UK Basketball Scrimmage Notes By John Calipari

“Tell DeWayne Peevy I want the 9th banner to hang over on that wall”

 

Earlier today the Kentucky basketball team held an intrasquad scrimmage as they begin their preparations for the upcoming season. Although no media was present, there was no problem as The Grand Poobah himself, John Calipari gave the fans a few nuggets of info out of the Joe Craft Center regarding his team. 

 

Today, I put the guys thru a controlled dribble drive scrimmage. I tried a few different lineups, even the rookies vs the veterans.

– John Calipari (@UKCoachCalipari) September 21, 2013

 

Okay Coach, I’m intrigued. Tell me more.

 

My observations after the scrimmage… Right now, I think we have at least 7 starters on this team with a few guys pushing them.

– John Calipari (@UKCoachCalipari) September 21, 2013

 

That’s very good news Coach. 7>5 every day of the week, and twice on Sundays. Any guesses as to who those 7 starters might be? I’ll take a guess and say the Harrisons, Poythress, Randle, Cauley-Stein, James Young, and Dakari.

 

I saw a lot of options, if we want to play a smaller lineup, longer lineup or a big lineup. All in a half hour scrimmage.

– John Calipari (@UKCoachCalipari) September 21, 2013

 

I’m not really sure how Coach Cal plans on playing a “small” lineup with his top 3 guards standing at 6-5, 6-5, and 6-7, but at least we know the team is versatile. One of the most important facets of UK’s defense the last few years has been the ability of bigger players to hold their own guarding smaller players out on the perimeter off screens, which we saw a lot of from Nerlens and Willie Cauley-Stein last year.

 

We all know that it doesn’t matter who starts, but what’s more important is who finishes the game. #WeAreUK

– John Calipari (@UKCoachCalipari) September 21, 2013

 

With each opportunity John Calipari continues to sound more and more pleased with the talented group of youngsters he has in Lexington this season, very similar to the preseason before the 2011-12 season, when the school’s 8th national championship came back with the team from New Orleans.