NBA News NBA News, Match Reports and Updates
Arkansas basketball has a core philosophy when thinking about the early part of its upcoming season, a first under new head coach John Calipari.
‘Win to learn’.
The Razorbacks believe they are going to learn a lot about themselves Friday night (8 p.m., SEC Network) when No. 1 Kansas comes to Bud Walton Arena for a preseason exhibition. Associate head coach Kenny Payne met with the media Thursday afternoon to preview the event, and the opportunity to face a national-championship hopeful with a lack of stakes is an exciting prospect for the coaching staff.
“I think that the atmosphere, the type of team that you’re playing and it doesn’t count, even if we lose we’ll still be undefeated,” Payne said.
“It shows our young guys, it shows some of our veterans, just how important it is that you be ready to play because you’re not just playing against a regular team that you’re supposed to beat. You’re playing against a team that’s one of the best in the country, and so our learning curve is going to have to be fast, and this accelerates that.”
More: Freshmen Karter Knox and Billy Richmond are wild cards for Arkansas basketball, John Calipari
More: John Calipari excited for new Arkansas basketball adventure with five familiar players
Kansas head coach Bill Self said at Big 12 Media Days Wednesday that the exhibition would be played across quarters rather than halves, giving both teams more opportunities to practice different scenarios like late-game situations. It also doubles the resets, and coaches can be flexible in what they want to work on. Calipari confirmed the format in a post on ‘X’ Thursday morning.
Let me provide some clarity about our Kansas Exhibition game. This is a REAL exhibition game. Bill Self and I both talked about what our teams need and we decided on quarters which will provide more situational opportunities. We are looking forward to an incredible atmosphere in…
— John Calipari (@CoachCalArk) October 24, 2024
Unfortunately, both sides are dealing with…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/arkansas-basketball-eager-learn-itself-175649757.html
Author : Ft. Smith Southwest Times Record
Publish date : 2024-10-24 17:56:00
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.
