John Calipari channels his inner Nick Saban when discussing Kentucky's path to the Final Four
Last season, Alabama coach Nick Saban went on a rant about how positive media coverage was like “rat poison” to his players.
Now, Kentucky basketball coach John Calipari is echoing those sentiments. As the Wildcats prepare to take on Kansas State with a trip to the Elite Eight on the line, Cal wants to make sure his players don’t buy into their own hype.
Kentucky will face a couple of lower-seeded teams if it advances to the Final Four, but Cal doesn’t want his players thinking they have an “easy” path:
John Calipari says it's "poison" for his players to hear they've got an easy path to the #FinalFour. Sound familiar? Even during March Madness we're all just living in Saban's World pic.twitter.com/QpWJEGcgkG
— Paul Finebaum (@finebaum) March 21, 2018
Indeed, while Kentucky’s path looks easy on paper, we’ve seen some wild upsets in this year’s tourney, so the Wildcats will need to stay focused to continue to advance.
Kentucky and Kansas State will tip off at 9:37 p.m. Eastern time on CBS on Thursday night. The winner will face either Loyola-Chicago or Nevada in the Elite Eight on Saturday.