[Quality88]

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- The media crowded around Billy Gillispie's table yesterday at Southeastern Conference Media Days, eager to hear from the new guy.
But the University of Kentucky's first-year basketball coach wasn't sure what to say.
No, he doesn't have any funny anecdotes about overzealous Wildcats fans.
No, he isn't sure what to make of his first UK team. And yes, he's ready for the expectations of a fan base that expects him to win now and keep winning.
"You'd much rather be at a place where they expect you to win every game -- or I would -- than (a place) where if you lose, it's OK," Gillispie said. "It is not OK to lose to me. It is not OK to underachieve. It is not OK to not play at your very, very highest level.

"We're going to try to overachieve every single day in practice, every single time we play."
As for how that approach will equate to wins and losses, don't ask Gillispie.
UK opens the exhibition season Tuesday against Pikeville at Rupp Arena, but Gillispie still is trying to figure out how his pieces fit together.
He's less concerned with finding a starting five, he said, than with finding five healthy players to practice together.
"It is frustrating because you know that you need to be going 90 miles an hour with your team because it's a new group and it's a very inexperienced group and you're a new coach, and you're really going at about 50 miles an hour," Gillispie said. "You're very limited on what you're able to put in."
The Wildcats had a practice planned for last night, and Gillispie hoped that point guard Derrick Jasper, recovering from offseason microfracture knee surgery, is "going backwards." Jasper sat out Wednesday's practice with swelling in his knee.
Senior guard Joe Crawford has returned to full-time practice work after knee surgery, Gillispie said, and junior center Jared Carter, coming off shoulder surgery, was cleared four days ago to go all-out, though he has been limited in contact drills.
Freshman Patrick Patterson missed last night's practice with an upper respiratory infection, but Gillispie hopes he'll return tonight. Patterson felt chest pain Monday.
"Any time any of us complain of chest pain or whatever, you better take every single precaution you can," Gillispie said.
Guard Michael Porter also is sitting out after a concussion this month, but he should be 100 percent in "three or four days," Gillispie said.
Although Gillispie conceded that the limited numbers have made practice more difficult -- at least four players have missed each practice, he said -- he's aware that battered bodies won't change fans' lofty expectations.
Nor does he want them to.
"Believe me, whoever plays for us, we're expected to win, and nobody expects to win more than my players or me," he said. "We're not looking for any sympathy from anybody."
They aren't getting any from SEC coaches.
Tennessee's Bruce Pearl on Wednesday called UK "the team to beat" in the East Division, despite a media vote that tabbed the Volunteers as the unanimous favorite.
And Vanderbilt coach Kevin Stallings said yesterday, "Those of us that have been around the league long enough, none of us would be surprised if Kentucky (does) what Kentucky has done a lot of times and did a lot of times under Tubby (Smith), and that's figure out a way to win a championship."
Stallings was talking about the SEC championship.
But many of the questions Gillispie fielded yesterday had to do with a bigger prize.
UK hasn't been to the Final Four since 1998, the last time it won the NCAA title.
And although Gillispie wasn't looking ahead -- he has a "one-day plan," he said, not a "five-year plan" -- he did stress that his team's goal always will be "to cut down the nets."
"We know we haven't won a championship," UK guard Ramel Bradley said. "We understand that. We want to win a championship, so I don't think it's wearing on us. I think that it's motivation for us to work harder."
Gillispie steered clear of any bold proclamations about how his team might finish, saying he's "not big on predictions."
He joked that the SEC is "too tough" and said UK is "thinking about getting out of the league for a couple of years, coming back when we have some more experience."
And Gillispie chuckled when a reporter asked him whether it would be important to "dominate Florida," the two-time defending national champion, in the coming years.
"Our first game's Pikeville," Gillispie said. "We're going to try to beat Pikeville next week."
That got a loud laugh from the writers at Gillispie's table, but the new guy barely cracked a smile. And it faded fast.
"Y'all are laughing," he said. "I'm not."

Cats will 'try to overachieve'