John Calipari says if he makes a rule then he can break it. (SEC Photo)
Why did Michael Bennett ask Kentucky coach John Calipari the question he did after UK’s win over Vanderbilt Wednesday night? That’s the question numerous UK fans asked me Thursday, so let me try to just explain a bit.
Bennett established “Just the Cats” radio in 2017 and has a weekday morning show heard in Louisville and other locations across the state. Obviously, he covers Kentucky sports.
So his question after the game to Calipari was why did Lance Ware play in the second half after not playing in the first half when Calipari said earlier this season he had a rule that if a player did not play in the first half he would not play him the second half.
Remember after UK’s loss at Louisville, Calipari said in his postgame press conference he didn’t play Dontaie Allen the second half because he didn’t play the first half and that was his rule. Didn’t matter how much UK was struggling offensively that game, Calipari had his rule.
End of the discussion before Ware watched the first half of the Vanderbilt game from the bench and then played in the second half when both Olivier Sarr and Isaiah Jackson got in foul trouble.
With the postgame Zoom media conference, media members have to indicate they want to ask a question and then a UK media relations member lets media members ask questions. Bennett was the first media member called on after the game, so if that was the question he planned to ask that was his chance and likely his only chance to ask a question. That’s why asking about Ware’s playing time and not anything about terrific free throw shooting, Jacob Toppin’s outstanding game or other game details was the first question.
Calipari didn’t duck the question and obviously knew it was in reference to Allen not playing against Louisville.
“I make up the rules so I can break them, too,” Calipari told Bennett and others on the postgame Zoom. “We needed him in the game, so I let him in there. He played good against these guys last time, too.
“But Isaiah (Jackson) is playing so good right now, rebounding every ball and doing the stuff that he’s doing, you’ve got to leave him in the game. So, when you leave him in the game, what does that mean? If he plays a lot of minutes, what does it mean? It means someone else can’t get the minutes because there’s only 200 minutes (in a game). That’s all there is.”
Basically, foul trouble got Ware into the game — and led to Calipari breaking his unofficial rule — but he played only briefly and then never returned to the lineup. Bennett got his answer when he had a chance to ask the question and then others got a chance to ask what they wanted to know about the game. Same process every game and based on what fans told me Thursday many were wondering the same thing about the substitution rule that Calipari changed.
