By Keith Taylor
Kentucky Today
A visit to Pittsburgh to open the NCAA Tournament is more than just about basketball for Kentucky coach John Calipari and players Tre Mitchell and Adou Thiero.
Calipari is a native of Moon Township, Mitchell is from Pittsburgh and Adou Thiero played at Quaker Valley High School. For Mitchell, the return to his hometown is surreal.
“It means the world to be back home in my final year of college basketball and on this team, and kind of being able to have people around me kind of see this moment come full circle for me to play at Kentucky,” Mitchell said Wednesday. “I honestly couldn’t give you a number of how many people that have hit me and said that they’re going to be there (Thursday).”
Kentucky coach John Calipari meets with reporters before attending the team’s practice at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh on Wednesday. (Photo by Gene J. Puskar, AP, via Kentucky Today)
Thiero added that he’s “happy to be home and be able to play” in his native city.
“I’ve got people texting me who haven’t seen me play since I was a little kid telling me that they’re coming to the game,” he said.
Although removed from his roots, Calipari, who “loves” coming back to his hometown, said the city remains true to its blue-collar identity.”
“When I grew up, it was a blue-collar town, but it’s never changed the roots of what Pittsburgh is and what it’s about,” the Kentucky coach said. “Our fathers were laborers. Mom raised us, and put hope and dreams and you can be whatever. That was mom. We were all the same. It was a melting pot. And, you know, you were taught, there’s nothing in this world that’s going to be given to you. You’re going to have to go take what you want, and if you don’t work, you will not eat.”
The Wildcats (23-9) are the No. 3 seed in the South Region and open the tourney against Oakland (23-11), which won the Horizon League Tournament to earn a spot in the Big Dance. Kentucky is coming off a 97-87 loss to Texas A&M in the Southeastern Conference Tournament, but Calipari isn’t concerned about his team’s mentality.
“A lot of teams got beat early in their tournament.” he said. “We just happened to be one of them. So let’s go. We got more rest. I took them bowling. We went bowling. Who was the best bowler we had? Everybody said Antonio (Reeves) because they know he bowls. He didn’t. It was Tre. Tre never told anybody he was a bowler. Bowled over 200. We split them up and let them compete and laugh and eat. Now let’s regroup and get back after it.”
Mitchell added the Wildcats are prepared and want to make sure the Grizzlies are a one-and-done in the tournament.
Nobody wants to be part of a Cinderella story and I think that our guys understand that,” he said., “This team (Oakland) is in the tournament for a reason. They’re not to be looked over, and they’re capable of coming out and playing a really good game. So we have to be ready for the moment and I think we will be.”
Oakland coach Greg Kampe, whose team has made four appearances in his 20 seasons as the Grizzlies’ head coach, likes his team’s chances.
“This is our time to step into the spotlight and shine,” he said. “Could we we fall on our face? Sure we could. But why would we want to run from that? Why would I want to play some team that we might have a better chance to beat, right? I want the best, and we got the best.”
Gametracker: Kentucky vs. Oakland, 7:10 p.m., Thursday. TV/Radio: CBS, UK Radio Network.
