"Looking back, he has to concentrate on what Coach Cal wants him to do," Rhodes said of Harrison last week. "Nothing else.

 

"If I had to do it over again ..." His voiced trailed off.

 

More than once in a 15-minute telephone conversation, Rhodes stressed the importance of listening to UK Coach John Calipari.

 

"John is all about getting these kids to the NBA," Rhodes said. "So why would he not want to see you get to the NBA?"

 

When asked if he listened to voices other than Pitino's, Rhodes blurted out, "Oh my God. Too many. I should have only been listening to Rick Pitino."

 

A big difference between then and now are the many more voices competing for a player's attention.

 

"It's even tougher now for these kids because of social media," Rhodes said. "And it's all in your face. God forbid if we had had that when we were playing."

 

Now the coach at Cordia High School in Knott County, Rhodes tries to dampen the impact of social media.

 

"People are vicious," he said. "Basically, they can take free shots at you behind keyboards, and there's nothing you can do."

 

As Kentucky coach, Pitino liked to talk about the precious present. Live for today. Do not fret about tomorrow until tomorrow. Rhodes was not heeding that advice.

 

"I was thinking I had to do this, I had to do that," he said. "I had to score this amount of points. I had to score that amount of points. And I didn't concentrate on what coach was asking me to do."

 

 

 

UK basketball notebook: Rodrick Rhodes offers words of wisdom for Andrew Harrison | Basketball: Men | Kentucky.com

Sounds like some very sound advice.

Great advice from someone that went through it.