Just call him John Clankipari
John Calipari is in a state of denial, and really, it's almost endearing. He refuses to acknowledge that his team's inability to hit free throws could cost it a national title -- heck, it already nearly did in the second round against Mississippi State. The Bulldogs had a shot to win that game because the Tigers missed so many from the line in the final minutes.
Coach Clankipari would rather talk about all the wonderful things his Tigers do. "But everybody, all they want to talk about is our free-throw shooting," Calipari said. "I don't know why. I come back to the conclusion that maybe they haven't seen our team play nor do they really know and the easy thing to talk about off the stat sheet is our free throws. Maybe I'm wrong though."
Well, I mean, it does sort of jump off that stat sheet, doesn't it? The Tigers shot 62 percent as a team last season and 68.2 percent for 2005-2006, a number that dipped to 59.6 percent this season -- ranking them 326 out of 328 Division 1 teams.
"It's almost to the point of, 'Do you really even know what my team does well or doesn't do well?' Or is it because you don't know. You just say, 'It's free-throw shooting. That's all I'm going to talk about,"' Calipari said during a conference call.
"We missed a couple down the stretch that I was surprised that we did miss," Calipari said. "But, again, we shot 75 percent in our tournament, which was last week. ... Well, we had a bad game. Every once in a while we'll do this. Then we'll come back and shoot 75 percent, and no one will say anything."
Right. Make the free throws and we won't talk about it, Coach Clank. But until you do ...
3 Comments
Greg Visone
9 months, 2 weeks agoCan;t wait 'til Michigan State gets 'em in the sweet 16.
bracket killer
9 months, 2 weeks agoCoach Cal, I feel your pain. I am in the same boat. All any of my friends and colleagues want to talk about is my Page 35 status. They dont know my picks, just my stats. All they care about is my selection of UConn in the finals and AU in the sweet sixteen and the neighbors new born pooped a better bracket than i did. Nobody looks at my pick of UNC over MSM, or Duke over Belmont. They just look at the numbers and make a snap judgments. I know how Coach Cal feels for sure.
Bracket Man
9 months, 2 weeks agoI thought that the Memphis Tigers did alright Bracketboy. I don't know why the coach is talking and caring so much about three throws, so you had a rough start. The point is, they won and will advance.
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