Bounce Back Book signing.

I headed up to LexTown this morning and went over to the UK Campus Bookstore to check out Coach Cal Doing his Bounce Back Book signing, Now I have already met the man, the myth, the legend several times, but to the mob that was assembled, it was like a rockstar was coming.

There is no doubt in my mind that before Calipari finishes his book tour in the state of KY, he will be a New York Times Bestselling Author, there were folks buying ten copies at a time.

When he arrived he spoke to the throng of fans for about ten minutes about how he came to write Bounce Back, and gave a little preview of the book, one thing he said I found funny and I don’t remember the context, but he said Tubby Smith was one of the finest human beings on the planet, to which some ninety year old man in a wheel chair murmered, “to bad he’s not one of the best coaches on the planet”, which elicited side splitting laughter to everyone within ear shot.

I’ve never really been into the motivational reading thing, but this guy is great for this program, and I hope UK fans support the Coach and buy a book whether you read much or not.

ESPN  INTERVIEW

There were camera crews everywhere, but I just thought it was local or the crew from his web site, But anyway when I got through the line, Martin Newton the UK Director of BBall Operations who I’ve known for a while, yelled at me across the store ” hey there’s Kentuckys version of Howard Stern” to which I replied ” with those pants pulled up to your armpits I thought it was Steve Urkel” you have to know him. Anyway a crew stopped me and asked if I would do a short interview for ESPN U, which I did, it will be on Tues or Wen of next week than play several times over the next few days, after that it will be in the archives on the Internet, I’ll try to get a embed code for this site. I tried to plug Uncensored but that will probably get chopped, but they just asked what the fans think of  Calipari, Duh, and what he will mean to the program, and how the perception has changed so quickly for UK, it was about six questions overall, I think it was like one of those tornado interviews where they find the biggest hillbilly in the trailer park to talk to, and i’m sure my KY accent will draw a few laughs so it’s all good.

Rich Tradition 

I picked up a copy of the Tom Leach and Rich Brooks collaboration today also, and I have already read about half of it , and it is outstanding, if you like UK Football I strongly recommend it.

I admit I was not always a big Brooks fan, but after knowing more about the tough as nails old former boxer, I have changed my opinion.

Daniel Orton

One funny little note , we stopped at Denny’s for lunch and D Orten came walking in and sat with a group of about ten girls, Dudes a playa. About ten minutes later he got up to go to the restroom, and me and my wife exchanged glances, and she said “NO you are not going to try to get his picture in the Dennys bathroom, so I had to restrain myself LOL.

Former Kentucky star TE Jacob Tamme, had himself a pretty good preseason game last night against the Eagles. Tamme ended the game with 5 receptions for 60 yards, his longest catch of the night was a 23 yarder.

Tamme will not get a chance to play very much during the regular season unless one or two things happen: One would be for Dallas Clark to go down with a injury which no one wants to see, or two the Colts decide to put him as a FB and they actually use formations with a FB. Whether or not Tamme gets to play very much this year is one thing, but at least Tamme is showing that he is capable of producing in the NFL and is showing why he was a 4th round pick.

I will have more on other players when they play, already though some former Cats have made a impact with their teams. Mryon Pryor had 2 tackles and a sack while playing with the starters, and while Jarmon did not have any tackles in his game he has received a lot of  praise from his coaches.

Stay tuned for more in the coming days.

One of the coolest parts of Coach Calipari’s Camp was watching the players play pickup games. I’m having trouble with some pics because my camera is crap, and some aren’t uploading correctly, I hope to have Pics of Eric Bledsoe, Jon Hood, and pickup game pics later on, but here’s some other camp pics and the player evaluations.

The freshman were not allowed to work the camp, but they were allowed to play pickup and sign autographs before and after.

Before I give the run down of the games remember that it is hard to judge a players true skill package from pickup games, there is not alot of structure, and its more like street ball than anything. But to dispel a couple of myths, there was defense being played, and the guys seemed to play hard and take it seriously, they wanted to win, And it was call your own foul, and it was really funny because nobody wanted to call a foul on themselves, Demarcus Cousins and Matt Pilgrim were trying to take limbs off of kids. You can get a good feel for a players, athleticism, handle , stroke, quickness and passing skills.

Demarcus Cousins 

Man this guy is a specimen, He is one of the largest human beings ive ever stood next to, now im 6-5 and im looking at his pits, and he has a massive frame. But he looked like he is getting in great shape and didn’t look lazy or slow as some have stated, the kid flat out put on a show, He is without a doubt the most skilled freshman big man that I have ever seen, and I have seen alot. He has the entire spectrum of  skills in his game, he is super strong and when he goes to the rim he just imposes his will, but he has a massivearray of weapons, baby hooks, fade aways, drop steps, face up moves, and that is just on the blocks, the guy went coast to coast on several occasions and has excellent handle for a guy his size, he crossed guys up, he would start to drive then pull up from fifteen feet, and seemed to have a nice deep ball. If this young man plays to his ability any center in the country would struggle to guard him.

    Eric Bledsoe

This kid is an absolute jet, he has another gear that very few players have, now John Wall didn’t play to compare the two, but Eric has a burst of sheer speed with the ball in his hands that I haven’t seen in a while. I was also very impressed with his hops,  I didn’t realize he could get up, but when he gets near the rim he explodes. What was most impressive about Eric was how crafty he is with the ball in his hand, he had some And1 street ball stuff going on, passes between the legs, behind the back, look aways, and he made some dude’s look foolish with his crossover. Eric will be a very good player in the coming years, MARK IT DOWN.

 Jon Hood

I like this kids potential, and he has a really smooth floor game, his stroke looks like it could be good, and he has nice hops and craftiness going to the hole. He needs to get more aggressive and I wonder about his defense, but I think with time he will be good.

Deandre Liggins 

After last year I didnt expect much from Deandre, but I was pleasantly surprised, I really think you will see a much improved player in the future, I never understood how he was rated so high coming out of high school, but  now i see it, he has great quicks, and showed flashes of brilliance, if he can play with confidence and slow down his mind to cut out the mistake’s, he could help this team next year. And the guy loved the kids so you got to like him.

 Dwight Perry

He’s great at holding the bench back, and he plays his butt off in the pickup games, so he’s a Cat in my book.

Mark Krebs

He is really a nice looking player for a walk on, he shoots well and holds his own with the big timers.

Matt Pilgrim

I will have a whole article on Matt later, but I see why people declared him as a beast, he looked as talented and athletic as anyone on the floor. and he tries to rip the rim down with every play.

Josh Harrellson

Josh showed a really nice stroke, and could keep defense’s honest if they collapse, he banged with Demarcus Cousins and that’s an accomplishment in itself. Josh is a really out going guy and was great as a camp counselor.

Perry Stevenson 

You can tell Perry is working on his perimeter game, as he spent all his time on offense on the wing, his stroke was surprising, and he knocked down four 3s in one game, he also had a couple of nice drives and a few lob dunks. You can tell he has really improved his handle, and he’s a tough kid because Matt Pilgrim mistakenly thought it was a UFC match instead of a ball game, Stevenson will be a solid backup for Patterson this year.

Patterson and Orton are in Cali for eight weeks, Dodson is arriving soon, Miller is at the under 19 USA practices, so some of the best players didnt play, and there was a few guys I didnt know, I guess student trainiers, one guy looked like a midget Gerald Fitch, But it was overall a good show and the kids loved all the dunks.

Scott Padgett is a great guy and will make a good coach in a few years, plus he told me the story of power bombing Saul Smith for fun after watching wrestling, so I love him.

I just got back from John Calipari’s Basketball School, father & son camp, and it was an awsome experience for a life long wildcat fan, if you ever get the chance to go $3oo bones is a small price to pay for the experience, if you dont have your own son borrow one.

I have a ton of  pictures and stories from camp, and ill post them over the next few days, im having a little trouble uploading some of the pics, when i get them fixed ill put up a scrapbook. but here’s a quick rundown.

Let me start with a little story, about 3 years ago my wife and I took a trip to Hollywood CA, we went on the Price Is Right and saw Bob Barker before he retired, at CBS studios she saw some Stars from the Soap Opera’s she likes, we went to the Mission Impossible 3 Premiere and stood by the red carpet on the Walk Of Fame, we saw Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes, We saw Will Smith, George Clooney, Brad Pitt, and many more Movie Stars, and although I thought it was cool, I thought it was a little silly she was so star struck, well now I know how she feels, as a life long Wildcat fanatic these guys are the stars to me .

On friday afternoon about 4pm the LittleCat and I arrived on campus, and after we registered and got settled in our room, we went to a cookout outside our complex where Scott Padgent and most of the current team were there signing autographs and just hanging out. The first player I talked to was Matt Pilgrim, I was surprised he was still on campus, but we talked several times over the two days and ill have a story on his situation later. One thing that was so cool was that the players and coaches were so accessible, they would just hang out and talk as long as you wanted, everyone was really cool and great with the kids.

At 6 pm we all met at the Seaton Center, which is a great complex, with an aquatic center, a state of the art strength and weight traning center and five basketball courts, and thats just what i saw, all the Assistants and players were there, except the freshmen who cant work the camp because of some crazy NCAA rule (but they got to play in the pickup games we watched and sign autographs, I will break down the pickup games in a later post).

Over 500 father and sons were gathered in the gym mingling with the players and former players, John Robic who has a killer New York Accent, was running the show, he explained the camp schedule and activites, then divided the campers by age group with Rod Strickland (super cool guy), Martin Newton, Orlando Antigua, and Scott Padgent all having a group with several players in each group working as counselors. We then all headed on a two mile trek to Memorial Coliseum, where Coach Calipari addressed the group and showed one of his new tapes that will be released soon, then the groups were split up in five different gyms, Memorial,the mens Practice Facility, the womens Practice Facility, and the Seaton Center. let me say that all the Complexs are a sight to see, and I doubt that any program in the country can match UKs facilities. We were with  John Robic, Josh Harrellson, Matt Pilgrim, Ramon Harris, and Jared Prickett.

I know im a proud father but honestly out of 90, 8 year old kids, my son the LittleCat was far and above better than any player there. JUST SAYIN.

We ran some drills and had some skill competitions, and then had a father and son shoot out where we broke in to teams, with the winners rotating between 10 goals and the losers staying at their basket, if you even need to ask, the BigCat was stroking it. JUST SAYIN.

At 9PM the players held the Pickup games, and really put on a great show for the kids, Dunks Galore.

After the game we were headed back to the Blanding Tower to clean up and for some pizza, coming up the side of the building I heard a distinct voice and looked over and sitting on a golf cart next to some picnic tables was John Calipari, we took some Pictures and hung out and talked for about 20 minutes just us and two more guys from Somerset, I even called my brother the Love Muscle and Cal talked to him on the phone for a couple of minutes, which was pretty cool, Calipari is just a down to earth guy, and its really easy to see how he lands top recruits, he is just the kind of person who has an aura about them, and can relate to anyone. some more folks started gathering so we went around front and sat in a golf cart with Rod Strickland, I was always a fan of Rod In the NBA, he was one of the scrappiest guards ever, and he is a really cool guy. We then went to the room which was pretty nice, but its a community bathroom so that stunk. but no one dared take a shower around the BigCat for fear of embarrassment.

The next morning we had breakfast and went to the gym, my son had been sick with a stomach virus the whole trip and got to feeling really bad about halfway thru the morning session, he was kind of upset and needed some air so we stepped out a side door, then the coolest part of the whole trip happened, Coach Calipari was walking up the sidewalk headed to the front entrance, we were across a yard about 100 yards away, he saw my son was upset and crying a little(he’s competitive like his dad and was mad he felt so bad), Cal asked if he was alright and walked all the way across the field and gave the LittleCat a big hug, he stood with his arm around him and talked for a few minutes then hugged him again and told him if he didnt get to feeling better he could just hang out with him. When a guy is genuinely that caring towards a little kid you never forget it, Cal is a terrific guy and I will always respect him for how well he treated my son, in the picture below you can see the tears welled up in the LittleCats eyes .

The rest of the day was some teaching drills and games, then a autograph session and another pickup game.

Overall it was an awesome trip, and I would highly recommend any Wildcat fans who would like the chance to see the team in a up close and personal setting to attend next year. I made memories with my son that I wont ever forget. I Know I sound like a Fanboy but when it comes the the Cats thats what I am.

Ill break down the Pickup games and have some more stories in later posts.