Calipari Looking to Exploit Team's Depth, Experience and Speed
The 2020-21 college basketball season was unlike any before it. This was especially true at Kentucky, which went through some things that are not often seen in Lexington.
Through battles with COVID-19, injuries and scheduling, Kentucky finished last season at 9-16. It was the first time in more than 30 years that UK finished a basketball season with a record under .500.
UK head coach John Calipari had also never been through anything like last year. In 29 seasons as a college head coach, Calipari has finished under .500 just twice – last year and in 1988-89 at UMass, which was his first year as a college head coach.
Calipari hopes that last season, in many ways, was once in a lifetime.
“Last year was a pandemic, so I’m by that. I mean, it was once in a hundred years,” Calipari said. “I feel bad for the kids. I feel bad for the students. What an awful thing. It’s done. Last year is a blip. That’s so far behind me, what we went through, and I learned from it, and you move on.”
The 2021-22 season, so far at least, looks more like what Calipari has seen before. Both in returning to “normal” and with what he’s seeing on the court.
“Well, this is like a normal season for us,” Calipari said. “I told them yesterday, we have not had a bad practice yet. I said, we go through seasons without a bad practice here. Seasons. Those are the teams that are winning 38, 35, 32, those are those teams. There’s a bunch of them.”
Three things have stood out to Calipari so far during his team’s practices – depth, experience and speed. Calipari and his staff hope to exploit both of those factors.
“Yes, we do have depth,” Calipari said. “So now you have guys that are similar skills offensively. Who would you play now? It’s you. They’re very similar offensively. Who are you going to play? It’s done in practice but how about defends better, rebounds better, takes care of the ball better. Those guys get a leg up, and I keep telling them, you’re competing with each other, yet I’ll play as many deserve to play.”
The experience that this team has is unique in that not all of the experience came at Kentucky. Sure, Keion Brooks Jr. is in his third year in the program and Davion Mintz is in his second (along with Dontaie Allen, Lance Ware and others who are coming back). However, transfers CJ Fredrick (Iowa), Kellan Grady (Davidson), Oscar Tshiebwe (West Virginia) and Sahvir Wheeler (Georgia) all got their starts in other places. But Mintz likes how the team has come together.
“The beginning of July came and I immediately saw the kind of feel that guys already had for each other,” Mintz said. “The off the court behavior translates to on the court. That’s how you trust your teammates in late-game situations.”
The experience also shows up on the court because the older players generally communicate much better than their younger teammates. Brooks knows there are several “talkers” on this team.
“I think we’ve got a lot of guys that talk really well,” Brooks said. “Sahvir, being the point guard, directing traffic, he’s a great communicator. Lance (Ware) is also really good, playing the five, being on the back line. We got a whole bunch of guys that are not afraid to speak up and help direct traffic out there on the court.”
Calipari cannot emphasize communicating enough.
“Well, the older guys, we still have guys that don’t think it’s a responsibility to speak, and the problem is they’re not going to play that much because your team is way better when everybody is chattering,” Calipari said. “You’re just way better, your team. Yeah, but I’m this and this. Yeah, but our team isn’t the same. You have to talk.”
The transfers have experience but playing at UK is a different animal, according to Grady.
“The first few weeks of September weren’t my finest,” Grady said. “But I’ve been pretty happy with myself the last month. I’ve been making shots at a much higher rate and the game has really slowed down.”
The older players are also making sure that freshmen like Bryce Hopkins are transitioning well.
“They’ve been pushing me day in and day out,” Hopkins said. “Especially Keion. I’ve been going against him a lot in practice. He’s been helping me a lot.”
Calipari also likes this team’s speed and he will look to exploit that advantage this season.
“First three steps, we’re flying,” Calipari said. “Doesn’t mean you just play fast, it means you’re running fast, and then you have poise, and then you have pace to your game.”
But it can’t just be fast. It has to be fast with a mind that’s going slowly.
“The biggest thing when you run fast to most of these players, their feet are moving real fast and their minds are moving just as fast,” Calipari said. “Well, you can’t play that way. You’ve got to run fast and have a slow look at what’s going on around you. So we’ve been working on it.”
The speed of the game has been an adjustment for Hopkins.
“It’s been an adjustment, coming from high school,” Hopkins said. “Coming in here, I did have to change my speed. Physicality is much stronger here.”
Practices have been very competitive so far this fall, according to Grady.
“That’s been the best part of my experience here,” Grady said. “Every practice has been a dog fight. Every point matters.”
And the team continues to want more.
“A lot of times when Cal blows the whistle to end practice, a lot of us will petition him to keep going for a bit,” Grady said. “That’s special and it’s unique.”
The goal, as it always is at Kentucky is to be playing at the end of March and in early April. Calipari hopes this team can get to that point.
“I want them to know if they spend the time and you sacrifice and you’re about each other you’ll win your share of games, and you’ll have a chance to be the last team standing,” Calipari said.
A result like that would, once and for all, put the 2019-20 season to rest.
