Why John Calipari has been Forced to Play Zone

This year John Calipari is doing something he’s only done on the rarest of occasions: play zone.Fans asked for years why Coach Cal would not at least try a little zone here and there to give opponents a different look. Many times Kentucky’s length could have suffocated opponents with a zone, yet Calipari refused to relent. That all changed this year.

“This year for us, we’re just so young,” Calipari said on the SEC teleconference. “The way you have to trust each other [in man-to-man]; the way you have to talk; the mental toughness you have to have to sustain a full possession. To really be that guy, that team, you have to be a great rebounding team, which means you gotta play people before…