By Josh Ellis

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John Calipari hasn’t won a basketball game when there are raisins in his oatmeal.

Not known for having any sort of ludicrous pregame rituals, Calipari recently spoke in an interview with Graham Bensinger about something he avoids doing before every game. The UK men’s basketball coach said it’s impossible to win if raisins are in his oatmeal.

Calipari, who holds a 635-178 career record (190-38 at UK), insisted all college coaches across the nation should embark on his advice and keep raisins out of their oatmeal if they plan on winning.

“There was oatmeal at every breakfast. No raisins. If you put raisins in the oatmeal, I would go bonkers. Anytime there’s raisins – you lose every time,” Calipari said. “We were 27-0, I walk in and there’s raisins in the oatmeal. (I) literally grab the oatmeal, throw it against the wall. Threw it against the wall and we lost the game – at home. We had a 50-game winning streak and we lose the game. I knew we were going to lose.”

So in February 2008 when Memphis lost to in-state rival Tennessee 66-62 at the FedExForum Arena and dropped the Tigers to 26-1, and the Baylor Bears came into Rupp Arena and upset the Cats 64-55 to snap UK’s 55-game home winning streak in December 2012, one could imagine there were definitely raisins in Calipari’s oatmeal.

Besides his hatred for raisins in his oatmeal, Calipari also continued his campaign for players to remain in school for at least two years. He told Bensinger how he would change the system if he were in charge.

“If it went to two years, okay, all their insurance, disability is paid for. In the second year, their loss of value. In other words, they were a first rounder, they stayed in school, this has happened, and now they’re a second rounder … so the NBA or someone should pay loss of value,” Calipari said.  “They should get the cost of attendance. They should have two flights back and forth – one to come to school, one to come home and then at Christmas in between … These are expenses. These do not make them professionals. They’re still amateurs. But if you want them to stay in school longer, then you gotta do things that alleviate (their burden).”

Other topics Calipari opened up about with Bensinger were how he responds to his critics and the cancellation of his tribute at the University of Memphis, his time in the NBA and what it’s like to be a part of his staff.

The full episode will be airing on the sports interview series “In Depth with Graham Bensinger” Sunday on CW Lexington at 6:30 p.m. (in addition to 4:30am Sunday morning on WKYT).