"They get on each other"; Flint says Kentucky players coach themselves

Before Kentucky Basketball took flight for Texas, assistant coach Bruiser Flint spoke about the team’s chemistry and what a joy it has been to coach the Wildcats so far this season.

“We have really good kids,” said Flint in his pre-Texas A&M game press conference on Tuesday. “We have great chemistry, they get along together. As a coach, you can’t ask for more than that, for guys who come every day and they do what you ask them to do both on and off the floor.”

It helps that Kentucky’s players are not only coachable, but able to coach themselves from within. At times, they’re on each other before anyone on the coaching staff can do their job.

“They can get on each other,” Flint said. “That’s a big part of it. The coaches don’t have to coach, they get on each other. This team definitely does that. When they see someone making a mistake, they get on them or they pump them up if they put their heads down. That’s where chemistry is really, really good.”

Flint named three of UK’s veterans—Sahvir Wheeler, Keion Brooks, and Davion Mintz—as the main player-coaches on Kentucky’s roster. The first two have been through hard times at Kentucky, the other is one of the best and most experienced point guards in the Southeastern Conference.

“Those guys are the older guys that have been involved with it a little bit,” said Flint. “Sahvir as your point guard, you want your point guard to be that way. You want him to be the coach on the floor, you want him to be a little bit of a general, so I think those guys do a really good job of leadership and making sure we’re doing what we’re supposed to do and showing up prepared to get ready for games.”

Wheeler, the big brother

One of the three leaders, Sahvir Wheeler accepts his role on the team, in part because it comes naturally. The oldest of six siblings, Wheeler has been a leader and team captain his whole life. On Tuesday, he recalled convincing his younger brothers and sisters to keep a secret from their parents, or more positive words of encouragement, to get up and exercise.

Wheeler said, “Having 15 to 17-plus years of that just at home every day has helped me to come to college or whatever setting I’m in and get people to buy into a common goal or be able to hold people accountable without them taking it the wrong way, knowing that I have the best interests for them.”

When asked what Wheeler looks for in someone to know how to lead, he replied, “For every player or every person, it’s different. Not everyone responds to criticism or constructive feedback or even praise the same. You have to know what gets different people going.”

As Wheeler noted, not everyone responds to criticism and coaching the same way. But this team is mature, notes Bruiser Flint, and they are able to handle anything that may be uncomfortable for others to hear.

“Guys don’t get upset at it,” Flint said of Kentucky’s players coaching each other. “In the new generation, that’s a little harder. But this group right here, they’re looking at the big picture and they know this is for us to have success, and I think that’s really big.

“Guys not afraid to get on each other, guys not afraid to take the criticism. Guys not afraid to give out praise, too. That’s one of the big things about chemistry.”

Kentucky’s team chemistry will be tested Wednesday night at A&M’s Reed Arena.

Hear more from Flint and Wheeler before the game.