Larry Brown has been helping out in practice and giving feedback to both players and head coach John Calipari. Two days, ago, however, Calipari wanted no part of what Brown had to say.

“Two days ago we practiced so bad, and I walked out and didn’t want to talk to him about it,” Calipari said. “Let’s go have a nice dinner, we’ll ruin dessert and then we can talk about it.”

They did end up talking, as they have a lot over the past week with Brown in town as a presence when UK practices. Head coach John Calipari, who worked under Brown at Kansas as an assistant, brought Brown in to serve as a de facto analyst for the team.

“The reality of it is he’s here for me, to get me another set of eyes and maybe throw me some ideas I haven’t thought of,” Calipari said.

And talk to the players, something which Calipari said was happening.

“It’s great having a legendary coach here, helping us all,” Harrellson said.

The players, of course, can derive some benefits from the presence of a coach who has won championships at both the college and the pro level — if they choose.

“I did tell the team, if you want to talk to him about your game and how you can improve, it’s not a bad deal. He’s a Hall of Famer,” Calipari said. “He’s here until Saturday, and if you want to meet him, great.”

Calipari pointed out that Brown knows UK very well because he watches almost every one of its games, so he can give accurate and useful advice to players. And that advice would be coming from a player who presided over the improvement of Reggie Miller, Allen Iverson and Rip Hamilton — those are who Calipari named — and led to them “getting paid.”

Plus, there isn’t a type of player Brown hasn’t encountered before in his long career: self-motivated, unmotivated, one-dimensional, versatile, talented and marginal.

“He’s coached thousands and thousands of games, he’s been in every situation,” Calipari said. “Coached every type of player. If there’s a better coach in the world, I’d like to see it. And on top of that he’s been a mentor and a friend to me.”

Brown is currently not coaching after resigning from the Charlotte Bobcats’ head coaching position in December 2010. Calipari said he would love to see Brown get back into college coaching because of his ability to care about people and develop players. And what about the notion of Brown coaching with Calipari?

“I’d let him be the head coach and I’d be the assistant,” Calipari said. “But I’d make the pay stay the way it is.”

Brown respected Adolph Rupp, was a mentor when Calipari was deciding on whether to come to UK, and will be coming to UK’s game against Georgia against Saturday. And anytime there’s a star in the building, there’s always the possibility he could end up as the ‘Y.’

“I don’t know if he’ll do that, he’s such a North Carolina guy,” Calipari said. “He’s wearing UK gear, though.”