Ramped up practice begins on Monday for Kentucky basketball

Kentucky basketball is about to crank up the offseason intensity knob. After months of strict restrictions on gym hours, Monday marks the beginning of a new transition period for preparation. Up until now, the NCAA capped formal basketball instruction to eight hours per week, but starting September 21, that number jumps up to 20 hours with one mandatory day off per week.

The NCAA calls allowed basketball activities CARAs, or “countable athletically related activities,” effectively meaning anything that isn’t voluntary.

In order to mentally prep the players for the new workload, Mark Pope and the staff gave the team three days off in a row. Some players, like Collin Chandler, used the long weekend as a mini-vacation. According to his Instagram, he went to Orlando for a visit to Disney World.

Others, like Jaland Lowe and Otega Oweh, will use the time off to heal up. Oweh is still recovering from a turf toe injury that has kept him out of action for the last few weeks. Meanwhile, according to J. Kyle Mann’s recap of practice observations, Lowe did not participate on the day he was there due to a minor ailment.

The official, OFFICIAL, practice period with even fewer restrictions begins on Monday, October 14, fresh off the heels of Big Blue Madness on October 11, a date that is very quickly approaching, much to the unbridled joy of Kentucky basketball fans everywhere.

Join KSR Plus! With a KSR Plus membership, you get access to bonus content and KSBoard, KSR’s message board, to chat with fellow Cats fans and get exclusive scoop.