Kentucky’s John Calipari on Dayton’s Archie Miller: 'If I were an AD hiring a basketball coach, that’s who I’d hire’

Kentucky coach has known Archie Miller ‘since he was in diapers’
ajc.com

Experts across the country have already started looking ahead to a second-round matchup between No. 2 seed Kentucky and No. 10 seed Wichita State in Indianapolis. There’s a built-in story line there because the teams played in the second round in 2014 with Kentucky winning 78-76.

RELATED: Dayton six-point underdog vs. Wichita State

UK coach John Calipari isn't sleeping on the Dayton Flyers, however. He called them a dangerous team in an interview on Kentucky's website on Sunday. UD plays Wichita State at 7:10 p.m. Friday at Banker's Life Fieldhouse. Kentucky plays No. 15 seed Northern Kentucky right after that.

MORE ON UD: Dayton enjoys the moment, then begins prep

Calipari has a connection to UD coach Archie Miller and his family. He wrote the forward for a book written about Archie Miller’s dad John Miller. Calipari grew up in western Pennsylvania near Pittsburgh like the Millers, who are from Beaver Falls.

“Archie Miller, if I were an AD hiring a basketball coach, that’s who I’d hire,” Calipari said. “I’ve known him since he was in diapers. He has an edge to him. He’s not afraid.”

RELATED: 10 things to know about Archie Miller

The presence of Kentucky alone in Indianapolis would have made tickets hard to get, but in addition to Dayton and Wichita State, there’s Louisville and Michigan. Kentucky led the nation in attendance last season. Louisville ranked third. Dayton was 25th. Michigan was 33rd. Wichita State was 37th.

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“Dayton will bring the whole city,” Calipari said. “Wichita will come with everybody they have. You’re going to have Louisville there, us there, Michigan. ... It’s crazy they put us all in one place like that.”

Credit: DaytonDailyNews

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