Talking Points are going piecemeal today. Rather than dumping everything into one post, we're going to dribble it out throughout the morning. Mixing things up, we are.
So SEC Basketball Media Days was yesterday, and the arrival of John Calipari is already amping things up between Kentucky and Tennessee. Calipari's various digs at Tennessee:
- When asked how the Cal-Pearl rivalry would be different with him in Big Blue, Cal said basically that it wouldn't be any different and that it would still "be their biggest game."
- Cal then dissed Knoxville and the color orange, saying that the animosity between him and Pearl comes from Pearl recruiting Memphis. "I'm not recruiting Knoxville . . . What good does it do for me to go to Knoxville, other than to play in front of 22,000 people in orange . . . I can't stand the color."
- Cal also poo-pooed Pearl's "controlled chaos" system, saying "Most cases, we're not even messing with it. We just dribble through it." Right. Pearlfection, anyone?
- And of course, he had to bring up the bodypaint. "We're competitors. I'm never going to paint my body."
Pearl didn't just stand idly by. "Why would he like orange," Pearl responded when told of Cal's comments. Pearl also apparently had the last word:
When told of Calipari’s body paint comment, Pearl was asked if there was anything Calipari does that he wouldn’t do. Pearl paused for effect, smirking at the media before answering and drawing raucous laughter: "I don’t know all the things that he’s doing."
Meanwhile, things were more diplomatic for the ladies. Pat Summitt said she thought Tennessee ranking second in the SEC preseason poll was too high and that she was thinking "somewhere around fourth." Georgia coach Andy Landers LOLd at that saying, "That's borderline being dishonest." Hey, she is taking after Lane Kiffin and everything, right?