John Calipari discusses Kentucky Basketball during a SportsCenter interview

Football season is here, but before long, it will be the magical time where we get both Kentucky Wildcats football and men’s basketball at the same time.

To get the hype train rolling even more for the basketball team, John Calipari made a rare offseason media appearance by going on SportsCenter this afternoon to talk about this past summer and the upcoming season.

Give it a listen.

This summer has been a busy one for Calipari and his staff. From rounding out the roster, to winning the gold medal at the GLOBAL JAM Tour in Toronto several months back.

Despite the whirlwind that it was, this Kentucky roster is one that should make some noise early and often this coming season. They showed Coach Cal that during the GLOBAL JAM event against older competition, including another shoutout to Antonio Reeves in the process.

“The thing that was important, it was 23 and under. So you had a lot of professional players playing, and they got to see, ‘Physically, I’ve got to get stronger,’ you know,” Calipari said. “‘I’ve got to be able to play through bumps. I’ve got to be able to play at the rim, get hit, and still make shots.

“The other point that we saw is that we create great opportunities. When you have that, you can create space versus plays. You can do more random basketball, because they understand and they see each other. Court awareness and how we played there. We shot the ball well — Antonio Reeves really shot the ball well. You have to have that.”

With one of the top non-conference schedules in the country, including Kansas, Miami (FL), Gonzaga, and North Carolina, there is a lot of excitement surrounding the men's team after a few subpar post-season performances.

It appears that “Swaggy Cal” has returned to form, which hopefully points to a fun season ahead.