Hello HOB. Welcome to the first news and notes thread of March. Let the madness begin. I'll be listening along and sharing all the major talking points here in this thread for those of you who can't listen to the show live. Show starts at 6 ET. Stay tuned...
* Calipari opens by talking about the health situation Alex Poythress is dealing with in Europe. Sounds like it might Bells palsy. They're hoping it clears up in a couple of weeks. Asks for BBN's prayers.
* Today's practice was terrific. Spirited. Accountable. Not letting up on these guys.
* Cal says he was scared to death of this Arkansas game. One of the reasons why he had the team stay in the hotel the night before and get a shootaround in the morning. Told them Arkansas would make every shot imaginable to start the game... and they did.
* On Aaron Bradshaw being quoted as saying Big Z is getting more of his minutes because Z is playing better than he is, it's up to me to earn those minutes back. Owning his performance. He gets it. Adds that Z is getting more time because he also understands what he needed to do to get on the floor: defense and rebound. Had some big rebounds down the stretch.
* Caller says this team reminds him of 2015 team in some ways. Cal reminds caller that he started the second group with Ulis and Booker at halftime of most of those games, that it didn't matter who started, but says he isn't mixing things up with this bunch because he likes how it's playing out. Laughs when people say you're bringing three lottery picks off the bench. "Well, it's working for them, isn't it?"
* Thinks it's gonna be another week before Tre Mitchell feels like his old self. They stopped practice today after Tre had a bad play and Cal had DJ Wagner tell him that it's just going to take time to get back in the flow.
* Praises the fans again for giving the team a big boost when they got down 9 in the second half. They carried us across the finish line. Asks the fans to show up loud again Wednesday, even though it's a 9 o'clock start. Need the energy. Tells Tom in advance that he is not doing the postgame. Let me go home and sleep.
* Caller asks if he can see Big Z and Bradshaw playing together. Cal says he is really trying hard to play with 4 scorers and 1 big the rest of the way. You may have a matchup at some point where opp has two good bigs and you need to match up, but he likes what this current rotation is going. “We can really score.”
* Likes his depth, though. The deeper you are, the better you can survive some stuff in March. “More room you have for error.”
* Justin Edwards has grown a lot through the ups and downs of this season. His ability to play so well at the end of Saturday's game after not being good early and sitting the bench for a while, would not have happened earlier this season.
* Cal says they've made the decision that they're being aggressive, defensively, no matter what. They're not going to sit back with their heels inside the 3-point line anymore. They're going to go out and demand their guys guard out beyond the arc.
* Cal says he wishes he could have that Hagans-Maxey-Quickley team back again and run it. Still bothers him that they lost their chance to play in the tourney. Talked to Hagans' dad about that recently.
* Calipari opens by talking about the health situation Alex Poythress is dealing with in Europe. Sounds like it might Bells palsy. They're hoping it clears up in a couple of weeks. Asks for BBN's prayers.
* Today's practice was terrific. Spirited. Accountable. Not letting up on these guys.
* Cal says he was scared to death of this Arkansas game. One of the reasons why he had the team stay in the hotel the night before and get a shootaround in the morning. Told them Arkansas would make every shot imaginable to start the game... and they did.
* On Aaron Bradshaw being quoted as saying Big Z is getting more of his minutes because Z is playing better than he is, it's up to me to earn those minutes back. Owning his performance. He gets it. Adds that Z is getting more time because he also understands what he needed to do to get on the floor: defense and rebound. Had some big rebounds down the stretch.
* Caller says this team reminds him of 2015 team in some ways. Cal reminds caller that he started the second group with Ulis and Booker at halftime of most of those games, that it didn't matter who started, but says he isn't mixing things up with this bunch because he likes how it's playing out. Laughs when people say you're bringing three lottery picks off the bench. "Well, it's working for them, isn't it?"
* Thinks it's gonna be another week before Tre Mitchell feels like his old self. They stopped practice today after Tre had a bad play and Cal had DJ Wagner tell him that it's just going to take time to get back in the flow.
* Praises the fans again for giving the team a big boost when they got down 9 in the second half. They carried us across the finish line. Asks the fans to show up loud again Wednesday, even though it's a 9 o'clock start. Need the energy. Tells Tom in advance that he is not doing the postgame. Let me go home and sleep.
* Caller asks if he can see Big Z and Bradshaw playing together. Cal says he is really trying hard to play with 4 scorers and 1 big the rest of the way. You may have a matchup at some point where opp has two good bigs and you need to match up, but he likes what this current rotation is going. “We can really score.”
* Likes his depth, though. The deeper you are, the better you can survive some stuff in March. “More room you have for error.”
* Justin Edwards has grown a lot through the ups and downs of this season. His ability to play so well at the end of Saturday's game after not being good early and sitting the bench for a while, would not have happened earlier this season.
* Cal says they've made the decision that they're being aggressive, defensively, no matter what. They're not going to sit back with their heels inside the 3-point line anymore. They're going to go out and demand their guys guard out beyond the arc.
* Cal says he wishes he could have that Hagans-Maxey-Quickley team back again and run it. Still bothers him that they lost their chance to play in the tourney. Talked to Hagans' dad about that recently.
