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The Kentucky Wildcats are looking to bounce back next season after a rough 2020-21. John Calipari has already brought in several transfers and now the addition of Chin Coleman and Orlando Antigua to the staff have added an extra spark.
Coach O was on Kentucky Sports Radio Monday morning and he noted that even though he has only been back a few days, he has already noticed just how hungry the current members of next year’s team are.
“When you have the kind of turnaround and the amount of kids the team lost last year compared to all the newcomers and the experience and then you get into the pandemic, you have a lot of variables that come into play that make for a challenging year, but these dudes now are seasoned together. They have a hunger about them in just my conversations with a few of them, that’s exciting. We’ve got to add some pieces to that and keep building on that.”
Davidson transfer Kellan Grady and Iowa transfer CJ Fredrick have not yet arrived in Lexington, but Antigua fully expects them to fit right in to what Calipari and this staff are building for next season.
“Those kids that you’ve mentioned, Kellan and CJ, all those guys are built for this. They’re Cal kind of guys because the conversations are the same with them and the challenges are the same. They’re deciding to sign up and come in and represent this university and this program the same way that many of those other kids who have come through here have done.”
As for John Calipari, Antigua added that he is fired up for the new season and can’t wait to get Kentucky back on top of college basketball.
“You guys heard him. You know he’s ready. You heard how excited and fired up he is about this season. He’s ready. He can’t wait for this season to start. He can’t wait for these kids to get back from their break to get back in the gym and working and when have your leader that excited and that fired up, man, it just runs through everybody. Our staff is pumped and we’re ready. There’s not gonna be a whole lot of talking. There will be a whole lot of working.”
It is obvious that the changes coach Cal has made this offseason has this fanbase fired up again and positive momentum is building in Lexington.
You can listen to Antigua’s full interview with KSR below.
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