It appears the Kentucky media doesn't understand how to interpret context, or at least the writers at On3 Sports' Kentucky site, KSR, don't. Alas, it's not the first time KSR didn't understand something before heading to their keyboards.
Yesterday, John Calipari met with the media for his first press conference since his introduction ceremony in April. He talked about a wide range of topics. One in particular was about making players uncomfortable. "What I love is making uncomfortable... This is what you have to overcome. We've got to make you comfortable being uncomfortable."
It makes complete sense to push players to practice aspects of their game that make them uncomfortable. How else are they going to get better? If a player is great at driving to the rim, why spend practice time doing that instead of things they're bad at doing? It's just logical. However, Nick Roush with KSR finds Calipari's methods unorthodox.
Coach Calipari continued to talk about how he wasn't letting Kentucky transfer Zvonimir Ivisic shoot threes at practice. Alternatively, "Big Z" is working on his mid-range shoots because, as Calipari put it, "An elbow jumper, when you miss that, it's kind of embarrassing," and it seems to be a weakness of Ivisic.
Roush found that problematic, suggesting that Coach Cal is restricting the 7-foot-2-inch Croatian. "Ivisic is loyal to a fault. He became the first player to follow John Calipari to Arkansas. Coach Cal is rewarding him by placing restrictions on his game," wrote Roush. But what he forgot to mention was the context. Calipari isn't "placing restrictions on his game"; he's helping Ivisic expand it. Big Z will — or any player, for that matter — will never grow their skill set if they use their strengths as a crutch in practice.
But let's be real. The likelihood that Roush wrote the article in good faith is just as good as Tusk VI growing wings and flying around Razorback Stadium like Auburn's Eagle. He even goes on to write about the effects of the new Razorback nuggets on Ivisic's gastrointestinal health (You can't make this stuff up). It's just another classic example of Kentucky's obsession with John Calipari and Arkansas.