boot signed by Calipari, who willingly did so. The completed pair will give a new tradition to a fan who has rarely missed a game — even when he was overseas. As a proud member of the Air Force, Curlis recently served about seven months in Bagram, Afghanistan. But even when he was more than 7,000 miles away, he still kept his dedication to the Wildcats.
“I wasn’t able to catch every game while I was in Afghanistan,” Curlis said. “I managed to watch the Duke game (in November), though. Other than that, I made sure to look up the stats as often as I could.”
Although Curlis has been stationed at Langley Base in Virginia, he will still remain a Kentucky fan and looks forward to the upcoming season.
“I have high hopes for this season,” Curlis said. “I always have high expectations for the team but I think this year should be a good one. It’ll be nice to see the new freshman and watch how the Coach will get them all together as a team.”
Photos by Clay Jackson, and property of Schurz Communications, Inc., and vaughtsviews.com. All rights reserved; images may not be reprinted in print or online without permission of the owners. Reprinted images must be attributed to vaughtsviews.com and linked to the original site.
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Click on the photo above to view a video of Camp Cal at Boyle County High School.
By LARRY VAUGHT
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 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, but there were still several interesting tidbits to glean from the three-hour camp.
– Calipari was a lot more relaxed than he was a few months ago after UK’s frustrating season ended with a NIT loss at Robert Morris. He smiled and joked with his staff and players at the camp (incoming freshmen are not allowed by NCAA rules to attend). He also had no idle time because when he was not involved in the camp, he was working the phone.
The UK coach asked the campers to heed one bit of advice. “Use basketball. Don’t let it use you,” said Calipari. That’s a slogan he probably will repeat to his highly talented team many times this season.
— At least we know now that Todd Lanter and Brian Long will be back with the Wildcats as walk-on players next season because they were with Calipari here Monday and were active participants at the camp. Sam Malone, the other walk-on on last year’s team, was not at the camp and UK officials said there would be no announcement on the basketball roster until August.
Last week it was confirmed that Dunbar’s Edrick “E.J.” Floreal Jr. the son of UK’s track coach, would also be a walk-on for Calipari next season.
— Alex Poythress turned down a chance to put his name into the NBA draft to return to UK for his sophomore season. He was at the camp Monday and not only looked slimmer, but he seemed totally happy. He was smiling and laughing — a lot. He signed autographs and posed for pictures with fans of all ages. During the drills, he was a favorite of many campers and often was the target of friendly barbs from the UK coaching staff. But it’s obvious Poythress has embraced his return to UK and certainly looked like a player with no second thoughts about his future.
— Former walk-on Jarrod Polson of West Jessamine High School is also still with the team. He graduated — as did Jon Hood — and there had been speculation about his status for next season but he was also working the camp. And he’s as popular with fans as ever. While Poythress could still easily develop into a first-round draft pick, it was Polson who had more fans line up to get pictures with him than anybody else other than Calipari.
— Once current UK assistant coach Orlando Antigua finds the right head coaching opportunity, he should be a huge success.
Obviously, he’s been a trusted assistant for Calipari and a proven recruiter. But his personality also makes him great with youngsters and fans. He laughed during pictures, signed every autograph request and then had campers going through drills like they were playing for a NCAA title. He was also great demonstrating drills for the campers. Plus, it was easy to see just how much the current players like him. Not sure I would say he’s the “good guy” on Calipari’s staff, but it certainly is a role he could fill.
— Finally, Kentucky fans are just giddy about the upcoming season. Fan after fan either mentioned to one of the coaches or players how excited they were about next year and how they expected the Cats to win a national championship. And it wasn’t just the adults. Several campers I talked to said they knew Kentucky would “win it all” next season and couldn’t wait for the season to start.
By MIKE MARSEE, marsee@amnews.com
By just about any Kentucky fan’s standard, last season was a failure. By John Calipari’s standard, not so much.
The Kentucky coach said he was disappointed that the Wildcats didn’t have a better year — they finished 21-12 and lost in the first round of the NIT one year after winning a national championship — but he said that wasn’t the only measure of success for him or the players.
Calipari said all of Kentucky’s players got something out of last season — even those who didn’t play as well as expected. He talked about what he and the players took from the season Monday during his remarks to children and their family members at his satellite camp at Boyle County High School.
“In a lot of ways, it was really rewarding for me. We were disappointed. We finished second in the SEC, we were disappointed. The three (SEC) teams that went to the NCAA tournament, we were 3-1 against those teams,” Calipari said. “And you never use injuries as an excuse or any of that. Here’s what’s disappointing: We didn’t even get to the tournament; we played our way out of it.”
“But this is a players-first program. We had a 3.4 grade-point average as a team last year. Twelve out of 13 guys had a B average. Two had a 4.0. Aside from that, players benefitted from last season. We talk about players first, that’s what this is supposed to be about.
“Did we benefit from this, our staff? No. But did Nerlens (Noel) benefit from this past season? He may get drafted (number) one. He did all right. How ’bout Archie (Goodwin)? We would have like to have him come back, but we’re going to support him. Looks like he’s going to be a first-rounder, maybe a second-rounder; he’s going to get drafted.
“How ’bout Willie (Cauley-Stein)? No one knew who Willie was. He benefitted. How ’bout Alex (Poythress)? Oh, yeah, he benefitted. The benefit was you saw signs and he saw signs of where he can go, but knowing he’s got to change the path he’s on to get where he’s trying to go.
“How ’bout Kyle Wiltjer? Sixth man of the year. By the end of the year, though, what happened to him? What did every team do to him defensively? They went at him on defense, and he knew, ‘I’ve got to change my body.’ He benefitted. How ’bout Julius Mays? No one knew who Julius Mays was. Julius is going to get a contract to play in Europe.
“You may say, ‘Well, what about Jon Hood?’ Jon Hood benefitted. How ’bout Jarrod Polson? Did he benefit? Yes, he benefitted. Ryan Harrow. You may say, ‘Well, he didn’t benefit.’ Yeah, he did. In a lot of ways, he benefitted in that (he realized), ‘I’m not made for this.’ So now, that season got him to where he can go to have success.
“What I mean to say, again, when you’re about players first, it’s got to be that way, your principles, your core values, even when it doesn’t go good for me, it’s got to be about those guys first. We graduated 10 of our last 10 players in four years. Ten players who have used up their eligibility have graduated. Ten out of 10. We’ve had 17 draft picks? We just helped create 17 millionaires. Isn’t that nice. Wouldn’t you like to have that lottery ticket?
“Now, 10 out of 10 have graduated, 17 have gone on to pro careers. Some have done both: Darius Miller, Josh Harrellson. They stayed the (entire) time and they became pros. We call it a success rate. People have this graduation rate. OK, we graduate our kids, but it’s more than that.”
Calipari said he’s excited about the team he’ll put on the floor next season, but he said the incoming players will also need some work.
“This team we have coming in, with the players we have returning, we should be good. They will decide how good we’ll be,” he said. “And every one of those players, they need us in different ways. Some need us to be right on top of them, some need us to just teach. Some need us to encourage, some need us to bring them back to show we have no fear of coaching them as a player. They all need us in different ways.
“So I’m excited about the opportunities we have. I’m really excited about where this program is, what it stands for, what it stands for around the country, not just in the commonwealth. We’re about players first. We drive them. They don’t always like us, they’re not always happy with us, it doesn’t mean I’m trying to be everybody’s buddy, that’s not what it’s about. It’s about helping them reach their dreams. When we help them reach their dreams, they drag us to where we’re trying to go.
“Do we want to win national titles? Absolutely. And if we win a national title, I’m ecstatic. But you know what would disappoint me? If we won a national title and not one player was drafted. That would disappoint me.
“And you say, ‘Well, why?’ I should benefit from that, you should benefit from it, the school should benefit, the state should benefit, but those young people shouldn’t benefit? If you’re about them, it’s about, yeah, we want to do all this, but not at the expense of our young people. We’re here to help them reach their dreams.”
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