1. Calipari questioned about vacated Final Fours.

A reporter asked — in what was the last question of the press conference — the following: “I’m being facetious, but how does it feel to coach in your First Final Four?”

The reporter was alluding to Calipari’s previous two Final Four trips — one with UMASS and one with Memphis — being vacated by the NCAA. In both cases, Calipari was not found guilty of wrongdoing.

“I don’t deal with that,” Calipari said. “Those players played those games and did what they were supposed to do. I’m so proud of what they’ve all accomplished. It’s been fun. It’s been a good experience (in the past), and this has been a good experience.”

UK Athletics Director Mitch Barnhart has previously stated that he wants any Final Fours under Calipari to stick.

2. UK still feels like everyone is picking the other way

UK rode the “nobody believes in us” mentality throught the Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight wins against favored opponents. Now they are favored in Las Vegas by two points, but Calipari is acting like he wants UK to still be the underdog.

“Now when you hear all the talkings heads, (they’re picking) Connecticut,” Calipari said. “I think the reason why is because they’re saying ‘Kemba Walker.’ Maybe it’s their hope, not their opinion. I don’t know that. But I think it’s because of Kemba.”

3. Harrellson on the Gillispie years

In Harrellson’s one and only year at UK, he was sent to a bathroom stall during a game and forced to ride home in an equipment truck instead of on the team bus by then-coach Billy Gillispie.

“He knew basketball,” Harrellson said. “I don’t think he had the best way of teaching it.He wasn’t a great encourager. He liked to break down players he was recruiting to build them back up.

“Coach Cal is the opposite of Coach G. He’s an encourager. He tries to build you up from day one.

4. Both teams are red-hot

Of course, Final Four teams must be playing well to get this far. But for UK and Connecticut, it stretches back further. UCONN is on a nine-game winning streak after tearing through five Big East Tournament wins in five days. UK is on a 10-game winning streak after winning the last three of the regular season to get an SEC Tournament bye, winning three more to capture the conference tournament title, and winning four to get here.

One of those streaks will continue. The other will not.

“It won’t really matter about the streaks,” Terrence Jones said. “One team is going to lose, and the streak’s going to end. We’re both just focused on this one game.”

5. The Final Four atmosphere

It’s what college basketball players have always been wanting to do: Reach the Final Four. All of a sudden, UK was doing just that, pulling past Reliant Stadium and seeing the massive banners plastered across the venue proclaiming “THE ROAD STOPS HERE.”

Right now, UK is keeping busy off the court — “I want them to let their hair down,” Calipari said — and enjoying the experience. Doron Lamb said the team has mostly kept to the team hotel or the gym. The players have a hectic schedule of crushing interviews to deal with, but the locker room mood was very business-like Friday.

“Not really,” Terrence Jones said on whether all the attention was unsettling. “Just because we’re at Kentucky. This isn’t really new. It’s been great to do it for the reason we’re doing it, we’re at the Final Four.”

All the UK players maintained they were treating it like any other game, but Terrence Jones admitted he won’t know how the emotions will play out until the game actually starts.

“I don’t think most guys will be thinking, I’m playing in the Final Four,” Brandon Knight said. “I think most will take it like another game.”

Lamb recognized the magnitude of the experience, though.

“I’m just so excited about being here as a freshman, my first year in college,” Lamb said. “I just want to win the whole thing.”

6. The Final Four stadium

Reliant Stadium, home of the NFL’s Houston Texans, is decked out in Final Four getup and astronaut puns (The Final Four … three … two … one …). It’s a huge stadium, with a 77,000 capacity.

“I’m just not going to try and look,” said Terrence Jones. “Just look at the court.”

Even then, it might be disconcerting. A large, depressed area of seating sits behind the goals, and with the actual stands far off in the background it is a different look than UK is used to shooting on.

“It was different,” Jones said. “It’s going to be harder. But it’s going to be the same for every team that’s playing. Just so much in the back, for vision and focus, just so much more going on.”

UK has played in a domed arena before in the SEC Tournament, but in that venue half the stadium was closed off and the court wasn’t length-wise as it is in Houston. UK has spent time getting up shots to try and get used to the lines.

“It was fun to go out on the court, get a couple shots up, see how it could be,” Brandon Knight said. “It was kind of different, but I’m pretty sure we will be used to it and be ready to play.”