By ADAM ZAGORIA
Kentucky coach John Calipari expects freshman Cam’Ron Fletcher to be back with the team at some point after they had a “great conversation” about expectations Wednesday night.
“He’ll be back – unless we have a call and it’s not what we think,” Calipari said Thursday on a Zoom call ahead of Saturday’s Louisville game. “But I believe he’ll be back. You’ve got everybody around him thanking me.
“But I think he’ll be better for this. And now we understand there are certain non-negotiables here. You just can’t be this way. You can’t act this way. This is hard. There’s emotion in this. Players play, coaches coach.”
Earlier this week, Calipari Tweeted that he asked Fletcher to “step away from the team.” Kentucky is currently 1-5, its worst start since 1926-27.
Fletcher is averaging 2.2 points and 2.2 rebounds in 8.7 minutes through six games.
The 6-foot-6 forward from St. Louis chose Kentucky over Michigan State, Missouri, North Carolina, and Alabama in August 2019.
Fletcher was seen in tears on the Kentucky bench in the final minutes of their 75-63 loss to North Carolina on Saturday.
“Here’s what must change for him to rejoin the team,” Calipari said. “He called me [Wednesday] night. He tried to reach me during the day. I was in practice. He called me after. I called him back and we had a great conversation. His high school coach called. His mother called. Everybody is onboard and they know. They know this is the best thing for Cam. What I heard last night was, ‘I get it. I understand and I can promise you X, Y, Z.’ That was from him.
“My thing was, I’m going to meet with you, your coach and your mom and make sure everyone understands these are the expectations. This is what they are. I thought I made that clear in the recruiting process but maybe I didn’t.”
Asked what Calipari’s “non-negotiables” are, point guard Davion Mintz, one of three team leaders appointed by the coach, said: “Controlling your attitude. Controlling, you know, ‘Can I make this play for someone else?’ He said something like, ‘Not thinking less of yourself in terms of who you are as a person, but at the same time thinking less of yourself when in terms it’s time to help someone else.’
“A lot of those things are non-negotiables. Like when he’s talking or when he’s trying to teach us, he’s been here before. Thirty years. His résumé speaks for itself. It’s time to listen. Those things right there are non-negotiable.”
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