UK's Miller an example in practice

UK's Miller an example in practice

Written by Dan Rieffer
Tuesday, 10 August 2010 14:16
Dan Rieffer

LEXINGTON, KY - ABC 36 was granted access to UK basketball practice Tuesday morning at the Joe Craft Center. One thing was abuntantly clear, Darius Miller is Calipari's go-to-guy when he wants the rest of the Wildcats to see how something should be done correctly.

Calipari would occasionally stop practice and call out to Miller, asking him to perform the specific task the team was working on at the time, then Calipari would tell the rest of the team to watch Miller.

When the team worked on a defensive drill to deny an entry pass to the block, Calipari stopped to show the rest of the team how Miller was doing it. He said, "That's the difference between a veteran (Miller) and the young guys." Calipari was referring to the athletic position Miller displayed. Calipari told his team to always assume an athletic stance during live game situations. Calipari told his players that they would get tired quicker playing that way, but that's what he wants - go hard at all times and he'll substitute when a player needs a break.

Calipari seems to expect Miller to fill the role Patrick Patterson played for the Cats last season, as the elder leader. After all, Miller is the only returnee who saw significant minutes.

Kentucky's practice was spent going through drills as well as teaching dribble drive motion offense, full court pressure and interior defense.

During rebounding drills, Calipari said, "I want to hear you scream." He told his players the more aggressive the sound they make when rebounding the ball, the more it will intimidate the opponent. Calipari imitated the noise a sheep makes - "baaah, baaah" - as an example of what not to sound like when grabbing a board.

Other things Calipari emphasized on rebounding was to go for the carom "above the rim," jerk the ball down with both hands, turn and take a couple dribbles up court and make an outlet pass. Calipari instructed his players not to dribble the ball close to the body, rather dribble out in front of the body with longer strides in order to move the ball up the court quicker. He said that will make his team play faster.

Calipari talked about timing - waiting for the right instance to leave the man a player was blocking out to go after the ball.

During that rebounding drill, Calipari stopped to tell his players if they were more concerned with being the best defender they could be, they'd get a lot of minutes. However, if they were just worried about their offense, they'd see less playing time.

When Calipari focused on Enes Kanter's rebounding, he told Kanter to have better balance and to take a wider stance when coming down with the ball.

UK went through several shooting drills. During one of the drills, Calipari made sure the players used a "violent" ball fake - bringing the ball to the chin for a fake before shooting - saying it would lead to more free throw attempts.

Before going through the shooting drills, Calipari said it's easy to take fade-away jumpers, but it's harder to get to the rim. He wants his players to use a ball fake when facing a man to assist in getting to the rim. He said he wanted his players to make the tough lay-ups.

In talking about getting to the rim, Calipari said that Miller had figured out he could stop and hit from 15 feet and makes those shots. So, it was acceptable for Miller to not always get to the rim because of his success at hitting mid-range jump shots.

Following the rebounding and shooting drills, the team went through a couple defensive drills. First, they worked on denying entry passes. Then, they went into full court press defense and worked on trapping.

Next, Calipari worked with his team on the dribble drive motion offense. He spent time showing his players how to read and react to defenses and what offensive options were available, determined by how the defense reacts.

Calipari continued to teach motion on offense. On a few consecutive instances, walk-on freshman Jarrod Polson from West Jessamine did not react properly and get to the spot Calipari wanted Polson to go. Polson appeared to not be catching on quickly enough to satisfy Calipari, prompting Calipari to say, "I thought you were a 4.0 student?" - in a fun-loving way.

While working on the dribble drive, Calipari told his players, "If you want the ball, then you better want it because we'll run it four times." Calipari was making the point that if a player sees he has an advantage on a particular play call and wants the ball, then the player should be prepared to have that same play run for him again and again. The implication appeared to be that Calipari and the player's teammates would know whether or not the player is looking to score for selfish reasons or if his real intention is to exploit an advantage to help the team.

Based on observations from Tuesday morning's practice and one other practice I attended last season, Calipari's approach to practice is hands-on teaching. He runs and directs practice, instructing throughout. Rarely does Calipari yell at his players. He is never demeaning, not in a mean-spirited way. He occasionally teases his players and cracks jokes here and there during practice. Calipari also displays a lot of patience and does not seem to get frustrated very easily. The players seem very comfortable in the atmosphere Calipari creates at practice.