SPARTA, Ky.?Kentucky coach John Calipari texted with Kyle Wiltjer on Saturday and said a final decision on whether Wiltjer will transfer is still to be determined.
Having averaged 10.2 points in 23.8 minutes a game last season, but with a strong recruiting class that might decrease his minutes, Wiltjer is exploring whether to transfer before his junior year.
Calipari, at Kentucky Speedway on Saturday to drive the pace car prior to the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race, said he was in contact with Wiltjer, who is in Canada training with the men?s national team.
?I don?t know (if he?ll be back),? Calipari said. ?He and I texted each other today, so I?ll probably text him to see where he is with things.?
Calipari talked racing and basketball in his brief visit with the media Saturday.
He was philosophical about Nerlens Noel dropping from the possible No. 1 pick in the NBA draft on Thursday to the sixth, when he was drafted by New Orleans and traded to Philadelphia.
Calipari said he had talked with Noel about the possibility of dropping in the draft and Noel had a good attitude going into it.
?I wished Nerlens would have gone (No.) 1, but 6 is fine,? Calipari said. ?He?s going to have to prove himself anyway. ? There was a chance he could have moved to 11th or 12th.
?He didn?t work out for a bunch of teams after the first three teams. So if they didn?t see that need, there was a chance he was going to slip.?
Kentucky had another first-round pick as guard Archie Goodwin went to Phoenix as the 29th pick overall.
?He is 18 years old, he?s the youngest kid in the draft, it?s a good deal,? Calipari said. ?We could say he should have come back. Well, he was just picked 29th.?
Calipari had two likely first-rounders?Alex Poythress and Willie Cauley-Stein ?opt to stay for their sophomore seasons.
?We get two guys in the first round and (could have) had have four guys in the first round,? Calipari said. ?We were an NIT team. How bad a coach am I?
?I was happy for both of them.?
As far as racing, Calipari reminisced about being asked by Jeff Gordon and crew chief Ray Evernham to use the ?Refuse to Lose? slogan back in the mid-1990s.
?They asked me if they could use it back then, and I was at UMass and I said, ?Absolutely, but I want to meet you,?? Calipari said. ?I just went and saw Jeff. I looked at him and he has a little gray now. I?m looking at him saying, ?I?m gray, you?re gray, you remember how long ago that was???
Calipari has been to several races, and he got to ride in a pace car Saturday at about 95 mph in the rain as Kurt Busch gave him a tutorial even though Calipari would only be driving 45 mph in the pace car.
?I?m white-knuckled, I?ve got two feet through the floorboard,? Calipari said. ?He says, ?You kind of glide up to the wall? and I thought we were sliding into the wall. ? When they told me (to go) 45, I?m good with 45.?
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