Stony Brook knows all about the John Calipari mystique

It appealed to Stony Brook’s players the instant they learned whom they will face in their first NCAA Tournament game. They lit up about the challenge and excitement of contesting one of the mightiest reputations and trendiest brands in college basketball:

John Calipari.

The coach has become almost as identifiable as the legendary University of Kentucky program itself, which will make the 13th-seeded Seawolves’ debut Thursday night in Des Moines, Iowa, that much more intriguing. When he was asked for a snap scouting report on the Wildcats, Stony Brook star power forward Jameel Warney began this way: “Coach Cal, tremendous guards, athletic bigs . . . ”

Stony Brook coach Steve Pikiell, in his first comments after the pairing was announced Sunday, repeatedly praised Kentucky because it has “a Hall of Fame coach.” Pikiell hasn’t crossed paths much with the man who was enshrined in Springfield last year, but he said, “Everybody knows Coach Cal.”

Calipari has become a larger-than-life figure — controversial, outspoken and successful — for a larger-than-life team. He has mastered the art of building and rebuilding in a hurry, with a succession of “one-and-done” blue-chip players who spend a single season in college before leaving for the NBA.

The coach himself was rumored to be headed back to the pros as general manager/coach of the Nets when the two positions opened in January. Despite his friendship with the franchise’s CEO, Brett Yormark, Calipari immediately tweeted, “I have absolutely the best coaching job in sports.” One report said it would take a $120-million contract to get him to leave his situation as the biggest man on campus in Lexington.

“It’s a great experience to actually go up against a coach like him,” Stony Brook forward Rayshaun McGrew said.

While Stony Brook knows everything about Calipari, he knows more about Stony Brook than you might expect from one of the highest-profile people in the sport. He is a Northeast guy from Moon Township, Pennsylvania, who coached the University of Massachusetts and the Nets.

“I almost went to school at the University of Vermont,” he said on a conference call Monday, referring to the team the Seawolves beat on Saturday for the America East title. “Coaching at UMass, we played those guys within that league.”

He was bluntly critical of the NCAA Selection Committee on Sunday night for having made Texas A&M a No. 3 seed and Kentucky a No. 4 seed hours after Kentucky beat A&M in the SEC title game. But on Monday, he was back to business, talking up Wildcats players such as guards Tyler Ulis and Isaiah Briscoe and politely analyzing Stony Brook.

“Here’s what I would tell you: One, well-coached. Two, their strength is their big kid. He understands angles as good as anybody we’ve played this year,’’ Calipari said of Warney. “Their guard [Carson Puriefoy] — very fast, a lot like Tyler Ulis in that he’s speedy with the ball from foul line to foul line. He’ll be as fast as anybody we play. They shoot the ball, they’ve got another kid [McGrew] who plays off Warney.”

Back to Warney, Calipari added, “You know he played at the same high school as Isaiah Briscoe. He’s a little older than Isaiah, but Isaiah said, ‘I’ve played pickup games against him.’ I said, ‘How good is he?’ He said, ‘He’s a beast.’ So we know how hard this game is going to be. This is not going to be a typical 4-13 game. We know that. We’re going to have to have one of our better efforts to win the game.”

Diplomacy notwithstanding, he will have the Wildcats prepared. When it comes to tournament games, the Hall of Famer is no fan of one-and-done.