Posts Tagged ‘john calipari’
From the Wire: Monday Links
Today’s best from college newspapers around the country:
Michigan State has come a long, long way since getting whomped by the Tar Heels in December
– Alex Altman, The State News
ALSO: The Spartans look to knock off a third No. 1 seed; MSU fans are in full force
Will North Carolina be able to dictate the tempo once again? — David Ely, The Daily Tar Heel
ALSO: Detroit rallies behind the Spartans
Arizona strikes out once more, this time with Xavier’s Sean Miller
– Lance Madden, The Arizona Daily Wildcat
By nearly leaving USC, Tim Floyd reminded us coaching is all about money, power and ego
– Michael Middlehurst-Schwartz, The Daily Trojan
Oklahoma‘s Blake Griffin capped his brilliant season with a well-deserved Naismith Award
– Eric Dama, The Oklahoma Daily
From the Wire: Friday Links
Today’s best from college newspapers around the country:
Michigan State is playing for Big Ten basketball fans everywhere
– Rich Mayor, The Daily Illini
Dante Cunningham, Wayne Ellington, Goran Suton and Jeff Adrien are key X-factors for their respective teams — David Namm, The Vanderbilt Hustler
At least Ford Field gets to host something other than a Detroit Lions game — Kevin Duffy, The Daily Campus
Don’t be so sure this weekend will play out as we expect — Geoffrey Miller, The Indiana Daily Student
Tom Izzo and Jim Calhoun have proved again they are the best coaches in college basketball
– Greg Carey, The Daily Athenaeum
Calipari: Day 2
It’s John Calipari’s world. We’re just living in it.
Putting the Final Four on hold for a few more days, the college basketball world is buzzing about the brash, successful coach’s lucrative leap from Memphis to Kentucky.
On the scene
In Lexington, the Kentucky Kernel has another batch of piping hot news and analysis:
UK’s president and athletics director say they looked into every black mark on Calipari’s record and are confident he’s an upstanding citizen.
Cal says he’s always wanted to coach at Kentucky. When the Wildcats were looking for a coach two years ago, he asked his wife every day if they had called yet. (I bet Memphis is thrilled to hear that.)
Nothing to see here. Move along. Calipari and Rick Pitino don’t hate each other.
Coach Cal takes the reins at Kentucky
Photo by Brad Luttrell, Kentucky Kernel
The Kentucky Kernel has blanket coverage of the first day of the John Calipari era, from last night’s official word to an examination of the biggest contract in college basketball and a report on the elite recruits who could follow him from Memphis.
For his part, Calipari downplayed some of the hoopla at his introductory news conference this morning. “I don’t walk on water,” he said. “I don’t have a magic wand. I’m not the emperor.”
The Kernel also has reaction and analysis from its stable of columnists. Kenny Colston, for one, was impressed:
[T]his time, UK did everything right. They got a coach that is proven, understands who to appeal to and how to handle criticism. As Calipari said it himself, in Memphis if he didn’t beat Conference USA teams by 20, people thought something was wrong. A loss was unspeakable.
Sounds familiar.
Analysis: 3 Missouri def. 2 Memphis
3 Missouri 102
2 Memphis 91
West Region semifinals • University of Phoenix Stadium, Glendale, Ariz.
By Jim Reedy
– John Calipari spent much of the game complaining his boys were getting pushed around, but Missouri built a 24-point lead by overwhelming the Conference USA champions with depth and energy at both ends of the court and ended Memphis’ program-record 27-game win streak. Paper Tigers after all? Perhaps.
Reporter Interview: Joseph Russell on Memphis
Derrick Rose isn’t walking through that door, and neither is Joey Dorsey or Chris Douglas-Roberts. Yet even without the stars who led them to the national title game last year, the Memphis Tigers are again one of the top teams in the nation.
Joseph Russell of the Daily Helmsman explains how they’re doing it.
At the Arena: Can you hear me now?
Alex Prosperi of the Michigan Daily reports from Kansas City:
With five minutes left in today’s second round matchup between Memphis and Maryland, the Tigers fans starting cheering “ACC! ACC!” as their team led 86-57. 30 seconds later they did it again, but Memphis coach John Calipari turned to the section behind his bench and told them to stop.
Maryland fans clearly didn’t like the chant, and the Kansas fans didn’t either. Jayhawk fans in attendance started doing their Rock Chalk Jayhawk chant, reminding Memphis fans of last year’s title-game victory.
UPDATE: Two Memphis cheerleaders are wearing Calipari cutout masks as they go through their celebratory postgame cheers. It’s really, really creepy.
At the Arena: Raise the Flag
Alex Prosperi of the Michigan Daily reports from Kansas City, where No. 2 seed Memphis barely held off Cal State Northridge:
– Toward the end, you could see the sense of relief from Memphis’ bench. They haven’t loss a Conference USA game since 2006, but a loss here would have had everyone calling them paper Tigers. John Calipari told his team at halftime that they were being arrogant. He’s probably got a good point.
– The cheerleader waving the giant Northridge flag isn’t quite big enough, and he’s having a little trouble.
