* Cal said PG Ryan Harrow is undergoing some "blood tests and different things" to determine his lack of energy. Says he wasn't sure if he'll go today in practice. Said his play vs. Maryland was probably due to his ailment. "I probably should have had him step away."
* SG Julius Mays had his eye swell up yesterday and didn't practice. Cal said they should have stitched it, but tried to go with the glue treatment instead. He may not have contact drills today, but is expected to play versus Duke unless there's a setback today.
* Asked about PG Jarrod Polson's play against Maryland and how it impacts his minutes moving forward, Cal said "I told you guys the day before the game, if I had to play him, I had confidence in him. He's played against good players every year and gotten better and better. Does all the extra work."
* Cal has added some rebounding drills to practice to help them with the issues they had against Maryland. He said the main problems Friday seemed to be following the flight of the ball and getting moved under the rim too often. He said the flight of the ball issue is something you should know in "sixth or seventh grade, but I can't be upset about it because we haven't worked on it. I just thought, we're 7-foot, 6-11, 6-10, 6-9, we'll rebound. No." He said the Cats have some habits that need to be broken just by doing them over and over in practice. He also warned that, in shifting focus to rebounding, something else important has to give, so it could be a new issue vs. Duke. They didn't do anything offensively for two days. "That may hurt us now," Calipari said.
* Cal said he's stressing, again, that you can't leave shooters against Duke. "If you leave the corners, it's an automatic buried 3." Said the Devils use their 4s like UK uses Wiltjer. He says they haven't focused on Duke a great deal yet in practice. He's too busy trying to fix the Cats' own issues.
* Asked if he remembered where he was in 1992 for the "Laettner Shot," Cal paused and then had it all come back to him. "92, we were the game before (the UK-Duke Elite 8 game). If Lenny Wertz didn't call the technical on me, that game never happens. We beat Kentucky. Lenny Wertz called a ridiculous call from 55 feet away. He doesn't make that call, we win that game, then there is no Christian Laettner. Yeah, I was there."
* Cal said these first two games have taught him that, if they're going to do these neutral site games, they can't be back to back in the future. Said the game in Brooklyn was the first time he's seen the BBN outnumbered in a setting like that. He feels like fans had to make a choice with their money to go to Brookyln or Atlanta. He thinks there will be a big turnout in ATL.
* "What I liked is they made their run, and it was a hostile crowd, and we never got rattled. We just played," Cal said of the atmosphere in Brooklyn. "I would tell you we're going to be in A LOT of games like, where it's in doubt with a minute and a half to go. Two years ago, that happened to us and we lost six games in our league. And they were all 1-2-3 point games. We lost six of 'em... This was a good one to figure things out."
* Cal said he likes what Archie Goodwin brings to the table at the point because he can get to the lane at will, but is working with him to play a little bit more under control and to try and make the easy play instead of the acrobatic shot.
* Alex Poythress has improved in practice, Cal said. They're still trying to figure out what his game is. Thinks it's a little bit like Patrick Patterson, but noted Patterson was more of a 4 and Poythress is more of a 3.
* Cal said Duke's Mason Plumlee may be the best big they play. That's kind of a scary proposition for the Cats after Maryland's Alex Len went for 23 and 12. Plumlee had 19 and 14 in the Devils' opener.
