John Calipari on Mark Few: 'He's done things no other coach has done'

John Calipari holds Gonzaga coach Mark Few in extremely high regard, and the respect between these two programs is something to be celebrated in college hoops.

When the Gonzaga Bulldogs come to Lexington to take on the Kentucky Wildcats at Rupp Arena on Saturday afternoon, it will be a reunion between two old friends and college basketball legends in coaches John Calipari and Mark Few.

Calipari spoke glowingly about Few during his weekly radio show on Wednesday, addressing his wild success at a small school in Spokane, Washington and how Few's attitude mirrored his own when he used to coach at UMass and Memphis.

"Great friend," Calipari said. "He's just a good person. I mean he's a great basketball coach, he's a future Hall of Famer. He'll be in the Hall of Fame. He's done things that no other coach has done, the level of winning. And in the Final Four and in the NCAA Tournaments advancing and in getting players to the NBA and being at Gonzaga, which he just said 'look we're a major college. I don't care about league.' I remember talking that way when we were at UMass and Memphis. I didn't care what anybody said about leagues or anything. We were a national program and that's what he has done there."

Gonzaga had been to just one NCAA Tournament prior to 1999, when the team went on a miracle run to the Elite 8 under then head coach Dan Monson, punctuated by a game winning shot against Florida that led to the iconic Gus Johnson call "the slipper still fits". 

Few took over the next year, and the Zags have made the NCAA Tournament every single season of his tenure - including a pair of trips to the national championship and now eight straight years playing in the Sweet 16.

Meanwhile, Few and Calipari have been close for a long time. In fact, prior to the WCC adding BYU when the conference schedule was more open, Gonzaga used to play these midseason non-conference games against Calipari's Memphis squad, and being willing to once again reprise these battles while at Kentucky is a tremendous sign of respect.

Gonzaga is not up to their typical standard this season, but if anything that serves as a reminder to the elite level this program has maintained for over two decades, and Saturday's game will be a chess match between two true college basketball legends.

Tip off is slated for 4:00 PM ET and the game will be broadcast on CBS.