FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Even taking some downtime before starting fall camp practices, John Calipari and his staff are taking care of business. Considering there may be more talking about the basketball team as football gets started, that’s important.
Minnesota guard Casmir Chavis officially signed Saturday, which isn’t any sort of surprise. He had committed in July, but those verbal commitments have a way of not meaning a whole lot. Chavis originally signed with the Washington Huskies last fall but was released from his letter of intent.
They will start fall camp in a few weeks and we should be getting the schedule finalized in the next few months. We have heard there will be an exhibition game against Kansas at Bud Walton Arena, although the date is not known. People are already asking around town, though. That will be hyped like a regular-season game.
Calipari has tried to cool the expectations of some folks. They haven’t done anything on the floor, but bringing a coach with his standing to town was a big deal in April and nothing has slowed down. A lot of people want things like they were back in 1994 when they won a national title.
The bottom line is he hasn’t won a game yet. There is absolutely no reason to think he will do anything less than he has done in his career that included 15 years in the hoops-wild world with Kentucky. But considering football practices have just started, it’s interesting to be getting asked about basketball constantly.
Unless it’s something earth-shattering, there shouldn’t be much coming out of the basketball center for a few weeks. Players are still working out, though. That’s the assumption or else they are just parking there or walking past.
If nothing else, this team appears to be more focused on the team goals. We’ve seen several good players the last few years interested in themselves. It was easy to get the impression they couldn’t spell the word team due to a lack of interest more than knowledge.
Right now, Calipari and much of his staff are taking some downtime, but he probably hasn’t shut his phone off. It’s probably not a wild guess to think he’d take a call or try to get ahold of a recruit. That never ends in any sport these days.
