Cody Fueger talk about full commitment mark Pope future 7 foot and 10 pounds Kentucky Basketball…
Cody Fueger talk about full commitment mark Pope future 7 foot and 10 pounds Kentucky Basketball…
What we’ve done best as we’ve been going is retain guys,” Fueger said. “That’s super important for us, and we are going to do that at Kentucky, retain guys.”
Not having a choice this season, they had to bring in 12 new players, consisting of nine transfers (seven with just one year of eligibility) and three freshmen. Despite having two of the most well-regarded recruiters in the country, Alvin Brooks and Jason Hart, it was a group effort to build this roster.
“At the end of the day, we’re all in it together,” Fueger said. “We know as soon as we start recruiting a guy, we send out the number to everybody else on staff, and we’re all hitting him up. It’s a team effort over here, just like BBN.”
That led to a bigger point: “We’re all in this together.”
“We want everyone to feel a part of this. We’re only gonna go as far as you guys (BBN) want us to go. We need everybody, and we’re all in this together. That’s how we are as a staff. That’s how Coach Pope is. He’s got no ego. He just wants to win at the highest level, do it all together, and see us all succeed.”
The ball has yet to be tipped, and the on-court product is the most important thing, but it’s clear that this staff understands and is embracing Kentucky Basketball.
Mark Pope
UK Athletics
August is here. That means college football is just on the horizon, but it also means the end of summer practice for Kentucky Basketball as players go home to spend time with their families before the start of the fall semester.
To recap, during the two months of summer practice, Cody Fueger sat down with Sources Say to discuss offensive/defensive strategies, in-game adjustments, and recruiting philosophy.
The first takeaway? “We got a chance to be really good, but there’s a lot of stuff that we got to get better at,” Fueger said.
In regard to the latter, he notes that the players are “really coachable,” and that will be extremely important as the staff continues to install their system and principles heading into the season.
The first three things they want to get established, specifically on the offensive end, are the transition offense, taking care of the ball, and crashing the offensive glass. As for the defensive end, there are four things the staff wants to build: Transition defense, “guard your yard,” ball-screen defense, and defensive rebounding. Fueger notes that those seven things are going to be Kentucky’s mainstay this season.
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Installing these principles happens before the ball is ever tipped, but what about the adjustments during the game? Fueger talked through that process, and it is very analytically focused, emphasizing points per possession on both sides of the ball.
“We’ll go through this first (half), chart down every possession offensively and defensively, What’s going on, how they’re scoring, what shots they’re getting. Then, the same thing happens offensively. How they’re guarding, what’s really getting us defensively. We’ll see it a lot in-game as it’s going on, but analytics is everything, right? Points per possession, it’s everything.”
Fueger talked about in-game adjustments and the system, but how do Pope and the staff want to build future rosters?
During his introductory press conference, Pope assured that Kentucky would continue to pursue the best of the best, The ‘Burger Boys’ in high school and the best transfers. However, contrary to John Calipari, retention will be a big piece. Fueger went as far as to say it is “everything.”
Welcome home…
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