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.
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 LARRY VAUGHT
Kentucky coach John Calipari says he plans to do things “as a team that I have not done in the past that I think will help this team come together” this summer.
“Some of it is, we’ll watch some movies together, some things of teams coming together. A team, what they had to do to sacrifice for each other,” Calipari said. “More than any team I’ve had, shared sacrifice is going to matter in this group, and they knew that coming here.
“I told every one of them, ‘If you want to shoot 30 balls a game, you don’t come here. If you want to be the only guy that’s playing, the one guy that everybody’s talking about, you wouldn’t come here.’ I think again, it’s been laid out for them. Now the question is, will we all have the patience? Will I have the patience? There’s no choice.
“It may be ugly early, and we’re playing good teams early. Through January we may not be a very good team. The point is, by the end of the year, we have the talent, the size, the toughness, the skill set. How do we get each individual being at their best? How do we bring this team together? That’ll be the challenge of this.”
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By LARRY VAUGHT
Phoenix coach Jeff Hornacek thought former Kentucky guard Archie Goodwin’s jump shot looked “much improved” during a workout Saturday based on what he told Kevin Zimmerman of valleyofthesuns.com.
“Obviously he’s going to need to learn the game better,” Hornacek said. “He’s used to being a scorer. He can still be a scorer but he’s going to have to be, more the mental part of the game … a point guard. Really see the game, see how it develops, not only for himself but for his teammates. When you got a young kid like that, those are the guys you can kind of train. You can tell he has a feel.”
Goodwin, who won’t be 19 until August, is projected as a more likely NBA draft target for Oklahoma City rather than Phoenix by Zimmerman. He noted that Dallas, Philadelpia, Cleveland and Oklahoma City, which has the 29th pick in the draft while Phoenix has No. 30, have all worked Goodwin out.
By LARRY VAUGHT
Karl Towns Jr. is an elite basketball player. When you are a teenage who is 7-feet tall, can handle the basketball and have 3-point range, your destined for stardom. He’s already played against many of the best NBA players and will again be on the Dominican Republic National Team this summer.
That’s why I see no reason to overreact to the New Jersey prep standout admitting that he’s thinking about playing baseball for St. Joseph High School in Metuchen, New Jersey, during his senior year before he heads off to play basketball for Kentucky and coach John Calipari.
Here is what Towns, who won’t be 18 until November and was the youngest player at the Nike Hoop Summit in April, recently told Adam Zagoria of ZagsBlog.com.
“Yeah, I’m thinking about playing baseball for St. Joe’s, so I’m really happy,” Towns said. “I’m trying to make a return.”
Some will wonder if Towns, who also likes to play golf but seldom has time to do that, is risking too much injury-wise by playing baseball and possibly putting undue stress on his arm and shoulder if he pitches as he did before he walked away from the game. But remember, Towns told me in an earlier interview there was a time he walked away from basketball because he thought he loved baseball more.
“I actually quit basketball and wanted to be a baseball star,” Towns said. “I didn’t want to play basketball any more. That was about three years ago I think. But after three weeks of playing baseball, I missed basketball. I was a pitcher, first baseman, outfielder, third baseman. I loved it. My dad was a little irked that I quit basketball, but he supported me and went to all my games across the country.
“I sill love baseball, but since I took that break from basketball and came back my drive for basketball has been at a high level. That break gave me an even greater passion for basketball, and I needed that.”
Now maybe he just needs a break from the spotlight and year-round grind of basketball. What’s wrong with letting a youngster enjoy himself and just play a sport because he thinks it will be fun? He’s going to be playing basketball for a long time — maybe one year at UK and then the NBA — so if he wants a two-month break, so be it.
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