LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Locally, the college basketball luncheon circuit is in full swing. Conference media days are churning out quotes. Teams are holding their own media days (Kentucky's was last Monday, Louisville's is Wednesday.)
What I'm saying is what Crash Davis said in the famous pitcher's mound scene in Bull Durham: "We're dealing with a lot of (stuff) here."
So this morning over coffee, I'm just going to roll through some interesting things, beginning with an old friend" John Calipari of Arkansas, in Birmingham for SEC Media Day.
Louisville | Kentucky | Indiana | Eric Crawford
TRANSACTION CANCELED: Unlike many coaches, Calipari said that once a player goes into the portal from his program, he's gone. No do-overs. Why?
"If someone puts their name in the portal, I say, 'You're not coming back.' Because it's not going to be transactional," Calipari said. "… If I become transactional — 'I'm going to pay you this to do this and that' -- then I won't do this anymore. I don't need to."
Ahh, the old "I don't need to" do this. Seems a bit early to bring that out. But I do appreciate Calipari's candor. I love coaches who aren't afraid just to say stuff. He talked about his team's scrimmage earlier this week.
"We scrimmaged Sunday in Hot Springs," he said. "I'm not going to say it was a debacle, but what would be the next word up from debacle? We got a ways to go. I got a good group, but we got a ways to go to be what people think we're going to be."
Opening statement. Let's go.
SPEAKING OF CANDOR: Louisville women's coach Jeff Walz is not going to pass up any chance with a microphone and a thousand fans at a Tipoff Luncheon. I joked with him at ACC Media Day that whenever he talks lately, he's like Charles Schwab. All anyone wants to ask about is NIL and money. He's good talking about that stuff, and that's why he gets the questions. But on Monday at the Galt House, he did talk some basketball.
Louisville's Jeff Walz speaks to fans at the program's annual Tipoff Luncheon in 2025.
He says he wants his team to get back to grit and effort and defense this season. After a run of five straight Elite Eight appearances, he thinks those elements have been missing to a degree.
"One of the things we we've got to get back to being is a tougher team," he said. "We've got to dive on the floor after loose balls. We've got to make sure we are willing to take charges. We've got to be that team that when people see us, they're like, 'Hey, they play hard.' We've lost that the past two years, and we've got to get that back if we want to continue to move our program forward."
Walz recognized Louisville alum Monique Reid at the luncheon and asked her to stand up. She's the new coach at Bellarmine.
"Mo just committed her first NCAA violation by being here today," he said, to a loud laugh. I don't think anybody's going to turn her in.
Fun fact: Peck Hickman once had an opposing coach speak at his team's postseason banquet – Kentucky's Adolph Rupp.
GOOD INJURY NEWS: Kentucky's Mark Pope seemed to put to rest any fears that big man Jayden Quaintance would miss significant time coming back from his injury.
"He is racing back to health at light-speed," Pope said. "It is remarkable. He feels like he is on the verge of being ready to go, but we're just hitting the brakes full time to make sure."
Kentucky also got some good news from Otega Oweh, who returned to workouts this week after missing 10 weeks with a toe injury.
"Well, if you're going to have a guy miss the first couple weeks of practice, he really has been out for almost 10 weeks now, he's the guy to do it," Pope said. "There's always concern with health. We're just moving him back into the rotation. He actually was in practice a couple days ago in his first live scrimmage, really his first possession of live scrimmage. We're all kind of walking on eggshells. He got a steal, raced down the floor, outside the free throw, dunked it. As a coach you shake your head, young people. We love these young people."
"Otega is a guy where you cannot turn off his competitive motor. He's been through this. He understands it. He knows what he's in for. He understands the pressure of the moment, he understands everything that Kentucky is. He embraces it. He can't get enough of it. I don't have a lot of concerns about him. Obviously we like all of our guys to stay healthy."
KENTUCKY TRANSFER A KEY: At Ole Miss, Chris Beard is counting on a significant contribution from UK transfer Travis Perry.
"We need him to have the best year he's ever had playing basketball for our team to do what we would all like to do in Oxford," Beard said.
Quick sips
KELSEY'S TIPOFF SPEECH: Pat Kelsey spoke at Louisville's annual Tipoff Luncheon on Tuesday. He didn't offer a lot of basketball insight, but gave a refresher into the culture change behind the Cardinals turnaround. Read about it here.
POPE MEETS THE MEDIA: Pope talked gravity, spacing, dice games and more during his round of questions and answers at SEC Media Day. Read about it here.
DOUBLE HONOR: Louisville's women were picked to finish fourth in the ACC, but they were the only team to have two players named first-team all-conference: Tajianna Roberts and Lauren Ziegler. They also were ranked No. 20 in the AP preseason poll. Read more here.
The Last Drop
"We talk about the transfer portal. I don't mind kids transferring. You just can't transfer four times because it's not good for you. Four schools in four years, you'll never have a college degree."
John Calipari, Arkansas coach, at SEC Media Day
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