At Thursday’s news conference, John Calipari seemed to take reporters on a trip back in time. The sweet nostalgia he evoked centered on his UMass teams of the 1990s. The little team that resented being dismissed as an upstart and used that resentment in beating college basketball blue bloods through hard work and sheer will.
As opposed to his Kentucky team in Tuesday’s opening game: the ceaselessly celebrated behemoth that couldn’t stay within 30 points of Duke.
It may sound odd, but Calipari suggested he wants the players representing the winningest program and the greatest tradition in the history of college basketball to play with that I’m-just-as-good-as-you attitude.