Mike Pratt on Calipari

Larry Vaught has an in-depth discussion with Mike Pratt, assistant to Mitch Barnhart during the coaching hire. Pratt said the difference between Coach Cal and Billy G. are like night and day:

“He was very well prepared about what was good, bad and ugly about UK now and in the past,” Pratt said. “He asked all the right questions and I could tell he wanted to be there. That got me excited. He was so prepared that it jumped out and screamed at me that he wanted to be at Kentucky.”

Pratt never got that impression from Gillispie, who was 40-27 in his two years at Kentucky.

“I never had that same feeling that Billy was that way. I was not around him that much. I went to his first press conference and never got to meet him. I just watched and listened the last two years,” Pratt said. “I just never felt he was really comfortable with the job.”