Hog Hoops: Cell Phones, Diet, Injuries and Perception

Arkansas' John Calipari threatens players with practice problem they couldn't really handle

Arkansas Razorbacks coach John Calipari with Kentucky last season in a game at Bud Walton Arena on Jan. 27, 2024. / Andy Hodges-allHOGS Images

Lots of public schools have banned cell phones for their students. John Calipari has threatened to go the other way — and it would be fun to watch.

Arkansas' basketball coach had a bit of a tongue-in-cheek moment while discussing his players and their reliance on cell phones Tuesday. Thing is, he's got an interesting way to prove to them that phones can be a hindrance to their everyday tasks and inhibit their ability to function.

"Some of them have two phones or three phones," he said. "What?! ... I'm telling them, 'You can't live in there. You've got to live on the court.' The only place they don't have a phone, thank goodness, is on the basketball court. They got to talk to one another."

Then, he offered a bit of a warning to the young adults under his direction.

"But if they mess around, I'm going to have a practice where they've got to have the phone in their hand the whole time," Calipari said. "And we're going to practice. Pretty hard to do. Well, it's hard to live a life that way."

Simple truth is players can't handle a basketball with a phone in their hand. Same is true for a steering wheel, only that's a lot more dangerous.

Maybe Calipari's point — fewer distractions make for a better life — will help his players be better and more productive in many ways. Thing is, he sounded a bit like my wife when he talked about getting off the phone long before bedtime and leaving it in the other room to avoid distractions and temptation.

He fashioned a scenario where one of his players was lying in bed and suddenly thinking, "Oh, what? I just heard a buzz. Let me ..."

"How do you get a good night's sleep?" Calipari said, shaking his head like a concerned parent. "All (of) that matters, now when you're in this league playing against older players who are more experienced than you, you better be rested."

That's just part of the regimen, he noted.

"You better have diet down," Calipari said. "You better be your biggest cheerleader. All that stuff is stuff I'm trying to work on with this group. They got to feel good about themselves as players, but because they're doing more than expected, they're coming back from injuries."

As always at the highest levels of hoops, the competition for playing time is intense. Guys who are sidelined with ailments miss valuable practice time while others might be earning a spot in the early-season rotation.

"They're not prolonging [their time away from the court] because they know, 'Jeez, I'm giving the [other] guy a chance, and maybe he's better than me,'" Calipari said.

Kentucky's John Calipari tries to get a point across during a game against Mississippi State at Rupp Arena in Lexington. / Matt Stone/Courier Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK

Cell phones weren't really a part of players' lives back when Calipari first led a team to a No. 1 ranking and the Final Four. That was UMass back in the 1996 season; he repeated the double dip delight at Memphis and Kentucky, where he finally won a national title in 2012.

Point is, Calipari's been around the block at the highest level — he won National Coach of the Year in 1996, 2008 and 2015, the same year he was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame — so when he speaks, fans and his players should listen.

"And let me say this," he added about today's players near the end of his marathon press conference. "Throughout my career, their perception of things is their reality. So, you better deal with their perception, because we could all say, 'Are you crazy? That's not how it is. You're just saying it.'

"Well, if that's what they think it is, to them that's what it is. And you better deal on those terms."

Seems the man relates well to his players. And it's guaranteed they're listening to him.

The Hogs will be getting many a good night's sleep long before they have to practice with a phone in their hand.

HOGS FEED:

• Tennessee reporter gives inside look into what Hogs will face Saturday

• Calipari goes Biblical in teaching Razorbacks how to appreciate underserved areas of fan base

• TeSlaa's big game could have been monster, offers hope for Hogs against Vols

• Don't think Heupel, Volunteers overlooking Arkansas

• Hogs' Croatian big man benefitting from work with Aidoo, Brazile

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