Oscar Tshiebwe has let John Calipari alter his practice routine. (UK Athletics Photo)
West Virginia transfer Oscar Tshiebwe didn’t need long to make a significant impact on the Kentucky basketball program. He won’t be eligible to play in a game until the 2021-22 season but he has already allowed coach John Calipari to alter what he’s doing in practice in hopes it will make the team better the next few weeks.
The powerful 6-9 center had enabled Calipari to be more flexible with practice scrimmages. He has put his top seven players — Davion Mintz, BJ Boston, Isaiah Jackson, Olivier Sarr, Devin Askew, Keion Brooks, and Jacob Toppin — on one team. Calipari says that will also push players Dontaie Allen, Lance Ware, and Cam’ron Fletcher to also develop by going against the top players daily.
“He (Tshiebwe) gives you a presence. And here’s the other thing I’m doing. Now, we have a unit, we’ll have seven guys on one team getting those minutes, but that other group now becomes ‘Big Oscar,’ where you’ve got size, you’ve got Cam Fletcher, you still have Dontaie shooting balls, and still have Lance being physical and doing his thing,” Calipari told Tom Leach on his weekly radio show.
“That group gets great work because they’re playing against those seven. I’ve done that at times, but I’ve never had enough guys to really do that. Normally it’s just the first five and the second five. This has been good and he has been a great addition.”
Calipari also confirmed on the radio show that Allen and Ware officially are not in his top seven and shown by their decreased playing time in recent games.
“What I’ve done, now, is go to a seven-man rotation. That’s what we’re doing,” Calipari said. “If you’d have been in our practices, you’d know, ‘Yeah, those are our seven.’
“I sat down with the other guys and said, ‘There could be foul trouble, there could be injuries, awful play, something that gives you a chance. You must be ready for your opportunity.'”
Calipari told the players they might one day be on a professional roster and be at the end of the bench and not get to play. When they do get a chance, they better be ready or “you’re done” and out of the league.
“You have to be ready for your opportunity, and that’s what those guys coming off the bench will do,” Calipari said.
