John Calipari wasn’t pleased with Buffalo coach’s claim that he’s a “whiner”
By SDS Staff
Published:
Buffalo coach Nate Oats might’ve just poked the bear.
Fresh off his team’s stunning upset of No. 4-seed Arizona on Thursday night, Oats apparently felt confident enough to call out Kentucky coach John Calipari.
“Calipari’s been whining about no experience, young, young, young, we don’t have that problem,” Oats said after Thursday’s wn via Kentucky Sports Radio.
That comment was then brought up at Calipari’s press conference, which prompted him to stop the reporter mid-question to ask him to repeat who said that.
“I don’t know if it’s whining or I’m telling the truth. I’m not whining about it,” Calipari said after learning of Oats’ “whining” comment. “I got a pretty good team, but I am telling the truth. ‘He shouldn’t tell the truth. He should not even say it. Introduce them and don’t give their year.’ That’s fine. At the end of the day we gotta play basketball game.
“Everybody’s gotta get in the ring and play.”
Oats was right the Calipari noted that he has the youngest team in America with 5 freshmen starters. As for what verb Oats used, that’s probably where he went wrong.
He apparently tried to cover his tracks later at Friday’s press conference.
“Let me clarify, when I said Calipari whining about freshmen I was maybe — it was a misuse of the word,” Oats said via Kyle Tucker. “He’s a pretty dang good coach. He’s made known the fact that he’s young all year. It’s a fact. It is what it is. … Let’s say it like it is, let’s be real: I’m not going to try to disrespect anybody, but our players, they’re a little older. Wes [Clark, Buffalo senior point guard] has two kids. He’s trying to catch up to me. I’ve got three. We can trade parenting stories.”
Kentucky’s young squad will try and end Buffalo’s cinderella story when the teams face off at 5:15 p.m. ET on Saturday.
Saturday Down South reports and comments on the news around the Southeastern Conference as well as larger college football topics.
