Home » WSJ blogger: UK Coach John Calipari steals spotlight in game against Team USA

WSJ blogger: UK Coach John Calipari steals spotlight in game against Team USA

UK Wildcats Coach John Calipari (Photo by Britney McIntosh/UK Athletics)

(July 13, 2012) — A Wall Street Journal blogger shared this morning the story of how UK Coach John Calipari stole the spotlight Thursday night from the the U.S. Olympic basketball team.

The Kentucky basketball coach also coaches the Dominican Republic team, which took on the U.S. team in an exhibition game at the Thomas & Mack Center at UNLV.

The American team won handily, 113-59, but the “coach on the losing end somehow managed to steal the spotlight,” wrote Scott Cacciola.

The game “had his (Calipari’s) fingerprints all over it, notably in the form of Anthony Davis,” Cacciola said. Davis made his debut on Team USA a few months after leading UK to national championship.

“When Davis sank a 3-pointer in the fourth quarter, he turned toward the Dominican Republic bench and woofed at Calipari,” Cacciola wrote.

The game was Calipari’s last with the Dominican Republic team, the coach announced hours before the game.

“He said he had set out to coach the team to its first Olympic appearance before failing in three opportunities, the last a loss to Nigeria in the third-place game of an Olympic qualifying tournament last Sunday. A win would have secured a spot in London,” the blogger wrote.

But, Calipari said he may go to London anyway to watch Davis play.

After the game, Davis said it was “good to beat Coach Cal.”

Read the full blog here.