Kentucky basketball practice intel: "To be at that level in July? Oh my gosh."

Jimmy Mahan owns the coolest card shop and Kentucky basketball museum in Lexington — and it ain’t close. The Kentucky Roadshow is a must-see for Big Blue Nation with all of the memorabilia you could ever dream of, some to look at and some to purchase. But he’s also a diehard fan himself with close ties to the program while also getting the occasional invite to practice.

And he’s been to a couple this summer, checking out Mark Pope’s first group of Wildcats before they take the floor in live game action later this fall.

What does he think of the team? He joined the Sources Say Podcast this week to give a tour of the shop while also talking ball, sharing some of what he’s seen with KSR.

“What I’ve seen of actual basketball, it’s exciting,” Mahan said.

It started with the team’s on-court work with La Familia, Kentucky’s alumni squad in The Basketball Tournament. Taking on some former Wildcat legends — All-Americans and pros in their own right — Mahan said the new crop of talent ran the old guys off the floor inside Rupp Arena.

“One thing I really love is it’s very much a system, you can see that. I was at that TBT back-and-forth, practice with the TBT guys, and our young guys were beating them like a drum most of the time. I couldn’t believe it because they were obviously very good,” Mahan said. “That was early and the old guys were getting back in shape, but the interesting thing was the system — moving the ball around on the perimeter, ‘boom, boom, boom, open.'”

It was the three-point shooting that jumped out at him, this group reminding him of an Alabama team that gets shots up in a hurry — and with efficiency.

“It almost reminded me a little of Alabama. I was at the practice before the Alabama game last year when they were talking about, ‘Bama is gonna drive and kick, give up the layup and go,’ which was a weird thing to hear,” he said “But we did a lot of that against TBT, go in for the layup, kick out to the three, boom. We had six guys who could hit the three and we beat those TBT guys by 20 in that game. It wasn’t close. I really like that. It feels very interchangeable, like, oh, take out Lamont (Butler), put in (Kerr) Kriisa, let’s go. We’re recruiting for someone who does that thing well. We didn’t even have (Koby) Brea healthy, we didn’t have everybody playing.

“But to be at that level in July? Oh my gosh, let’s go. I can’t wait.”

As a regular practice attendee under John Calipari, he can admit things are a little different with Pope calling the shots. But it’s a good kind of different — and that’s coming from a Coach Cal supporter through and through.

“It was very different, the Cal practices were very NBA feeling. This was not. This was, ‘We are here to get better right now, every day.’ Again, not that Cal didn’t want them to, it’s just a different feel with the same goal,” Mahan said. “I just think it felt more like something pre-one-and-done era, understanding the assignment. That’s what lifted me up.

“Not as much stop-and-start as I’ve seen in the years past, but when it was time to stop and teach, it wasn’t yelling. None of that. Not that Cal did a lot of that, but it was very instructive. A lot of individual instruction. I just loved it. And then all of the other involvement, too, from the assistant coaches. That’s what stook out, how good of teachers they all seem to be. What I saw on the practice court was incredible.”

As for his individual standouts, one came to mind rather quickly.

“I would say the person that crossed my mind was Andrew Carr, I really think he’s gonna be something special. I do,” he said. “He was a garbage man out there, cleaning up stuff, man. Just rolling and putting back stuff against — even if you’re out of shape, it’s still Willie Cauley-Stein and Daniel Orton. These are not small human beings, and he was out there. And one thing that stuck out was in the right place, at the right time. Everybody seemed to be there to receive the pass, to get the shot off, not contested, not wild. I enjoyed that.”

Then he quickly rattled off a few more before realizing there is simply plenty to like with this roster across the board. Even the guys who could be considered works in progress have shown plenty in their first eight weeks of summer workouts.

“I think Jaxson Robinson is going to be a favorite. I think Kriisa is going to be a favorite because of the way he talks,” Mahan added. “I think Carr is going to be pretty surprising, Garrison is a big body, he’s bigger than I thought he was and he’s gonna get in there. Some guys are raw. I think (Collin) Chandler was a little raw, but he’s been on a mission (trip). And again, even if you got in the paint and didn’t look good getting the shot up, he still got to the right spot. That’s just time, he’ll get that when he gets back.”

All in all, optimism is high. Very high.

“I feel really good about our guys. I like my team.

Check out the entire episode with Jimmy Mahan at The Kentucky Roadshow below: