Serving Up Winners

I once asked Larry Vaught, the esteemed and well-respected Kentucky sportswriter, why he didn’t write books for a living. After all, he’s supremely gifted, survived multiple media wars, and has enough golden stories stockpiled in his memory arsenal to fill Fort Knox.

“Too much work,” he replied dismissively. “I live a good life. Why ruin it?”

Larry was absolutely right. If you want to dive head first into a project that will eat up your valuable time, drive you batty in the process, and provide pennies on the dollar in royalty returns, then writing a book is right up your alley. In other words, DON’T DO IT…unless…

Unless you have a story to tell.

I’ve always loved tennis. I was quick on my feet and could endlessly run that baseline. What I lacked in true skill and athleticism, I more than made up with interest and enthusiasm. I was so dedicated to that fuzzy yellow ball that one summer I even received a free t-shirt as champion of the intermediate division of my Shillito Park recreation league. I was your proverbial student of the game and followed its stars with unbridled passion.

So, imagine my surprise when the great Coach Dennis Emery approached me to collaborate on his upcoming book project. Realizing that this was the great Dennis Emery—the winningest tennis coach in University of Kentucky history and one of the most decorated coaches in the collegiate game—I jumped at the chance.

Here was a Hall of Fame inductee with six hundred and fifty-five head coaching career wins, twenty-three NCAA tournament appearances, and three SEC championships teaching me intricacies about the game I loved and telling me stories about the greats I idolized.

Here was a legend who had coached thirty-nine All-Americans, three of whom advanced to the NCAA tournament singles final. Talk about living the dream. As John McEnroe once famously said, “You cannot be serious!”

What resulted is a book that both of us are extremely proud of. It’s first and foremost a labor of love. It’s a legacy book where Coach Emery wanted to share his tennis experience with other up-and-coming coaches looking to develop players and build their teams. As the youngest full-time head coach in the history of college tennis, he took a dormant program with no facilities and built it into a national juggernaut.

“Coach Emery transformed the University of Kentucky’s men’s tennis program into one that is a perennial power and competes at the highest level annually,” Kentucky head basketball coach John Calipari wrote in the book’s foreword. “And the greatest testament to him and what he built? It has sustained success even with him no longer at the helm.”

If you hadn’t noticed, Kentucky Tennis remains a highly ranked program and still competes regularly for conference and national titles. And yet, it consistently flies under the radar. Given its accomplishments on the court, it’s arguably the most under-appreciated athletic program on the Wildcat campus. Not surprisingly then, there is little recorded about the star players of the past and their epic achievements. Anyone looking into the program’s history will soon discover that there’s simply no place to dig.

“It dies with me,” Coach Emery sadly lamented when I shared that reality with him.

No it doesn’t, Coach. Let’s preserve it right here. Let’s share it with the rest of the world.

BOY, DO WE HAVE A STORY TO TELL!

Click here to purchase your copy https://www.amazon.com/Serving-Up-Winners-Building-Program/dp/B0BYRDRKWF

Dr. John Huang is a retired orthodontist, military veteran, and award-winning author. He currently serves as a freelance reporter and sports columnist. He is the author/coauthor of three other books, CUT TO THE CHASE, KENTUCKY PASSION, and FROM THE RAFTERS OF RUPP. You can contact him at www.Huangswhinings.com or follow him on Twitter @KYHuangs.

One Last Chance

Kentucky players walk off the Bridgestone Arena court after another demoralizing early exit in tournament play (Dr. Michael Huang Photo).

(LEXINGTON, Ky.) – Talk about unpredictable. The Kentucky basketball team this year has been exactly that. Coach John Calipari’s squad began the preseason with a lofty No. 4 national ranking and visions of a ninth national title dancing in everyone’s heads. Seventeen weeks later on Selection Sunday, the Wildcats are still dancing—but just barely. They’re saddled with a middling 6^th seed in the East (New York City) Regional of the upcoming NCAA Tournament, ready to embark on an improbable—but totally necessary—quest for redemption.

That’s not hyperbole either. Kentucky gets one last last chance to avoid disaster—the shameful extension of a four-year drought brought on by a worldwide pandemic and ignominiously crowned with a humiliating and inexplicable first-round tournament loss to Saint Peters last year. That on the heels of a historically worst ever 9 – 16 trainwreck of a season just one year prior. Combine all that with this current campaign of crushed hopes and shattered expectations, and you can see why the natives are uptight.

Uptight might just be the understatement of the year. Plenty of fans within Big Blue Nation are downright furious, some already brandishing pitchforks and torches. Others are even worse off—disgustingly apathetic after having already thrown in the towel. The remaining segment of die-hards are hanging by their fingernails with a residual smidgeon of ever-fading hope—fervently praying for a miraculous rebirth like they experienced in that magical run in 2014.

What can we expect? Your guess is as good as anyone’s. I do know that with this team, expect the unexpected. The Wildcats lost to lowly South Carolina at home, but beat a highly-ranked Tennessee team the very next game on the road. They blew out a dangerous Auburn team by thirty-two points, then lost to Vanderbilt on Senior Night in Rupp. The team rallied to beat the Hogs in Bud Walton Arena, then pulled the stinker in the SEC Tournament. You can’t blame anyone for being perpetually perplexed.

Truth be told, Kentucky fans flooded into Nashville last week with high expectations of a return to normalcy. By that I mean routine championship runs with the Cats still playing on Sunday afternoon. The blue mist blew in with visions of three straight days of good food, good friends, and late nights on Broadway. It had been way too long since the good times rolled.

Of course—surprise, surprise—the unexpected happened, and Vandy sent Kentucky fans packing on Friday night. For many, that was the proverbial last straw. FUHGEDDABOUDIT! Season over.

Or is it? Remember, the Big Dance means one last chance at One Shining Moment, and Coach Calipari has harped incessantly this year about his team playing only for March. Also remember that this Kentucky team performs exactly the opposite of how you think it will. That means you have to fill out Kentucky’s path in the bracket exactly the opposite of how you think they’ll fare.

There’s only one huge problem with that “reverse thinking” type strategy, and it has to do with Kentucky’s first-round opponent. Heading into the matchup with No. 11 seed Providence (21 – 11) on Friday in Greensboro—given what happened last year and now with UK transfer Bryce Hopkins waiting in the wings—the pressure to win will be immense. The Cats will need to shake those opening game jitters (or more accurately, Calipari needs to keep everyone’s head from exploding) in order to move on to the round of 32. Many cynics are already picking Kentucky to lose—which means they’ll win.

From then on, you wouldn’t expect Kentucky to advance any further—which with this team means subsequent victories over No. 3 seed Kansas State (23 – 9), No. 2 seed Marquette, and No. 1 seed Purdue if the seeds hold up. If there’s one thing we’ve learned this year, it’s that the Wildcats always play their best as underdogs, with their backs against the wall.

That would mean a trip to the Final Four in Houston. Don’t laugh. It’s exactly what’s needed for the aforementioned redemption and exactly where fans were thinking this team was headed at the beginning of the year. We shouldn’t lower the bar just because the team wobbled during the regular season. Kentucky fans should never settle for mediocrity. Droughts like this are not par for the course for the program with the greatest tradition in the history of college basketball.

When measured against the gold standard, the last four years have been totally unacceptable. Here’s one last chance to make things right.

See you in Greensboro.

This blog posting was originally submitted as a UK Basketball Column for Nolan Group Media publications.

Doctor Cal

He may not be Sigmund Freud, but Coach John Calipari sure knows how to push the right psychological buttons (Dr. Michael Huang Photo).

(LEXINGTON, Ky.) – John Calipari has played the role of psychologist more than basketball coach this year. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. A hall of fame coach has to be many things to many people—especially his players. Mentor, father figure, disciplinarian, cheerleader, or counselor—a caring, players-first coach by necessity wears many hats.

Dealing successfully with inflated egos and entitled mindsets is an art that Coach Cal has mastered over his forty-plus years in the business. This particular season, however, his skillful navigation through a minefield of mental distress deserves a shiny gold star. Truth be told, this Wildcat team may be one of the most emotionally fragile teams in UK history.

Personality plays a huge role in that aforementioned fragility. Players this year seem quite a bit more hypersensitive to fan criticism than usual. Although Calipari has warned them to stay off of social media, they’re only human and are naturally curious about what people say about them.

Additionally, injuries have drastically altered playing times and rotations, confidence has wildly wavered, and no one has really stepped up to be the bona fide team leader. Uncertainty about future NBA riches also drew angst on a team with multiple borderline prospects. No doubt about it, play for pay messes with your mind.

Along the same lines, who knows how NIL issues have affected team chemistry. Throw in the tragic death of a player’s father just before the season began and the brouhaha early on associated with the proper utilization of your returning point guard, and you can see why the team was heading off an emotional cliff.

But fear not! Coach Cal—or should we say Doctor Cal—to the rescue. Throughout the roller coaster of a season, the wise and seasoned 64-year-old Calipari has maintained just the right amount of both compassion and assertiveness to keep his team from letting go of the rope.

“You know, there’s two things when you’re coaching,” Doctor Cal reminded the media after Kentucky’s impressive 86 – 54 blowout win over Auburn on Saturday. “One, you’ve got to hold them accountable. But you’re juggling balls because you also got to build them up.”

Anyone paying attention to Calipari press conferences has rolled their eyes at his incessant attempts to build players up during the times they were struggling. Listening to Calipari, you’d think every one of his star pupils was having a breakout season. No matter how many times he threw the ball away, Sahvir Wheeler could do no wrong. Jacob Toppin was always poppin’—even though early on he couldn’t throw it in the ocean, and Oscar Tshiebwe was always “getting better”—despite opponents destroying him time and time again on the pick and roll. And of course, there was always the endearing “How ‘bout Lance” comment every time Lance Ware simply made a court appearance.

I’ve learned over the years that everyone—no matter their status and achievements in life—needs encouragement when they’re down. A pat on the back can do wonders for a wounded psyche. For some players, it’s just what the doctor ordered.

“Yeah, of course,” answered Antonio Reeves when asked whether he appreciated and needed all the balloons and sunshine. “From the team and [from the coach]. We all need to be connected to one another and tell each other if we’re not playing well. ‘Just keep your head up’ or ‘keep playing your game’ basically.”

On the other hand, players like Cason Wallace would rather Calipari just stifle the effusive fake praise once and for all.

“That’s just how I am,” said the freshman point guard after breaking out of his extended shooting slump. “I don’t need the congratulations and the ‘good job, Cason.’ Just tell me what I need to get better at. We know it’s from a good place. If [Coach Cal’s] getting on us, he wants what’s best for us and the team. You just got to take it with a grain of salt.”

Individual players respond differently to various motivational approaches, and it seems to me like Coach Cal is indeed pushing all the right buttons. But it doesn’t really count what I think—or what you think, for that matter. How he’s perceived by the players is what’s ultimately important.

“I give him a lot of credit,” Oscar said when asked how much of the recent turnaround is due specifically to his coach’s psychobabble. “He works so hard. He just comes in everyday thinking, ‘What can I do to make these kids ready to go? What can I do to make sure these kids are happy?’”

“I know people have been hard on him,” the returning Player of the Year continued empathetically. “No matter what we are going through, he’s just going to come in with the motivation [and] positive words. He sends us messages every single day about positive stuff. ‘Stay positive!’”

That’s certainly good advice during times of trial and tribulation, so let’s give credit where credit is due. John Calipari has successfully steered his team through the mental abyss. Not only has Coach Cal done a good job on the basketball court drawing up Xs and Os this year, but Doctor Cal has done a masterful job manipulating everybody’s mind.

As the madness of March approaches and the pucker factor rises, the mental game becomes more important than ever. Let’s all hope that psychological wizardry continues to reap dividends in the postseason win column.

Dr. John Huang is a retired orthodontist, military veteran, and award-winning author. This blog posting was originally submitted as a UK Basketball Column for Nolan Group Media publications. If you enjoy his Kentucky Basketball stories, be sure to check out his latest book at https://www.amazon.com/dp/1684351669

Books and Pizza

Two of my favorite life activities are writing books and eating pizza. Whenever I combine the two passions, it makes for one glorious day. Occasionally, my joy overflows and I feel compelled to share. Sunday was one of those times.

It’s Palm Sunday, and I’m headed out riding—not on my ass—but in my trusty white convertible. The temperature’s not quite warm enough to cruise with the top down, but the sun is shining, and the central Kentucky countryside is resplendent in all its verdant glory.

Beside me is Kyle Macy. Yeah, THE KYLE MACY, arguably the most popular Kentucky basketball player to have ever worn the uniform. Kyle and I did a book together titled From the Rafters of Rupp, and we’re headed up the backroads of horse country to Cynthiana, Kentucky, to do a book signing.

You never know how these appearances will pan out, so I’m wound tighter than a banjo string. Kyle, however, is just Kyle—cool, calm, and as collected as ever. We arrive about twenty minutes early at our pre-arranged venue. Kyle is confident we’ll sign a million books. I’m just hoping we won’t be the only ones there.

As usual, my worries are unfounded as a nice crowd materializes. Kyle dazzles them with his wonderful gift of gab. It amazes me how surprisingly candid he is when talking about UK Basketball. It’s obvious he loves the program—but as you’ll see in the book—he’s not afraid to speak his mind either. I, on the other hand, have been guzzling the blue Kool-Aid. I know the people aren’t here to listen to me anyway, so I stick to the party line whenever I’m asked a pointed question. Kyle rolls his eyes and tells me I’ve still got a lot to learn.

The Next Chapter Bookstore (thenextchapter41031.com) is a real gem. It’s relatively new, having opened in November of 2020…and having expanded to their fabulous new location in October of last year. The three owners—Jennifer Renaker, Ashley Peak, and Sherry Judy—greet us like long-lost cousins. You can feel the love they’ve poured into this business enterprise, as they bounce around energetically making everyone feel welcome. I see my other UK basketball book, Kentucky Passion, prominently displayed on the front shelf. Yep, this place is awesome. THIS PLACE IS AWESOME, INDEED! I’ll be back for sure.

After the books are signed and everyone’s happy, Kyle and I prepare for part two of our Sunday afternoon doubleheader. We’ve been invited for some homemade pizza at the house of the King. Doug Hampton is a former basketball referee and world-famous auctioneer. He’s also a New York Pizza School graduate and is well-known for his mouth-watering pies.

Before we indulge, however, we stop off on a parcel of holy ground. This is Joe B. Hall country, and no visit to Cynthiana would be complete without a visit to his mural. It’s much bigger and grander than I had imagined. Prior to his recent passing, many considered Joe the most beloved coach in America https://huangswhinings.com/2020/02/20/the-most-beloved-coach-in-america/. Kyle played for Coach Hall on that 1978 national championship team, and he assures me that Joe B. was as classy as they come.

The Dugan’s Pizza experience was downright heavenly. To be perfectly honest, it may just be the best pizza I’ve ever had. The dough was exquisite—tantalizingly chewy on the outside with a delectably airy and fluffy middle. The sauce was orgasmic, a puree of ripened tomatoes enhanced with the perfect blend of basil and garlic. And man…that cheese…the thought of that caramelized specialty brick cheese oozing together with the stringy mozzarella and sprinkled liberally atop with parmesan has me quivering as I write. Top everything off with a thick juicy slab of bacon or some flavorful pepperoni, and let’s fight to the death for that last corner square.

Predictably, Kyle and I gorge ourselves. He has four slices. I’m five-and-done. We both then cruise back towards Lexington disgustingly fat and happy. But WAIT…Kyle has a sweet tooth. He’s not done yet. We go for broke, pull up to the nearest Dairy Queen, and order our Blizzards. Just our luck—their ice cream mixer is broken.

I’m a bit ticked off, but Kyle shrugs it off. The guy is literally one cool cat. I figured with all the accolades and adoration he’s received over the years, these types of outings would get old in a hurry. I ask him if he enjoyed the day.

“Absolutely,” he answers me. “It’s always fun meeting people and talking about UK Basketball.”

I’m no Kyle Macy, but I’ll second the motion. Life is all about relationships—nurturing existing ones and formulating brand new ones. That’s easy to do with the folks in Cynthiana. They’re some of the nicest people you’ll ever meet. Plus, they bought all our books and fed us the best pizza south of Brooklyn. You can see why I’m feeling truly blessed. I’m living the dream.

Kyle and I will be at it again next week. Bullitt County, here we come. Crank up those Oreo Blizzards.

Books and ice cream, anyone?

Head on over to The Next Chapter Bookstore and pick up your signed copy of #FromTheRaftersOfRupp or #KentuckyPassion. Can’t make it out? Order here https://www.acclaimpress.com/books/from-the-rafters-of-rupp-the-book/