John Calipari landed a lot of top recruits in his time coaching Kentucky basketball, and produced a lot of quality NBA players. Now that he has moved on to Arkansas, many of those players are being questioned as to which school they now support.
Cauley-Stein played for the Wildcats under Coach Cal from 2012 through 2015 before entering the NBA draft and becoming the sixth overall selection by the Sacramento Kings.
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Current Wildcat guard Kerr Kriisa spoke to the former Wildcat, and asked him about who he roots for: his college team, or his college coach. Cauley-Stein had a diplomatic answer, saying:
I’m rocking what I’m rocking. I’m neutral. So, my wife went to Arkansas, too. She played ball at Arkansas. Anytime Arkansas is on the TV, my wife would watch, and I was like, turn that off. I’m not trying to watch Arkansas. Overnight I was like, ah, I kinda got to watch Arkansas now.
It’s an answer that really shouldn’t surprise anyone. It’s natural for any player to be loyal to both the team they played for, and the coach that got them to the NBA. So while he may enjoy seeing Cal succeed at his new home, he will still root for Kentucky basketball too.