Kentucky women’s basketball associate head coach Lindsey Hicks joined Darren Headrick on 630 WLAP to talk about the first official practice among other things as well.

Players were excited for practice (and almost too excited)

Now that official practice has begun, Kenny Brooks can really start to implement his system and get the offense flowing. Of course, the vast majority of the players he’s coaching at Kentucky are new to his coaching style, so there’s some learning that has to be done.

Brooks is obviously aware of this, and that’s why he tried to implement a walkthrough during practice on Monday. However, instead of a walkthrough, it ended up being a “jog-through” of sort. Needless to say, the players were pretty excited to finally get going in practice.

“During one of the drills installing the offense, I know Coach Brooks was wanting them to do more of a walkthrough as the learn different aspects, [the players] were pretty amped up,” Headrick noted. “He had to slow them down a few times. That was fun to watch.”

Hicks chuckled, then confirming what Headrick had observed.

“He told them to go 50%, and they ended up going like 75-80%. He was like ‘woah, woah, slow down.’ Our kids work hard. They have good intention, and that’s all we can ask for. Today was pretty fun.”

Tempo is the name of the game

If there were two things that Kenny Brooks would want on his team, it’s size and speed. Fortunately for him, he’s got plenty of size to work with. Now, it’s all about getting them to play fast.

“Coach Brooks is really big on tempo and playing with each other,” Hicks said. “The whole starting five have to be on the same tempo., playing at the same pace, and that’s what we’re establishing right now in our offense.”

The Kentucky brand does dividends in recruiting

The last big topic that Headrick and Hicks touched on was recruiting. While Brooks and his staff were able to find success on the recruiting trail in Blacksburg, the Kentucky brand has opened up even more potential for what the staff can do while trying to garner the best high school talent in the country.

“[Recruiting has] been fun,” Hicks pointed out. “A lot of people recognize the logo better than the Virginia Tech one. It’s been attracting a lot of potential. Because of that, we have been able to get some top recruits on campus. So, that’s exciting for us too. There’s so much interest in just Kentucky.”

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