Nerlens Noel and Archie Goodwin are both participating in the NBA Draft Combine this week in Chicago. On Thursday, Draft Express posted a video interview with Noel - the potential No. 1 overall pick. Watch it below.

The timing of John Calipari's Wednesday press conference was a bit strange.

It had been nearly two months since the end of the 2012-13 season, so there wasn't a lot to talk about on that front. Kentucky's underclassmen made their NBA Draft decisions well over a month ago, so those stories were a bit stale. As for Coach Cal's latest top-rated recruiting class, they all signed nearly four weeks ago and won't arrive on campus for another two or three.

Nonetheless, dozens of reporters packed the Memorial Coliseum media room to hear what Coach Cal had to say on a mid-May morning in a scene that would likely only happen in the Bluegrass.

"I don't even know what this is," said an amazed and unsurprised Calipari.

In effect, it was a mini-media day. Calipari was previewing a season of sorts similar to what he'll do during the real thing in about five months, but there weren't any games or even Big Blue Madness to discuss just yet. Instead, the summer - during which the Wildcats will lay the foundation for the team they'll become - was a primary topic of conversation.

The first step will be for Calipari to determine exactly how he will handle the Cats when they return to/arrive in Lexington in June. With that in mind, Coach Cal is taking the entire basketball staff on a retreat beginning next Monday.

"We're going to have a two-day retreat and what we're primarily going to be doing is (figuring out), 'What do each of these kids need from us?' " Calipari said. "Because every one of these kids we're bringing in need to be coached and they need something from us."

Molding his coaching strategy to each of his players will be a particular challenge this season, if only due to simple arithmetic. With eight newcomers and five returnees on scholarship, Calipari will have the deepest team of his UK tenure. That means the message of unselfishness he delivers every year will be even more important.

"More than any team I've had, shared sacrifice is going to matter in this group," Calipari said. "And they knew that coming here. I told every one of them, 'If you want to shoot 30 balls a game, you don't come here. If you want to be the only guy that's playing - the one guy that everybody's talking about - you wouldn't come here.' "

As well as every Cat might understand that in theory, putting into practice is another matter entirely.   

"To bring that many together, really going to be a challenge," Calipari said. "The galvanizing part of this will start this summer."

That's why Coach Cal is so committed to pursuing every means to that end, even if he has to do things differently than he's used to.

"We have some other things that we're going to do as a team that I have not done in the past that I think will help this team come together," Calipari said. "Some of it is we will watch some movies together of some teams coming together, of what they had to do to sacrifice for each other."

Movies aside, he didn't reveal many details about his plans just yet, but you can rest assured they are informed in part by this past year. Calipari made sure to point out there were elements of UK's NIT season he is proud of, including one thing he believes could pay dividends in 2013-14.

"It's not just 'Did they get better?' It's 'Did they learn about themselves?' " Calipari said. "Because sometimes you learn about yourself in a season - Are you ready? Marquis Teague - and you change it in the season. Sometimes you can't. You're just too young.

"They learn about themselves in a season, know that this isn't going to work, they change and they get better. So part of last season was the beginnings of success for the coming year."

Calipari also did his share of learning during a trying year. He's not about to abandon his players-first philosophy, but Coach Cal has also come to understand shielding players too much can do harm.

"What you learn is you can't protect the players," Calipari said. "You can't protect them from competition. You bring in your group, and the guys that understand competition, that brings out the best. They strive and they get better."

He didn't say the exact phrase as he so often does, but it's clear Coach Cal "likes his team" once more. That begins with the personality he expects it to have.

He was asked on Wednesday about UK's signees saying at the McDonald's All-American Game - where six future Wildcats played - there would be fights at practices next season and Calipari said he likes that mentality, so long as those fights are forgotten outside the Joe Craft Center gym.

"It will drag us to where we're trying to go," Calipari said. "I'm going to tell you: Two years ago we did not have a bad practice. Not one. So that led us to building a swagger and a confidence level that we knew we could win every game we play, we just, let's be at our best and if we weren't and someone got us, fine, next game."

The first reason Calipari cited for his national title team's consistent practice habits was the presence of Michael Kidd-Gilchrist. Now, Coach Cal believes he has at least a couple players - Julius Randle, to name one - who will bring similar effort and a willingness to demand it out of their teammates.

"When you don't have that alpha male at all, you have to do things to try to lead yourself as a coach, and your team can never have the type of success you want," Calipari said. "You try to figure out who that could be or who could step up. A lot of times they are who they are in that regard - those guys who will step up and hold and push the group and not be afraid. That's what you're looking for when you have a good team."

Because he sees that potential, Calipari isn't exactly running away and hiding from the 40-0 buzz surrounding his team. He won't be talking about an undefeated record directly to his team, but the fact that the notion and is out there doesn't scare him even though UK's first loss won't destroy all hope of a successful season.

"Pressure brings out the best," Calipari said. " 'You're going to be fired if you don't get this done. You're not going to make it if you don't get this.' It wakes you up earlier in the morning. I don't mind a little pressure. I've had it my whole career. I've had a gun to my head for 20-something years, and you know what? I'm at my best when the gun is to my head versus where I can kick back and I'm not as good. And you know what? Players are the same."

During the University of Kentucky's 146 May Commencement on Sunday, 49 UK student-athletes received degrees. Forty-seven earned undergraduate diplomas and two received graduate degrees.

(Note: Includes student-athletes who received degrees after their completing eligibility.)

Baseball
Thomas McCarthy
Zac Zellers (Will complete coursework this summer)

Football
Aaron Boyd
La'Rod King
Quentin McCord
Craig McIntosh
Kevin Mitchell
Matt Smith
Taylor Wyndham
(Note: 2012 seniors Mikie Benton, Gabe Correll, Gene McCaskill, Morgan Newton, Cartier Rice, Collins Ukwu, Steven Duff and Sam Simpson graduated previously.)

Gymnastics
Caitlyn Ciokajlo
Storey Morris
Whitney Rose

Men's basketball
Twany Beckham
Marquis Estill
Jon Hood
Jarrod Polson (Graduated in three years)
(Note: Jamal Mashburn also received an honorary doctorate of humanities.)

Men's golf
Joseph Barr

Men's soccer
Pedro Andreoni
Gabriel Conelian
Barry Rice

Men's swimming and diving
Jon Bullock
Jon Keltner
Ben Russell

Rifle
Heather Greathouse

Softball
Chanda Bell
Kara Dill (Graduate degree in exercise science)
Alice O'Brien
Erika Silence

Track and field
Katy Achtien
Keith Hayes
Ben Mason (Will complete coursework this summer)
Chelsea Oswald
Shiara Robinson
Josh Nadzam (Masters of social work)
Danielle Sampley
Rashaud Scott
Samantha Stenzel
Hiruni Wijayaratne
Megan Wright

Volleyball
No graduates this weekend, but seniors Ashley Frazier and Christine Hartmann had already graduated.

Women's basketball
A'dia Mathies
Crystal Riley

Women's golf
Megan Moir

Women's soccer
Natalie Horner
Brooke Keyes

Women's swimming and diving
Megan Eppler
Lindsay Lash
Mandy Myers
Sherrill Thompson

Women's tennis
Khristina Blajkevitch

On Sunday, 49 current and former student-athletes participated in the University of Kentucky's 146th May Commencement. If you were on Twitter, you likely saw many photos of the graduates floating around, but I figured I would collect them all below. Take a look:

Earlier this week, John Calipari wrote about the "untold story" of Kentucky basketball. Everyone knows about the success UK has had during Coach Cal's four-year tenure, but the way the Wildcats have excelled in the classroom hasn't gotten the same attention.

Not only have the Wildcats had a 3.0 cumulative grade-point average over the last three years, but all seven student-athletes who have been eligible to graduate at the end of his senior year have done so.

Three more names are about to be added to that list.

On Sunday in Rupp Arena, Twany Beckham, Jon Hood and Jarrod Polson will receive their college degrees at UK's 146th May Commencement. UKnow has a story on the three. Here's what they had to say about graduating:

Beckham

"My experience at UK has been great. I just want to thank all the coaches, especially Coach Cal (Calipari), for giving me the opportunity to come here."

"It's tough because basketball, especially at the University of Kentucky, requires a lot. You just have to stay focused. You have to put the same time that you put into basketball into the classroom if you really want to be successful."

"Just coming to UK humbled me a lot, and I feel like I grew up. It made me sit back and look at things from a whole different perspective and just enjoy life and the college experience. Being at UK, I've gotten to meet some really great people and have some really great teammates."

Hood

"It wasn't easy. The first two years, I had a hard time with managing my time, as far as schoolwork and separating it from basketball."

"Everyone supports you in basketball all over the state, but they also support you in the classroom and as a person. People here in the [UK athletics department], media relations department, coaches, fans ... want to see you succeed."

Polson

"I am very honored to be able to graduate in three years."

Link: Beckham, Hood, Polson to graduate this weekend

Every coach in America has a theory when it comes to scheduling. It's typically based on the nature of his program, the quality of the team he expects to return and a number of other factors.

As you'd expect, John Calipari has undergone quite the evolution over the years.

At Massachusetts and Memphis, he was tasked with rebuilding programs and scheduled as such. Whenever there was an opportunity to play on television, he took it, regardless of the time, place or opponent.

At Kentucky, he needs not worry about national exposure - that will take care of itself. Instead, Coach Cal has a primary goal in mind when seeking out non-conference opponents: getting his team ready for the NCAA Tournament.

With UK's 2013-14 out-of-conference slate now complete and released on Wednesday, Calipari seems to have exactly the kind of schedule to do just that.

It starts with the handful of marquee matchups that dot the schedule.

Games with Michigan State, North Carolina and Louisville await the Wildcats. In addition to facing Michigan State in Chicago's United Center as part of the State Farm Champions Classic, UK will take on Providence and Baylor at neutral sites, the second of which will be at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas. Every year, Calipari seeks to expose his team to the kind of domed stadium that hosts the latter rounds of the NCAA Tournament. This year, the Wildcats will do one better and take the floor in the building where the Final Four will be played.

This year's schedule - which will be finalized when the Southeastern Conference sets UK's 18-game schedule - is notable for more than just its marquee matchups.

In scheduling opponents from "mid-major" conferences, Calipari looks for teams that will contend for their leagues' automatic bids, and it appears he's found them. Of UK's eight opponents from outside the historic BCS conferences, six finished fourth or better in 2012-13 regular-season play and two finished first.

One of those is very familiar to the Wildcats.

After ending UK's season barely a month ago in the NIT, Robert Morris will come to Rupp Arena in the Keightley Classic - an event named after legendary equipment manager Bill Keightley. UK will also play host to Texas-Arlington, Cleveland State and Eastern Michigan as part of the inaugural event, but the game against the Colonials on Nov. 17 will draw the headlines.

But as anticipated as the opportunity for revenge against Robert Morris will be, two games against NCAA Tournament teams could make for the most compelling on-the-floor matchups with non-BCS opponents.

Within 11 days in December, Boise State (Dec. 10) and Belmont (Dec. 21) will come to Rupp Arena. Boise State - returning all but one member of last year's team that received an at-large bid - will be pushing for a preseason ranking in the fall, while Belmont will seek its seventh NCAA Tournament berth in nine years.

Comparing next season's schedule with the one from last year, it looks mostly the same on its face. North Carolina is back, but the mix of big names, neutral-site games and a true road game or two remains.

The difference, at least in theory, comes in the games against teams from non-power conferences.

When UK found itself on the bubble this season, its resume was weighed down by a mediocre strength of schedule. The average RPI of those eight opponents was 214.0 in 2012-13. Things obviously change from year to year, but UK's eight mid-major opponents this upcoming year had an average RPI of more than 60 spots higher.

The best comparison for the 2013-14 schedule is the one from two seasons ago.

That year, the Wildcats played three neutral-site games and one true road game against a perennial power (Indiana). Next year, UK will do exactly the same, trading North Carolina out for the Hoosiers. The Cats also played two Final Four teams that seasons (Kansas and Louisville) and another Elite Eight squad (UNC) in non-conference play and it wouldn't be a surprise for history to repeat itself with Michigan State, North Carolina and Louisville all potentially ranked top 10 in the preseason.

Considering UK won a title playing that schedule in 2011-12, that's likely no coincidence.

It's that time of year when former Wildcats, with their NBA seasons wrapping up, return to Lexington to catch up with old friends and take advantage of John Calipari's open invitation to use the Joe Craft Center's world-class facilities.

The first of those Kentucky stars to return was Anthony Davis. Last year's consensus national player of the year and No. 1 overall pick was back in the Bluegrass last week and Eric Lindsey from CoachCal.com got a chance to spend some time with him to talk about his rookie season, reflect on the 2012 title and how his season at UK helped prepare him for the next level:

Although Davis was considered the top freshman in the country when he arrived at UK, there were questions about his game and his ability to make an immediate all-around impact.

Everyone knew Davis possessed the potential to block shots, but it took time for him to become a legitimate offensive threat. By the end of the season, as Kentucky dominated its competition in the NCAA Tournament, there was absolutely no doubt who the best player in the country was and who would be the No. 1 pick in the 2012 NBA Draft.

Davis said he has John Calipari and UK to thank for his rapid development and preparation for the NBA.

"(UK) really prepared me a lot," Davis said. "I think the benefit of Kentucky is Coach Cal actually coached in the league. I think that helps with the way he runs things here in terms of getting guys prepared for the league. I think that was the biggest plus. He tells guys the truth. He keeps it real with you and tells you how he feels and what he thinks. If you can't take that, you really won't be able to take the league.

"The coaches in the NBA do the same thing. They try to get you better just like Coach Cal tries to get you better. Just going up and down, playing against each other here makes you better. Every practice (at UK) is physical and it gets you in shape. All that stuff helps because it leads you into the NBA. I think they do a great job here because it just makes the NBA a lot easier."

Read the full story over at CoachCal.com.