Chin Coleman says the GOAT has another hunch for Mississippi State

Before Kentucky‘s flight to Mississippi, assistant coach Chin Coleman held a Q&A on campus to close the book on Saturday’s win and to preview the next game against Mississippi State. If you’re interested, you can see the whole conversation at the bottom of this post. Before you get there, I’ll tell you a little about what was said.

Coleman began with comments about the 117-point game against Alabama, comparing it to pro-level basketball. “No, I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like that, personally, in my career, only in NBA games,” he replied to the first question about the high-scoring affair in Rupp Arena. “It’s kind of like what’s happening in NBA games, which is a ton of skill, a ton of shooting, a ton of analytics kind of style of play games, so we had an eruption and it was fun.”

Like everyone else, he was happy for Justin Edwards. “It was only a matter of time,” said Coleman, who also spoke very highly of his boss, John Calipari. Coleman expressed his unsolicited support of Calipari when praising him for handling the “musical chair” lineups as Kentucky has dealt with injuries and absences all season.

“He’s the GOAT (Greatest Of All Time) for a reason,” Coleman said emphatically. “I did say that. Coach Cal is the GOAT. Let’s not get it twisted. I know everybody–he’s the GOAT. Okay? I want to make sure I make that clear.”

Calling Calipari the GOAT twice more, Coleman replied to a question about going as many as ten deep with the roster on a game-by-game basis. “Last game, the GOAT had a hunch,” said Coleman. “He had a hunch. He went with his gut to play [Zvonimir Ivisic] with four guys that he kind of liked to see Z play with. That hunch was part of the explosion that you saw.

“We met, he’s got another hunch. He’s the GOAT. So, we’ll see what happens with this next game.”

Another hunch? And are hunches the new tweaks? We’ll see what is in store when the Cats play Mississippi State on Tuesday. When asked about Big Z’s new impact, Coleman said Z could have a huge impact when the team gets out of the Southeastern Conference.

“SEC play is brutal, man. It’s really physical; very, very, very physical, and I think that once we get outside of our conference, we’ll play some different teams with different styles and I think Z will be able to take advantage of that.”

With Tolu Smith and a very physical Mississippi State team up next in a challenging road atmosphere, Calipari’s hunch may be switching up the style again. Until we see what happens, hear Coleman’s entire preview of the game below, and, as always, Go Cats.

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