Calipari all the rage pregame

Nobody was more excited that John Calipari signed on to be the University of Kentucky basketball coach than Mavericks' basketball-communications manager Scott Tomlin.

A proud Wildcat alum from 2002, Tomlin was bouncing off the walls after news leaked out of Calipari's signing.

Actually, there may have been one Maverick who was more excited: Dirk Nowitzki.

"We're back baby,'' Nowitzki yelled in the locker room before the game against Minnesota. "Kentucky is back on the map.''

Kentucky, of course, was where Nowitzki was going to attend college had he not bypassed college to go straight from Germany to the NBA.

Of course, the best line came from a Maverick who shall remain unnamed, who said: "Dirk was only at Kentucky long enough to pick up the envelope with the payment inside.''

--Eddie Sefko