Thirty-two summer practices are in the books for the Kentucky basketball team, and former Wildcat and teammate of Mark Pope, Cameron Mills, has been reporting on those practices this offseason.
For his final summer practice report, Mills had three takeaways: 32 summer practices, team bonding, and coaching offense vs. defense.
32 Summer Practices
“I cannot emphasize enough the importance of 32 practices that Mark Pope’s new team got this summer,” Mills said. “Getting kids in here that understand, or at least the bandwidth to understand that they have a brand-new offense to learn. A brand-new defense to learn.”
While getting players in to learn their new system and the associated X’s and O’s, it is also important for the team to learn about each other on the court. Learn teammate tendencies and gain that “sixth sense,” as Mills puts it.
Team Bonding
“Everything right now is about learning to be together and build a team. We have 13, 14 new guys this year. A whole brand-new team that’s gotta learn how to gel. Coach Pope is trying to get them to gel as soon as possible.”
Pope isn’t limiting team bonding to just time on the court, either. The players have golfed, bowled, and attended many UK events together this summer. In addition, the team took a “team building retreat” to Hazard to help the community, which was heavily affected by floods in 2022 and spent time together as a team. A little different from the team building of international trips in recent summers.
Coaching Offense vs Defense
Mark Pope is taking a page from his former NBA head coach, Larry Bird. During Bird’s time with the Indiana Pacers, he had two assistant coaches, one specializing in offense and the other in defense. Pope is bringing that Kentucky with two modifications: Two additional coaches thanks to the NCAA allowing up to five full-time assistants. This means there will be two coaches specializing in both offense and defense.
Pope’s offense is known for a lot of 3-point attempts, and to prepare the players, the staff has each player shoot 100+ 3s per practice, with game speed and game cuts. Mills says it’s not just about volume. He also expects efficiency.
“One through five, I can’t think of a single guy that can’t shoot at least 33% from the 3-point line,” Mills said.
On defense, the staff is piping in road-like environments, forcing players to learn how to communicate verbally and non-verbally, which will help in SEC road games this season.
After a short break, the players are back on campus and will resume practice this week. While football season just kicked off, basketball season is just around the corner. Big Blue Madness is just six weeks away.
