Where it lacked in celebrity appearances and state-of-the-union speeches from its showman of a head coach, Kentucky's latest edition of Big Blue Madness put the focus squarely on several new faces joining the program for the 2023-24 season.
After being introduced to the crowd at Rupp Arena by former UK All-American and NBA star DeMarcus Cousins, John Calipari kept his annual address short and sweet: "Let's have some fun tonight. Let's watch these guys play and enjoy it."
There is much to learn about these Wildcats. Only three scholarship players -- Antonio Reeves, Ugonna Onyenso, and Adou Thiero -- return from last year's squad.
Kentucky welcomes the nation's No. 1 recruiting class among nine newcomers to the roster. The latest addition, Croatian 7-footer Zvonimir Ivisic, just landed in Lexington on Thursday after being cleared academically to join the Cats.
Ivisic was in uniform on Friday but did not participate in any of the drills or contests. Later, Calipari told fans their first chance to see him in action would be at the Blue-White Game on Oct. 21 at Northern Kentucky University.
As for the Madness festivities, freshman guard Joey Hart (surprisingly) won the slam dunk contest, while senior guard Antonio Reeves (unsurprisingly) edged out freshman guard Reed Sheppard in the 3-point shootout.
The Cats also went through a brief scrimmage, which, on par with the action in recent years, did not feature much actual gameplay.
In an interview with the SEC Network during the live broadcast, Calipari said guard play should be a strength of this UK squad.
"We've got multiple guards. We could play three point guards at one time," he said. "It's hard to press a team like that. You open the floor, you get space versus running plays... I think we're a good shooting team, a good decision-making team.
"Defensively, we're going to have to be like my teams historically, who play good defensively with rim protection. If you have rim protection, you can be aggressive, you can take chances."
The UK boss also addressed starting the season without big men Aaron Bradshaw and Onyenso, both of whom are recovering from off-season surgery. They are expected to miss approximately five to seven weeks of action.
"There's two things that have to happen for us to be special," Calipari continued. "You have to be empowered as a team. That means it's their team, not my team... And then, it has to be a team that's unselfish and understands that, if we do well, everybody eats."
