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"&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt; Tom Izzo and the Spartans face the Kentucky Wildcats on Nov. 12. (Streeter Lecka/Getty Images)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Were it not for the Duke-Kansas game scheduled right after it, Michigan State-Kentucky would be, without question, the non-conference matchup college basketball fans are most looking forward to in the first few weeks of the 2013-14 season. The Spartans and Wildcats, two likely preseason top-five teams, won\u2019t face off in the Champions Classic Double Header until Nov. 12, but Michigan State coach Tom Izzo already has his team focused on the matchup: \u201CWe are working to kick Kentucky\u2019s [butt].\u201D&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Izzo yelled those words at the Spartans' Midnight Madness Event on September 27, according to a student in attendance. In today\u2019s fast-moving information age, the comment naturally made its way to Kentucky head coach John Calipari, who has since responded with two verbal jabs. The first came last week on Kentucky sports radio, when Calipari, after referencing Izzo\u2019s quote, said teams don\u2019t just want to beat Kentucky for sheer competitive purposes. \u201CIt\u2019s not just Kentucky they want to beat, it\u2019s you, because you got the scholarship offer they wanted.\u201D&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Calipari followed up Monday at Kentucky\u2019s tipoff luncheon. Ask Wildcats players when any one of their marquee games \u2013 including the three Calipari mentions: Florida, North Carolina and Louisville \u2013 are scheduled, and they won\u2019t know, according to Calipari. \u00A0Michigan State players, meanwhile, have their game against Kentucky circled on the calendar; Izzo\u2019s comment makes that point clear. In fact, \u201Ceveryone\u201D on Kentucky\u2019s schedule knows when their game against the Wildcats is. That\u2019s part of what playing for Kentucky entails, Calipari said, and it\u2019s a great individual challenge for the Wildcats.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;i&gt;And let me say this about this team: Our third game is against Michigan State. That\u2019s going to be hard. They\u2019re already a veteran team. They\u2019ve already made comments that their practices are about beating Kentucky. But I say this to you: If I ask my team when we play Florida, they\u2019re not going to know. North Caorlina, (they don\u2019t know). I\u2019m going to do it today, because as I thought about it, they don\u2019t know. You think they know when we\u2019re playing Louisville? They don\u2019t know. They want to know if there is a meal tonight. They don\u2019t know. Now, I ask you this: Does everyone on our schedule know when they\u2019re playing Kentucky? Oh, they know. And it\u2019s on their locker, it\u2019s on their ceiling of their bedroom. You\u2019ve got to deal with that. That\u2019s part of being at Kentucky. You know what I tell them? Not only do they want to beat Kentucky, they want to beat you as individual player. You want to know why? They wanted that scholarship that you got and they want to prove they\u2019re better than you, not just their team is better than Kentucky. So that\u2019s the challenge that we have. But would you want it any other way? I don\u2019t. Bring it. Let\u2019s go \u2013 as long as I\u2019ve got a good team. (Laughter). Bring it, let\u2019s go.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Leave it to Calipari, the best recruiter in college basketball, to take Izzo\u2019s dig and turn it into an endorsement for Kentucky basketball. I would say that I\u2019m surprised, but this is not the first semi-veiled program sales pitch Calipari has delivered to the public. Remember the \u201CI\u2019m spending the majority of my time answering questions from NBA teams\u201D tweet?\nIf you needed another reason to tune in on the night of Nov. 12 for (at least) the first matchup of the Champions Classic, Calipari and Izzo just provided it.&lt;/p&gt;"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.si.com/college-basketball/one-and-one/2013/10/10/john-calipari-and-tom-izzo-are-already-in-mid-season-trash-talking-form>