Q. Tre and Adou, this is obviously a homecoming game for you. How excited are you to be back home and, two, how many friends and family are coming to watch you play?
TRE MITCHELL: You know, it means the world to be back home in my final year of college basketball and on this team, and kind of being able to have people around me kind of see this moment come full circle for me to play at Kentucky, and I honestly couldn't give you a number of how many people that have hit me and said that they're going to be there tomorrow.
ADOU THIERO: I'm super excited to play at home. I got people texting me who haven't seen me play since I was a little kid telling me that they're coming to the game. Just like what Tre said, just super to be happy to be home and be able to play here.
Q. Adou, I remember talking to you. Just only three or four years ago you were 6'2", you only had a couple of Mid Major offers. A lot of growth has taken place for you both physically and as a basketball player, playing a new position, playing at a very high level. Can you just talk about your growth both physically and as a player?
ADOU THIERO: I said it was very difficult and just getting to the school, trying to find my place, also dealing with growing and everything. But it helped me become how I am right now and play the way I'm able to play right now and I'm just very blessed to be in this position.
Q. For all three of you guys, the defense has been kind of the story of this season and whether or not it's been showing up. Just having this week off, how much of that has been a focus for this team, and going into the tournament, how confident are you in your defense, with whether it's Oakland or any team down the road? How confident are you across the board?
ANTONIO REEVES: Very confident in our defense. Been working on it for a couple days now just in practice, just focusing on things like getting over ball screens, getting more physical down low. We emphasize that each and every day.
Q. Tre, you've been at UMass, Texas, West Virginia and now here at Kentucky and you're wrapping it all up. This is your last season. What are your expectations for your last time playing in this tournament, your last chance to play in this tournament?
TRE MITCHELL: I just expect a lot of effort. I can't say that I expect anything but the best from our guys. And some of our dudes in the locker room it's their last go-around, too. And I know nobody wants to go out sad. So there's 40 minutes of basketball to be played and we plan on playing all 40, every single second of it, everything we got.
Q. Adou, your father played for Coach Cal at Memphis and now you're playing for him. From what you've heard from your dad and what you've observed, how has he changed over the years?
ADOU THIERO: My pops, he would tell me stories and everything. But he was more rough back in the day. Had them running a lot more and everything. But he still has us do all that, but I feel like he's taking it a little bit lighter on us. See, I'm okay with that because the stories my dad was telling me, they was, oh, they was going through it.
Q. Tre, to piggyback on the last questions you were asked, about your journey how special is it at the very tail end of your journey you get to play where it all started?
TRE MITCHELL: It's an unbelievable blessing from above. I've had an interesting path, to say the least. I've had my ups and downs, and I've been through adversity and just about everything's been thrown at me. And although it's not necessarily a desired path, but it is the path I believe I was meant to be on. And at the end of the day just for it to kind of just come full circle like this is just -- it's just proof in itself that this is the path that I was supposed to be on.
Q. Your stepdad told me that the Italian side of your family might be able to fill this building by itself. How many family members from that side or just in general do you think will be here this weekend?
TRE MITCHELL: Sheesh, family alone, I'd probably say if they are breathing and they are in Pennsylvania that they're going to be here, you know. Even some family coming from the south. The Italian side is very large, and I'm sure I'll be able to hear their voices over anybody that's in there, but on top of that I think, like, any person that I've had some type of relationship or come into contact with throughout my time in Pittsburgh, through AAU, high school, whatever it may be, they've all told me that they're going to be here.
Q. Just for any of you guys, just wanted to know, first of all, what you know about Oakland as a team, as a university, and also, we've talked to them a little bit about being the underdog. What's it like to come in and not want to be the victim to a Cinderella story?
ADOU THIERO: You know, our focus has been more on us and trying to fix our things rather than worrying about them the most. But, yeah, we still watch film on them and everything. They're a great team. They got shooters. They have inside players, but we just know we're going to come in there and fight.
ANTONIO REEVES: To piggyback off what he said, just basically worry about us at the end of the day, try to figure out the game plan, what we have to do out there, defensive wise, offensive wise and just giving it a full 40 minutes and just don't worry about what they have going on, just play our game.
TRE MITCHELL: Yeah, I would agree with both of their statements and that, you know, nobody wants to be part of a Cinderella story. And I think that our guys understand that. And that this team is in the tournament for a reason. They're not to be looked over, and they're capable of coming out and playing a really good game. So we have to be ready for the moment, and I think we will be.
Q. Tre and Adou, the guy sitting between you had one of the most fantastic seasons in the history of Kentucky basketball. Can you explain to me why you don't think he gets as much recognition as he deserves?
TRE MITCHELL: I mean, yeah, that's easy. He's humble. He's a humble beast. He's not a guy that's going to come out here and brag or seek attention. But on top of that it could be just because we have had some young guys with really big names, and some people are focused on that. But at the end of the day when you look at it, this kid gives us production night in and night out. He gives us leadership, and, you know, he does it with the same look on his face the whole time. You never know what's going through his mind, but you know what you're going to get from him. So it's just like he deserves all the recognition that there is. I mean, we're in, if not the best basketball program to exist in college basketball. He's performing. His name should be up there with some of the best of them.
ADOU THIERO: You know, his consistency, even if other teams are trying to take away his scoring ability, he's able to do the little things, whether it's get a rebound, go back up for a put back, play defense, all that. Like he's able to do everything. And then we just have multiple parts on this team. So I feel like, because we have Reed, Rob, D.J., Justin, all the other freshmen, like all the freshmen -- I'd say all our freshmen are good players. So they're getting more to shine and kind of overlooking Antonio, but at the end of the day, you look at the stats. Stats don't lie.
Q. Tre, you've had quite a few different teammates throughout your kind of journey, but one of them, Joe Toussaint, you guys were at West Virginia last year. What's your guys' relationship and do you have any good stories of Joe that I can use against him?
TRE MITCHELL: You know, that's my dog. That will be my brother until I die, and I think nothing but highly of Joe. We were close while I was at West Virginia. We did cross paths earlier before our teams were practicing in the same facility. So it was good to see him and catch up with him. But as far as any stories, I'm not going to expose him like that. But, nah, he's a funny dude and he's a great person.
Q. Tre and Adou, talked about the homecoming a little bit, but when you look back at your upbringing here in Pittsburgh and the time you spent here, how much do you think this area has made you into the men you are today and the basketball players you are today?
TRE MITCHELL: There's a lot to Pittsburgh. There's a lot of things you can get into, a lot of different people you can run into. I would say through my life growing up here, at least from a basketball perspective, I've felt like there was always someone reaching out to me to get work in and get better or come play pickup here with these guys that are college players now, like just come get better. There is so many people in the community that have just helped me develop my game and really helped me find my love for the game and pushed me to be more.
ADOU THIERO: Yeah. I'd say just growing up here helped mold me. You know, my family, the people around me, everybody just tried to keep me focused at all times, made sure I wasn't getting off the right path. And I think that doing all that and just listening to the right people, that just got me to where I am today. And the man above.
Q. Wonder how much Cal has talked to you guys about his days at Pitt and Pittsburgh, if he's talked to you about when he was an assistant coach at Pitt or bringing Kentucky back and playing the NIT against Robert Morris. How much have you heard any stories this week in particular?
TRE MITCHELL: There hasn't been too many stories, like, in depth, you know. But he's had some people around that have coached him or coached with him out here and we got to meet them today. But as far as story goes, Coach doesn't seem to be too long-winded about those at the moment. Maybe he's just more focused on the task at hand. But I'll have to ask him about it and see what he says.
Q. Tre and Adou, kind of building on that team of Cal and Pittsburgh, I know Mike Tomlin and Cal are close friends. Growing up in Pittsburgh, did you guys ever have any interactions with Mike Tomlin or were you guys kind of involved or have any kind of relationship with him?
TRE MITCHELL: With Mike, I wouldn't say anything in particular. I've been to a couple of football camps when I used to play football and he was there. But I wouldn't say that we've had any like interpersonal connections. I think that it might be someone in his family was a basketball player and I was running the camp there. So I met him in that way, but it wasn't too long-winded or anything like that, just kind of a show-and-go type of thing.
ADOU THIERO: I'm not going to lie. I don't really watch football, and I didn't play it in all my years. So I don't really got nothing to say about that.
Q. Tre, have you ever had much interest in playing for your hometown team while you were in college?
TRE MITCHELL: Pitt?
Q. Yeah.
TRE MITCHELL: They've reached out to me, you know, but for me, I didn't want to necessarily be at home because I felt like it was easy to get distracted. You know, I have a bigger goal in mind, and I wanted to stay focused, and I know being this close to home would provide a lot of opportunities for other people to get in my ear and distract me from what I'm trying to do.
Q. Pittsburgh natives, what are some great local recommendations on where to eat?
TRE MITCHELL: I got one for your breakfast spot. Pamela's.
ADOU THIERO: I don't even know what I was going to say. I mean, the one spot I always go to when I come back is Hook Fish & Chicken.
MODERATOR: What about you, Antonio? You got a favorite spot?
ANTONIO REEVES: No, thank you.
Q. Coach Calipari said that he went around and asked each of you players why you thought this team could advance far in the postseason. I was wondering, what did you say and was there anything that one of your teammates said that really caught you off guard?
ANTONIO REEVES: Something that he said was basically just we have every piece that we need for the tournament, coming from guards and the bigs, just everybody can contribute to the team and everybody can play a role to this team. So that's one thing he said.
Q. John, the obvious question is your feelings coming home to coaching in your hometown, but I'm also interested in the Pitt recruiting class of 1988, Miller, Matthews, Martin?
JOHN CALIPARI: I have a picture in my office in Kentucky that I'll put out. I'll take a picture and send it out to you and you can get it. It's all those guys, and they've all stayed in touch. What a great group.
Q. How were you able to get all them to come at one time, and do you regret not getting to coach them?
JOHN CALIPARI: Sean was like family. Durrell always wanted to come. As a matter of fact, we signed him before he took an official visit. Now, he was from the city. Bobby wanted to come to Pitt, Bryan Shorter I had known since he was -- and Jason Matthews wanted to come to Pittsburgh. I went to LA, and Paul Edmonds did a great job of recruiting him, too, now. He was the head coach. That was an interesting -- you know, let me tell you why -- just listening to him, how many of you are from Pittsburgh? Yinz? Downtown? (Laughs). I mean, come on, the crick. We had a crick in our backyard. My mom used to say, red up. Like red up. What is red up? Like, clean up. Red up. Do you know what a gum band is, like a rubber band? It was gum band. A pop? I never knew, they said are you going to have a soda? What are you talking about? Pop?
I mean, let me say this about Pittsburgh. When I grew up, it was a blue collar town, but it's never changed the roots of what Pittsburgh is and what it's about. The Steelers are still, A, I call him the Stillers, as in Pittsburgh Stillers. They're still a blue collar team with fans who love them and, like, where I grew up, my high school teammates are still my best friends. They still come to games and they say, you know -- anyway. But we were all brought up the same way. Our fathers were laborers. Mom raised us, and put hope and dreams and you can be whatever. That was mom. But we were all the same. It was a melting pot. And, you know, you were taught, there's nothing in this world that's going to be given to you. You're going to have to go take what you want, and if you don't work, you will not eat. That was the famous line, you don't work, you're not eating. You work. If you want to be better than somebody, you better work. That's Pittsburgh. And it was the greatest thing. And I think sometimes -- anybody that's been here and left knows that's what it is, and also, yinz and all the other -- how about this word? Jagoff. Come on, where else do you say jagoff other than Pittsburgh? And when I say it, they go, oh my -- did you hear what he just said? In Pittsburgh, that's like in passing.
So, no, I appreciate that. And I love coming back. I'll probably take the tour of my grandparents' house and my other grandparents and our house where I grew up and the high school and my aunts and uncles and cousins, and I normally come back and I do the whole drive. But a special place. I called Mike Tomlin. Why don't you come in and talk to the team? Mike and I are friends. He's in a pro day somewhere, can't do it. But special place.
Q. You've had a number of guys over the years who have been in a similar situation of D.J. and Justin coming in top recruit, projected NBA lottery. How do you think they've managed those pressures and expectations?
JOHN CALIPARI: I think they've done great. I mean, my job is to help them walk through this. And at the end of the day is I just want them being their best, and when I'm with them every day, I know what that looks like. But when they're playing against other guys, they know what it looks like, too. Most of it for young guys, and again, I've got the youngest team in the field, I will tell you is the mental part of this. Can you be a cheerleader for yourself? What is your inner talk? They have to learn that. You have to push out anything that's coming at you negative. Anybody's telling you, well, if you did this and did that. Doesn't help. Both of them -- D.J. being hurt and sitting out two and a half weeks really affected him. He's come back. He's better. He's back to where he was. He was the Freshmen of the Week four times, and then he took two-and-a-half weeks off and it's taken him time. Justin, I could not be more proud of any player I've ever coached. To know where he was, to know the expectations that were on his shoulders, to know all the stuff he was hearing. And I said, Justin, I just want you to know, I believe in you. And he said, Coach, I want you to know I believe in you and I'm sticking with this. And that's -- and then he makes it. We don't win at Tennessee if he doesn't play that way.
Now, here's the thing with all. Guys, they're not machines and they're not robots. They have bad games and they have bad nights, and it's what they are. The good thing about this team I'm coaching is we have a deep team. For a couple years, if one or two players played poorly, I didn't have subs. You left them in and you end up losing. And I'm not just talking the NCAA Tournament. Other games. With this group, if these two or three are not playing well, I'll just play these five or six, and we'll run with them. And they know it. We've had -- I believe it's seven guys hit 25 or more points, and nine or ten or maybe even 11 have had 13 points or more. We got that type of team. But we're really young.
And then your next question, someone from Pittsburgh, yinz don't play very good defense. That will be your question to me. At times, yinz do play good defense, and there are other times you're like what are you thinking? But I'm loving coaching this team. I mean, this practice today -- and all I'm telling them is you make sure I'm having as much fun as you. So we'll see. And there's no guarantee in this tournament.
And let me say to everybody, forget about seed and all that stuff. If you win on a half court bank shot by one, you celebrate because you're surviving and marching on. That's what this tournament is. You don't let everybody come at you, you gotta do this, you have to do this, if they don't do it this way. Go ahead, have your fun. This is about survive and advance. And we're playing a good team now in Oakland. They're good.
What they do defensively, what they can do offensively with two kids taking 20 threes every game and having the freedom. Greg is a great coach, not a good coach, a great coach. And then they play funky defense. They play a defense that's not normal. And I'm not -- I'll tell Greg, Greg, we're not changing much. So when you watch what we do against zone, that's what we do. I'm not trying to be tricky. Here's how we play. I don't want them thinking too much. I want them playing. Let's just be who we are. And let's see if that's good enough.
Q. It feels like when you guys have a lead, there's a lot of passing, a lot of up tempo, and when you're behind there's more dribbling, more one on five.
JOHN CALIPARI: To get behind or when we're behind?
Q. When you're behind. How do you get them to keep playing the other way?
JOHN CALIPARI: Reed Sheppard said to me, Coach, I'm not sure we're selfish, but I think we have so many good players, each guy is trying to get us back in the game himself, and we're just not as good when we play that way. Now, we talk about it, but there's game slippage and they revert back to their habits sometimes, and that's both on offense and defense. Look, I've had video. We did highlights to show them, here's when we're at our best. Here's when we're not. And most of that is we hold the ball. But they're not robots, they're not machines. They don't play -- there's stuff that you're teaching that they miss on. You know, you talk about the pressure of this tournament. It's on everybody. You got more than anybody else, and Reed has more than -- no, it's on everybody. And how you deal with it is how have you done throughout the year when you're down? Have you ever been down 36 minutes and came back and won the last four? Have you been up, they make a run and you gotta make another run? All that stuff adds up to the experience a young team like ours needed.
Q. Yinz don't play good defense.
JOHN CALIPARI: Where are you from?
Q. I work here, but I'm not from here. I covered you a long time ago?
JOHN CALIPARI: Where at?
Q. In Lexington. Obviously, I made an impression.
JOHN CALIPARI: Do you paint your hair -- go ahead. I'm sorry.
Q. You talked eloquently about the blue collar, if you don't work you don't eat. You have players, highly talented skilled players that come in and your program has the best of everything. I mean, that's the way that it is. How do you instill that blue collar work ethic that you need to win? And I'm not saying they're spoiled, but they are certainly well taken care of.
JOHN CALIPARI: Well, most of them are fighting for their families. That's why you come to Kentucky. Can I do some humble brag up here?
MODERATOR: Absolutely. It's your show.
JOHN CALIPARI: So 70 percent of the players who accept a scholarship with us get drafted. 70 percent. Of that, 73 percent get to second contracts. The guys in the league right now have made over four billion, not million, billion dollars, and when you talk Bam, Maxey, Devin, De'Aaron, Shai is going to make 400. I mean, it'll be six billion in the next two years. You come to Kentucky to prepare yourself for the rest of your life. You don't come for NIL, even though you saw our managers got NIL deals. So yeah, it's all neat, but that isn't why you come. And you learn to be a great teammate. You know why? You gotta share. You're not going to be told you're going to start, how many minutes, how many shots. That's why there are kids that will never come here because sometimes they think there's an easier path. There is no easier path. And these kids live in the gym. We have a machine called a Noah machine that's over top our baskets. Ours is a training facility, not really a basketball practice facility. It's a training facility. When they walk in, their face recognition, we all know how many shots they've taken, when they're missing, why are they missing. And they come in there and they live in there. Tyler Herro lived in the gym. He lived in there. So did Shai. They were, again, fighting for their families.
And in these kind of tournaments they understand you're fighting for each other. You fight for each other. You do this together. But if anybody comes here and then tries to get soft, you don't play. And the guys that live in the gym, that played for me, those guys, of the Michael Kidds, the Anthony Davises, those guys, the Brandon Knights. I can go on and on. Living in the gym. They're the ones that busted through. Most of it, they made it happen. We have a stage for you to go show what you are, but they've gotta do it. I tell them all the time, I don't have a magic wand. It isn't that. It's the culture. It's the process. It's being a great teammate. How about this? Why would good players want to play together when they know they have to share? Because really good players want to play with other really good players. If you're not so good, you want to be the man, the main guy until they play Box and 1, Triangle and 2, and every defense is stuck. I'm not having any fun. It's hard when they're looking at you and saying we're stopping you. Hard to do when you have a full team. I don't know if that makes sense. Was that even what you asked me?
Q. Coach, you guys were knocked out of the SEC tournament pretty quickly to Texas A & M. What is your message to your team to try to bounce back off that loss and make a run here in the tournament?
JOHN CALIPARI: A lot of teams got beat early in their tournament. We just happened to be one of them. So let's go. We got more rest. I took them bowling. We went bowling. Who was the best bowler we had? Everybody said Antonio because they know he bowls. He didn't. It was Tre. Tre never told anybody he was a bowler. Bowled over 200. We split them up and let them compete and laugh and eat. Now let's regroup and get back after it.
I mean, you won't believe this. There are teams and sometimes it seems to be against us, the team plays their absolute best game against us. And you lose. But you learn from it. You win or you learn. We learn. We move on. And let's go. And me being the coach, probably at my age now hurts me more and it takes me a little more time to get over it. But when it's done, it's done, I move on and let's go.
My job right now is to just, one, every year, make sure they're playing their best basketball in March. Second thing is take it off them, take it on your own shoulders. Let them be young players and let them play and have fun. And the third thing is to make sure they're focused about being together and connected. So -- but I'm not the only coach doing that. It's every coach trying to do. They want their team in March to be at their best.
Q. I know you talked a lot about Pittsburgh, but I'm curious, you personally growing up in the '60s and '70s, some of your favorite memories, any of the Pittsburgh professional athletes you kind of idolized or anything like that?
JOHN CALIPARI: Yeah, and we were Steeler fans. I never got -- somebody said, did you go to a hockey game? Where would we get the money to go to a hockey game, or the Steeler game? My uncle Joe had two tickets for his whole life when no one was going. So he kept them and I think I got to go to a Steeler game one or two times with him. And the Pirates, everybody went to opening day and mobbed, Three Rivers Stadium. There would be 60,000 and the next game there would be 3,000. And I don't know how I got in there, but my memories, the Immaculate Reception, you know, which is a ball hit against the Oakland Raiders that, you know, I mean, I was a Bill Mazeroski fan all the time. Forbes Field, which is up in Oakland, they have the plate still there. And he hits the home run to beat the Yankees. Clint Hurdle and I were great friends. Mike and I have been great friends. So I get to come up here and really watch and do it. And my high school team made the playoffs for the first time in 30 years. Moon High School. That was a big deal, and New Castle beat us. Made me mad.
But, you know none of us had much but we never did without. I mean, you know, I'm not trying to say I walked uphill on the way and on the way back. I mean, it's what it was in Western PA. But I wouldn't want to be with any -- where I was, we never had a credit card. Anybody ever do layaway here? You do layaway? Okay. That's how we got Christmas. We laid it away for four or five months. Shoot, we did layaway for furniture. Like, it's just how it was. Mom and dad weren't going to have a credit card. We weren't going to owe anybody. So I don't have a credit card. Yes, I do. Thought I would just say that.
Q. John, you haven't really coached in Pittsburgh since the 80's, but it's very clear that your passion for the area and love for the area is still very real?
JOHN CALIPARI: And my time at Pitt was special for me. It's when I first got my first full-time job. You know, Coach Chipman hired me. Coach Evans kept me. And then I got hired by a school that I don't think anybody wanted the job. That's why I got it, UMass. But yes, I do. And Pitt is special to me.
Q. What about your roots here just continue to be so important to you all these years later?
JOHN CALIPARI: It's where I grew up. It's where -- my dad is no longer here. My mother passed away in November of 2010. But my sisters aren't here, but I have aunts and uncles and cousins and family and friends, and my teammates, some of them live around here. You know, Pittsburgh is just -- how can I say, it's such a small city. It's just not like a city-city. And you have areas. North Side, South Side. You know, you have out in Aliquippa. You have a different -- it's a melting pot of everybody. My dad worked at J&L Steel for a while. My family worked with A&S Railroad and American Bridge and all that. They went through that. My dad worked near the Blast Furnace, said he had to stop and he ended up going to the airport working for Allied Aviation which fueled the planes because he said if I stayed there I was going to die. I was near the -- you know, he was losing ten pounds a day. But that's -- you're feeding your family. You want your children to have a better life than you had. That's what Pittsburgh was and is.
I love going to the Steeler game and seeing the fans. They're like my neighbors. They're -- you know. And probably put up a lot of money to get tickets, and they go and they are -- sometimes it's like Kentucky fans. They are engaged, and if Mike loses, they're engaged. It's how it is. I mean with those kind of -- that's why -- I love the fans at Kentucky.
A good friend of mine said to me, look, everything has become negative. You can't talk to each other anymore. Now it becomes what's the nastiest thing and say. That's why I just say to my team and myself, I gotta just ignore and know it's where things are, but I'm not going to let it affect me and how I do my job, because I've got people's children. Their pressure child I'm coaching. So I've gotta stay focused and I'm trying to get them to stay focused.
Last one. You notice my answers are short.
Q. We just talked with Greg Kampe, your good friend, before you came in here and he was pretty strong in advocating for the tournament to not expand with some of the proposals on the table. What are your thoughts on that and does it dawn on you that this could be the last time there are 68 teams in the field and it could be even bigger next year?
JOHN CALIPARI: I hope it stays where it is. You know, I know people get mad. They get mad at the committee. You won't believe this. I've been mad at that committee a few times. But you may be mad because of your seed or where they've shipped you to. I've said go the S curve the whole way down and rank them one through 68 and go like like that. Well, we can't because of this and leagues and all that. But it doesn't matter who the committee is. We're all going to be upset. You know who's going to be upset now and I love it? Football coaches because it don't matter that it was four and there are two that are mad. Now they're going to how many? So there are going to be 18 that are mad. And it's part of the NCAA Tournament not getting in, getting in, bad seed, good seed.
I always say this. When you give a good team a bad seed, it's not them you're screwing. It's everybody they play that shouldn't have to play that team that early. And so it's part of what it is. Let's keep it at -- it's too good a thing. It's the event. Like you could tell I'm excited about coaching in this. Yeah, I'm excited about being home. But they could have sent us to Spokane. I already talked to Mark Few. I was going to stay at his house, watch his dogs. I was good if they sent us there. But here, I'm trying to make sure what I did today at practice, I had a bunch of friends at practice. They saw and I wasn't looking, I was practicing. Got to take some pictures, done. Now we play a game. This is a business trip for me. And I'll say everybody that's in this thing, I would say they'd say the same thing. Keep it where it is. Don't mess with something that's great.
And the committee, literally don't care. Whoever is on it is going to get the same grief, that this group got, the last group got. It's what it is. No science to this. You're going to make some mistakes. Thank you.
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