[gish_7]

Coach Cal said on Rome is burning that he was going to Lexington tonight to put the team through it's first practice so he could get to know them a little better.

[BlackcatAlum]

I expect Liggins & Galloway to jump out at him with there athletic ability along with Miller.

[eldorado]

I hope Liggins & Galloway jump on a train to another school!

[OLDHOSS]

I expect Liggins & Galloway to jump out at him with there athletic ability along with Miller.

I agree.

[TheGuyYouLoveToHate]

I cant wait to hear how it goes and his opinion of our returning players.

[C.Clair]

Wounder how long they will practice. Maybe just a pick up game or it could be a full blown practice.

[outdoorsman43]

Wounder how long they will practice. Maybe just a pick up game or it could be a full blown practice.

Coach Calipari said on Jim Rome is Burning that it was just be a practice to get to know the players and give the players a feel for what kind of coach he is.

[C.Clair]

Awesome, coming in and getting his hands dirty right off the bat.

[Spud6]

Awesome, coming in and getting his hands dirty right off the bat.

I like it.

[Panther Thunder]

We talkin bout practice? Not a game, not a game, not a game, but practice.

[stonesteven]

:Clap:

Awesome, coming in and getting his hands dirty right off the bat.

[NIKE2010]

I like it.

Me 2.

[BlackcatAlum]

Some notes from the first practice...

• Practice started at 8:30 p.m. and lasted about an hour and a half. Per NCAA regulations, teams are allowed two hours of drill instruction per week until April 15.
  

• The entire 2008-09 roster was there, including senior Jared Carter.
  

• The practice was extremely instructional. Calipari’s demeanor was pretty intense, but he doesn’t teach by yelling, calling out players, stomping his feet or any of that. He was very hands on and very talkative. Calipari would stop drills if he didn’t see what he liked, but he also didn’t hesitate to stop practice and single out a player if he was doing something right.
  

• Dribble, dribble, dribble. Calipari mentioned his love and philosophy for the Dribble Drive Motion Offense in his introductory news conference, and he wasted no time implementing it in his first practice. The first hour was dedicated solely to dribbling and driving the ball to the bucket. Calipari started the players off with different dribble-drive layup drills, and then increased the number of defenders as practice wore on until they finished with a three-on-two drill.
  

• Of course, the main component of the Dribble Drive Motion Offense is dribbling. The only negative I drew from the practice was the Wildcats’ sloppiness in handling the ball. I heard Calipari say a couple of times that they were going to have to get much better handling the ball.
  

• Calipari wants them to play extremely fast. He doesn’t want any hesitation when they have the ball and he even stopped a few players a couple of times for slowing up. No matter who has it – Calipari said he’s going to teach everybody, post players included, to drive it like they were guards – he wants them taking it straight to the basket as fast as they can for a layup or lob pass.
  

• One of the biggest things I took out of practice was Calipari’s message of simplicity. He said he’s not running the And 1 team and wants to make the game as simple as possible for them.
  

• Calipari likes the ball in the air. The only bounce he likes is when it comes to dribbling. He’s not against bounce passes all together, but he doesn’t like wrap-around passes or bounce passes underneath the basket because guards can come in and pick them off.
  

• As much as the practice was about the dribble drive, it was also about layups. Calipari said the point of the offense was to get easy layups. Part of that, he said, is they have to make all of them. UK missed quite a few in practice, and Calipari said they’ll eventually chart every single shot in practice, from layups to 3-pointers to half-court shots. He said if you can’t make them in practice, you won’t be able to make them in the game.
  

• Just an observation, but I believe Darius Miller is going to flourish in Calipari’s system. I thought he had a phenomenal first practice under Calipari, and the coach even praised him one time for his ability to drive the ball to the basket. Calipari told Miller he was going to “drive his brain out” playing for him.
  

• Kyle Macy came by practice and watched the entire session. Calipari came over during and after practice to shake Macy’s hand and talk with him for a few minutes.
  

• And finally, practice was extremely upbeat. The guys were constantly clapping, very attentive and looked like they were just having a good time.
  

http://www.ukathletics.com/sports/blog/s...09aaa.html

[outdoorsman43]

^ Thanks for posting BCA.

Looks like yesterday went well for Coach Cal and the players.

[NIKE2010]

Looks like the first practice went really well. That is a good thing to hear.

[TheCandyManIsBack]

Jarred Carter, anyone else LOL at this?

[ComfortEagle]

This is per kentuckysportsradio.com:

As I am sure you know by now, Coach Calipari had his first practice with his new team last night and it was supposedly a very upbeat affair. I received an email last night from someone familiar with the practice and here is what it said:
Great practice all the way around. I wont go into which players did well and which didnt because that can happen no matter how good the guys are. But what was clear is that Darius is going to love this. Coach spent a lot of time with him specifically and you can tell that he is really excited about him. The biggest difference today was the tone of the practice. Calipari is so upbeat and in the first five minutes, one of the guys messed up and then looked over to the coach. Coach said, “dont look at me. You are going to make mistakes, play through them.” The guys all smiled. Lets just say that wasnt the way it was before. Some guys are going to have to learn to dribble better, but besides that, this is going to be exciting.
In addition to that “unofficial” report, here is the official report from UK Athletics, noting that Kyle Macy was in attendance, Jared Carter practiced with the guys and Darius Miller was particularly effective:

[cougarpride08]

will he do this everyday up to the 15th?

[TheCandyManIsBack]

will he do this everyday up to the 15th?

Pretty sure it's 2 hours of practice a week until after April 15th. He can still use 30 more minutes. Doubt he will though.

[cougarpride08]

after the 15th is it a dead period or can he do so many in each month.

[theVILLE]

I hope Liggins & Galloway jump on a train to another school!

If John Wall doesnt come who plays point guard....Cousins...lol...I wouldnt get rid of them until another guard commited....and besides last year you guys were all excited about Liggins....what happend there...

[15thRegionSlamaBamma]

I wouldnt count Liggins nor Galloway out just yet you guys/gals. Different styles of offense and coaching will suite diffrent players. Never know this new offense with new coaching could make Liggins and Galloway into what we expected this past season. Sounds like a great attitude by all parties and a great practice. As he said in the news conference if they arent having fun they wont win games, sounds likes they are REALLY enjoying themselves.

[memphistiger]

If John Wall doesnt come who plays point guard....Cousins...lol...I wouldnt get rid of them until another guard commited....and besides last year you guys were all excited about Liggins....what happend there...

lol i dont think i would talk much pal. what happend to louisville? i thought "T-Will" was the next coming of jesus. well according to you Louisville jokes. but no, they ate up too much sub-par teams on their way to play MSU so they ended up getting choked in the elite 8. :Thumbs:

[stonesteven]

Some notes from the first practice...

• Practice started at 8:30 p.m. and lasted about an hour and a half. Per NCAA regulations, teams are allowed two hours of drill instruction per week until April 15.
  

• The entire 2008-09 roster was there, including senior Jared Carter.
  

• The practice was extremely instructional. Calipari’s demeanor was pretty intense, but he doesn’t teach by yelling, calling out players, stomping his feet or any of that. He was very hands on and very talkative. Calipari would stop drills if he didn’t see what he liked, but he also didn’t hesitate to stop practice and single out a player if he was doing something right.
  

• Dribble, dribble, dribble. Calipari mentioned his love and philosophy for the Dribble Drive Motion Offense in his introductory news conference, and he wasted no time implementing it in his first practice. The first hour was dedicated solely to dribbling and driving the ball to the bucket. Calipari started the players off with different dribble-drive layup drills, and then increased the number of defenders as practice wore on until they finished with a three-on-two drill.
  

• Of course, the main component of the Dribble Drive Motion Offense is dribbling. The only negative I drew from the practice was the Wildcats’ sloppiness in handling the ball. I heard Calipari say a couple of times that they were going to have to get much better handling the ball.
  

• Calipari wants them to play extremely fast. He doesn’t want any hesitation when they have the ball and he even stopped a few players a couple of times for slowing up. No matter who has it – Calipari said he’s going to teach everybody, post players included, to drive it like they were guards – he wants them taking it straight to the basket as fast as they can for a layup or lob pass.
  

• One of the biggest things I took out of practice was Calipari’s message of simplicity. He said he’s not running the And 1 team and wants to make the game as simple as possible for them.
  

• Calipari likes the ball in the air. The only bounce he likes is when it comes to dribbling. He’s not against bounce passes all together, but he doesn’t like wrap-around passes or bounce passes underneath the basket because guards can come in and pick them off.
  

• As much as the practice was about the dribble drive, it was also about layups. Calipari said the point of the offense was to get easy layups. Part of that, he said, is they have to make all of them. UK missed quite a few in practice, and Calipari said they’ll eventually chart every single shot in practice, from layups to 3-pointers to half-court shots. He said if you can’t make them in practice, you won’t be able to make them in the game.
  

• Just an observation, but I believe Darius Miller is going to flourish in Calipari’s system. I thought he had a phenomenal first practice under Calipari, and the coach even praised him one time for his ability to drive the ball to the basket. Calipari told Miller he was going to “drive his brain out” playing for him.
  

• Kyle Macy came by practice and watched the entire session. Calipari came over during and after practice to shake Macy’s hand and talk with him for a few minutes.
  

• And finally, practice was extremely upbeat. The guys were constantly clapping, very attentive and looked like they were just having a good time.
  

http://www.ukathletics.com/sports/blog/s...09aaa.html

Thanks for the great post, and this sounds like its going to workout good for our team!

[C.Clair]

I love it. Im ready to see them play.

[devilhorns05]

Sounds like they are loving the new system. I would also like to add I think Liggins can flourish under Calipari as well as Galloway. Those two this past season every time they touched the ball they were going full speed and attacking the basket.

[FBALL]

I'll say this. I'm not a big fan of his game or his attitude but Calipari could be the best thing to ever happen to Liggins. He can "do his thing", which is obviously how he likes to play and not worry about things. This is a much more free style of offense which suits his talents.

[TheGuyYouLoveToHate]

As Borat would say "i very excite"

[theVILLE]

Jarred Carter, anyone else LOL at this?

WHO.... Oh yeah he is the senior that played a5 minutes the whole season....I would like for someone to explain that to me...he was actuallly a decent player and done good those 5 minute.s...

[Colonel Kill]

Thanks BCA. Good post. I am excited for the season to come.