John Calipari explains practice strategy on getting teams healthy

For Kentucky head coach John Calipari, the most important thing for any team to have heading into March are fresh minds and fresh legs at the end of the regular season. If he notices his team looking fatigued during practice, he’d manipulate drills in favor of the players to preserve their energy for game day.

“We went in this practice, we had a couple pro scouts come in and I said, ‘Look, I’m gonna go five on five for about 10 minutes, and that that’ll be about it.’ I told the players before, the guys that need [the five on five] are Bryce [Hopkins] and Daimian [Collins], they need us to scrimmage,” Calipari said. “So, the problem is we got guys that are in wars every time they play, and they don’t need to be scrimmage in with 21 days left in the regular season.”

Being able to figure out where players are individually is something Calipari has been a master at throughout his Hall of Fame career. Obviously guys like Oscar Tshiebwe, who just came off a 27-point, 19-rebound performance against Florida on Saturday, and TyTy Washington, who is a potential lottery pick in the 2022 NBA Draft, don’t need those drills.

“We did a five on five block out drill,” Calipari continued. “The third time up and down the floor, Oscar went down and grabbed his leg, and I went, “what!” but he ended up shaking it off, and he was okay.”

Afterward Calipari had his guys work out on a five on zero drill for the rest of the slotted time for the scrimmage. While the pro scouts most likely weren’t fond of this, he was protecting his players.

“Our whole thing is being really focused, being fresh and ready to go [by] talking and accepting roles,” Calipari said. “Some guys are going to play better some days, some guys won’t play as well some days. They’re not machines. They’re not robots. But we got enough guys coming in and doing their thing.”

Unfortunately for Kentucky and Big Blue Nation, Calipari’s plan for a healthy team may be in jeopardy due to an accidental tie up that left Washington limping off the court Saturday. The timetable or severity of his injury is unknown as of this writing, but if he were to sit out for an extended period of time it would be a huge blow to Kentucky’s national championship hopes for this season.

Kentucky will travel to Knoxville for a showdown with rival Tennessee Tuesday night at 9 p.m. ET live on ESPN.