Posted: Jan 2, 2011 7:37 PM by Brent Carney
A treadmill is an odd site inside a basketball gym. But there one sits, tucked in the corner of the practice courts at the Joe Craft Center just a few feet from where John Calipari coaches the Kentucky basketball team.
It's an object that the team may get to know well over the next few weeks as Calipari searches for a way to get more out of his team.
We were at my house last night as a team and I told them, there are a couple of guys who got to start practicing harder with more intensity," Calipari said.
Taking a play off will earn a player a quick trip to the corner of the gym and some extra running while practice continues without them.
"The minute I see it they're on the treadmill for 30 second run," Calipari said.
It's no jog, either. The treadmill is cranked up close to it's highest level while the player sprints for a half a minute.
Calipari hopes that the extra motivation will help a player or two from the bench emerge. In recent weeks the only players getting significant minutes are the five starters and Doron Lamb. Calipari would like for his rotation to lengthen to at least eight players and says he plans to start spending extra time working personally with some of the players who are struggling to play their way in to the lineup.
Calipari also is hoping that the time over Christmas Break - when teams do not have to abide by NCAA restrictions on how long they can practice - also will be a time of transformation for starter Terrence Jones.
"Let's watch him in the next two weeks, you're going to see an absolutely different player because my will is stronger than his," Calipari said.
The goal for Jones is to keep the versatile forward from straying away from the basket or disappearing for long stretches. Calipari seems to have visions of Jones as a tough, aggressive big man who can dominate a game on the glass and score at will around the basket.
"Partly because our team needs it, partly because he needs it," Calipari said.
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