• UK head coach John Calipari said Michael Kidd-Gilchrist will be in the starting lineup in UK’s exhibition game against Morehouse Monday. “There’s no question for anybody in the nine states who watched it” that Kidd-Gilchrist should start, Calipari said. Kidd-Gilchrist came off the bench in UK’s first exhibition but scored 19 points, and Calipari said after the game Kidd-Gilchrist had locked up a starting spot.
• As for who else will start: “What I may do is start one group to start the game and another group to start the second half, and then you can judge,” Calipari said.
• Stacey Poole, who is mulling a potential transfer and whose father said a decision would be reached by Monday, is still on the roster as of 5 p.m. when the media talked to Calipari. “My whole thing with all these kids is, you want them to be able to reach their dreams here. They have to believe they can do that. We’re going to let him make his decision,” Calipari said. “I’m for the kids. If he needs some time to make a decision about being in this program, I’m fine with that. Big-time decision. I love the kid. It’s been hard. He wants to play. I don’t blame him. Great kid, too.”
• However, it doesn’t sound like Poole is expected to play against Morehouse. “We’re going to play eight guys, and the ninth man is Jarrod (Polson),” Calipari said. “That’s who we will play.”
• Anthony Davis is still adjusting to playing in the post. Calipari said they have been on him the last few practices about bending his legs when jostling for position. Right now, Davis has a habit of standing straight up and down. But, Calipari said UK won’t try to force Davis into the post when that’s not what he’s best suited to do. “There will be players who he should be able to post up and score on,” Calipari said. “But they better be real skinny.”
• Davis said he played mostly guard in high school and has been working on more post moves. “I feel comfortable, I just want to learn more post moves.”
• Calipari said Kyle Wiltjer is much better than how he played against Transylvania, when he scored seven points on 2-for-4 shooting in 18 minutes. Calipari said he thought Wiltjer had some anxiety from playing in front of the Rupp Arena crowd and knowing the game was on television. “He got in and I don’t think he played as well as he’s been playing. Broke off a lot of plays, which is normal. He was thinking instead of playing. But I think he’ll be fine. Just have to give him time.”
• Calipari said UK still has a lot of things it’s working on, from the full-court press to switching on defense to holding a post position to taking advantage of more fast-break opportunities. “We have a lot of holes,” Calipari said. “The good news with our schedule is you learn right away (how far along we are). It’s Marist, then Kansas, uh-oh, on the road, Tip-off (Tournament), uh-oh, on the road, then all of a sudden you turn around and you’re playing North Caorlina, who we’re not ready to play.”
• Calipari just started using a treadmill for players who lose rebounding drills or make mistakes in practice. The treadmill sits in the corner and goes about 14 miles per hour, and players just have to hop on and start running for 30 seconds if they get sent over there. And, it’s loud. Jarrod Polson said Calipari will sometimes let the whole team watch a player run. Davis said he and Terrence Jones have one-on-one rebounding battles with the loser being sent to the treadmill. Davis said he and Jones have each won a best-of-five rebound challenge.
• Asked about his cryptic post on his website about recruiting, Calipari said that we would have to interpret his message, and that those who knew they were the intended recipients would know, and that he just puts his message out on how he’s feeling about certain things. Basically, he remained cryptic. Here’s part of his response. “Let me say this: When you throw a rock in a pack of dogs, the one you hit yelps like heck. Let the message stand. We don’t talk about anybody. We don’t promise starting positions, minutes, all that stuff. You won’t be the only guy. That’s how we recruit. My message was, this is how we recruit. We’re not desperate. This is what we do.”

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