Good morning Nation of Blue fans and welcome to another exciting day in Big Blue Nation. Can you believe it’s just twelve days until we see the Wildcats in action? I don’t know about you, but I am really excited about checking out these guys wearing blue. August 15-17 are going to be great days, even if the temperature is 138F as is expected today. Alright, it’s not going to be that hot but this year’s Wildcats are going to be![PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
Coach Cal is getting his first real chance to evaluate the players and put them together on the team. The Wildcats are practicing twice every other day and once on the alternating day. In today’s one day session, they worked on offense and defense. Offensively, Coach Cal emphasized that in the DDM you have to be able to read the defense and although your feet are moving fast, your mind has to move very slow.
On to the players, Cal says that he is impressed with all of the returning players and that they are all shooting the ball better (that is great news). On the new guys, he was really impressed with Stacey Poole’s skill level “I did not know he was as skilled as he is” Coach Cal said.
Coach Cal also said that “I’m surprised as Brandon Knight’s athleticism, more athletic than I thought. The skill level of Enes is more than I thought and Doron is faster, could not believe how fast he is, than I thought.” He also said that Doron had to go at that speed all the time now that he has shown them how fast he was.
The other freshman that the world is focused on is Terrence Jones, who has sustained an injury. Although practicing, he is only going at about 75% due to a swollen ankle. He did say that Terrence Jones is going crazy, he’s ready to get onto the court but is currently going through treatment 3-4 times per day. It is not expected that this injury will prevent him from playing in Canada.
So there we have it, the Coach Cal’s perspective on the team. His focus: bring the team together. I like that vision for these early practices and the exhibition games in Windsor.
