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Louisville Courier-Journal, Kyle Tucker
Kentucky Alumns Lose To Calipari's Dominican Team At Rupp Arena
LEXINGTON, KY. — The moment Tim Cook heard that a group of former University of Kentucky basketball stars was going to play an exhibition game against a Dominican Republic national team led by Wildcats coach John Calipari, he got online to buy tickets.
“He was just a few minutes late,” said Cook’s father, Duane, “and here’s where we ended up.”
The Cooks sat in the last row at the top of the upper deck in sold-out Rupp 
“It’s amazing,” Duane Cook said. “Pretty incredible for a game that’s not even a game. This has to be a great recruiting vehicle.”
Having 24,000 folks fill the Wildcats’ home arena for what amounted to a practice can’t hurt Big Blue Nation’s reputation as one of the most supportive — or crazed, depending on perspective — fan bases in the country.
Afterward, former UK point guard John Wall said he experienced “nothing close” to Rupp’s atmosphere last season in the NBA. He hoped aloud that the Wildcats will make an alumni game a tradition. At least that way UK fans could go home happy.
But Monday night the Dominican team, which has practiced the last two weeks for an upcoming Olympic qualifier, beat the slung-together squad of former Wildcats 106-88 — a result not terribly surprising to anyone but perhaps the partisan crowd.
Despite having Calipari as their coach and current UK forward Eloy Vargas on the roster, the Dominicans got little love for their relative upset. No one seemed eager to recognize Calipari’s achievement in trivia: He remained unbeaten in Rupp since becoming UK’s coach two years ago.
“I don’t think anybody’s here to cheer for them,” said Tim Cook, the nosebleed patron.
In fact, the crowd booed loudly during Dominican player introductions, especially when former University of Louisville stars Edgar Sosa and Francisco Garcia were announced.
Then the lights went down, the spotlight came on and fireworks popped overhead as the UK alumni — including Wall, Rajon Rondo and DeMarcus Cousins — were introduced. The crowd roared as if North Carolina was in town for a real game.
“We all think this is normal,” Calipari said. “This is not normal. There are going to be people mad that (the UK alumni) lost.”
The eight former Wildcats, all now in the NBA, treated the event like an all-star game, trying to throw down crowd-pleasing dunks, shooting at will and playing half-hearted defense.
Wall’s early dunk off a Keith Bogans lob ignited the crowd, as did a Rondo fake behind-the-back pass and kick to the corner for a three-pointer. Cousins had 28 points and 12 rebounds to lead his squad, which hadn’t practiced together for the game.
“I didn’t care what they did,” said former UK coach Joe B. Hall, who sat on the alumni bench with former U of L coach Denny Crum as honorary coaches. “I just enjoyed having a good seat.”
The Dominicans were much more cohesive, and the evening’s chief villains gave the fans plenty to boo throughout. Garcia scored 30 points and Sosa 29, and they combined to hit 11 of 21 three-point attempts.
It was a good tuneup for the Dominicans and a good time for the old Wildcats. But what about the fans who packed Rupp for a quasi-event in the middle of summer?
“I’ll probably be hung in effigy,” Hall said.
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