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Kentucky Basketball

John Calipari relying on competition to shape young team

Competition was missing from the equation last season and John Calipari admits it did more harm than good.

Kentucky Big Men - photo by Chet White | UKAthletics.com

Big Men – photo by Chet White |

's instinct will always be to shield his players. Whether it's from fan criticism, media scrutiny or their own bad habits, it's just in his nature to protect.

But Coach Cal has learned anything as a coach and as a parent, it's that there is one thing from which he absolutely cannot hide young people.

“You can't save these kids from competition,” Calipari said. “I can't save my own children from competition. That's the United States. That's what we're about.”

Even so, Calipari admits he spent much of a disappointing 2012-13 season fighting that immutable truth. He put together a thin roster of just eight Wildcats recruited as scholarship student-athletes, betting on talent and his own track record of maximizing it.

Read full article here.

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