John Calipari Says Aaron Bradshaw, Kentucky Getting Closer to Full Health
The Kentucky Wildcats are close to getting one of their seven footers out onto the court.
The first six games of the season the Wildcats have been without all three of their seven footers - Aaron Bradshaw, Ugonna Onyenso, and Zvonimir Ivisic. All three are currently out, not fully healthy or cleared to play by the NCAA.
Bradshaw is the closest of the group to returning, having begun practice with the team on Wednesday. Coach John Calipari was asked about how the team will operate once they get a big man into the lineup here soon.
Not much will change according to Cal.
"Not too much, because he's a ball player too, whoever that guy is, they're basketball players that can pass, dribble and shoot. so Aaron (Bradshaw) has been practicing, but just light. So he's been with us five on zero, drill work, he's just not the competitive, man on man, body to body - we just haven't started with him on that."
Calipari was asked if he had a time in mind for Bradshaw to return, whether it be the Miami game, the UNC Wilmington game, or any point in the future.
"I don't know. If I give something, everyone will say 'he's lying,' so I don't know," Calipari said. "You'll probably know (before a game), someone will say something."
The lineups that UK can throw out onto the court once two of the seven-footers are back could be deadly. Cal started to break down some of the things he's been seeing in practice with Kentucky's rotations.
It's almost scary what Kentucky could do.
"We had people in our practice the other day, and one of the teams was Z (Zvonimir Ivisic), Aaron (Bradshaw), and Jordan (Burks) at the three, with Rob (Dillingham) and Reed (Sheppard)," Calipari said. "That's seven-two, seven-two, six-eight, and those two guards. The people in our gym were watching and saying 'this other team doesn't want to play against that team.' And Ugo (Onyenso) is now running and jumping [...] I worry that if Z is cleared, he's physically not... he's gotten sick or hurt - goes four or five days - how ready will he be? I don't know yet. Better be nice to have one more big body that we can throw in instead of them getting layups, those are all blocks if you got a big guy in there."
Once Bradshaw is available to play, what should we expect from Bradshaw from not necessarily a minutes perspective, but a usage one?
"There are some things we will probably have to do with him that's different," Calipari said. "Like right now we cannot post up our four man. Do we want to make Tre (Mitchell) a four instead of a five? Why?"
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