What Style of Play Will We See in the Bahamas?

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As the Wildcats prepare to leave for the Bahamas, fans are interested in seeing what kind of style the team will play. With so many returning players, one might expect to see more of Cal’s famous “dribble-drive”. But, part of the genius of Calipari is his ability to use whatever system fits the team he has that year. John Clay writes:

"“John Calipari isn’t wedded to the dribble-drive offense. He isn’t wedded to the low-post offense or the pick-and-roll offense or the shoot-the-three-every-time-down-the-floor offense. There isn’t a John Calipari offense or a John Calipari way of playing basketball.”"

Over the last few days, matchups and tournament fields have been released for several early season college basketball tournaments and events. The Champions Classic, of which Kentucky has been a part for 3 years now, is among the best. Matt Norlander writes:

"“Held at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis on Nov. 18. It’s the fourth installment of this four-team doubleheader that always includes the same clubs. This year’s matchups are Michigan State-Duke and Kentucky-Kansas.Grade: A. Four bluebloods. Always fun, a big TV event and with good reason. No more needs to be written. Always an A.”"

The media have been raving all week about Kentucky basketball practices, as Calipari has let sportswriters watch the team before they head to the Bahamas. And the media have showered the team in accolades typically not given this early in the year. Kyle Tucker writes:

"“Got a third straight look at Kentucky basketball practice today, and it was a treat. As he told the media he would in a Q&A session beforehand, coach John Calipari mixed and matched his guys in several different groupings for scrimmages Wednesday.Without getting too specific, there were some fun pairings. We saw him split up the Harrison twins for one stretch. That also meant UK’s two point guards, 6-6 Andrew Harrison and 5-9 Tyler Ulis, played together for a bit. We also got a twin-towers look with Dakari Johnson and Karl-Anthony Towns on the same team briefly.”"

Kentucky practices in pads for the first time yesterday. Afterwards, Coach Stoops took his team to task for their effort. Jennifer Smith writes:

"“Maybe it was the three straight days of 5 a.m. wake-up calls for sunrise practices.Maybe it was worries about class work as summer school winds down.An enraged Mark Stoops isn’t interested in excuses.‘You know I’m not giving them any place to hide,’ the Kentucky football coach said Wednesday morning, the third day of camp. ‘Not good enough. Just not tough enough, not enough energy, weren’t clean enough in our execution on either side of the ball. So, just wasn’t good enough.’”"

The PGA Championship tees off today at Valhalla. Yesterday, Tiger Woods arrived, bringing with him questions about how he might play, in light of his withdrawal from the WGC-Bridgestone last weekend. Bob Harig writes:

"“Woods is not suddenly healed. Even before Sunday’s issues, he was nowhere near full strength. This comeback is going to take time and the struggles at Firestone were clearly a setback. To expect much at Valhalla this week is asking an awful lot.But Woods is stubborn, sometimes to his own detriment, oblivious to the chatter.”"