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“Who pushed Nerlens?” Coach Cal is on the case.

Dominican Republic's team coach John Cal

Dominican Republic’s team coach John Calipari gestures the during Pre-Olympic basketball game against Nigeria in Caracas on July 8, 2012. AFP PHOTO/Leo RAMIREZ (Photo credit should read LEO RAMIREZ/AFP/GettyImages)

AFP/Getty Images

Camping out for tickets to big matchups is nothing new. We’ve seen Krzyzewskiville and similar tent cities crop up for league games and big non-conference matchups across the nation.

So far, fans in Lexington are the first I’ve heard of lining up to get tickets to a Midnight Madness event.

According to the Lexington Herald-Leader, thousands of Kentucky fans lined up outside venerable Memorial Coliseum Friday night and this morning, and snatched up a full allotment of tickets to the event in well under an hour.

John Calipari showed up to greet the crowd, and offered a few remarks. Since he had a number of the campus’ weekend basketball warriors on hand in a captive audience, he took a moment to try and find out who nearly wrecked the franchise by knocking down freshman Nerlens Noel during a pickup game.

The paper published a transcript of his remarks, including Coach Cal’s impromptu Columbo routine.

I’ll tell you this. Who was the one that pushed Nerlens in the back? Who did that? I refuse to watch the tape. Somebody said, ‘Did you see the tape?’ I said, ‘No, I’m not watching that video.’ I’m in Minnesota and I’ll be throwing up watching a videotape of you guys pushing my players.

Wondering if he was serious or lighthearted about it? Watch the video: