For many college basketball coaches, June and early July is a time to catch their breath, host some prospective student-athletes on campus and gear up for the July madness of recruiting.
For Kentucky coach John Calipari, this time has been a tornado of basketball activity.
Calipari is currently in Colorado Springs for the USA Basketball U19 trials which began Sunday. He’ll then fly to New York on June 22 for the NBA Draft where, as usual, several Kentucky players are projected to be taken in the lottery and the first round. Freshmen Bam Adebayo, De’Aaron Fox and Malik Monk have all been invited to the Green Room, where Calipari will no doubt be smiling and hugging up a storm with his players and their families.
The day after the draft, Calipari will fly back to Colorado and begin preparations for the 2017 FIBA U19 World Cup for Men, slated for July 1–9 in Cairo, Egypt. Upon his return, he’ll spend the following three weekends criss-crossing the country in a private jet trying to entice yet another batch of one-and-dones to come play for him.
