The NCAA, in its infinite wisdom, allows college basketball coaches to work with their players for two hours per week leading up to the official start of practice on Oct. 12. Typically, these workouts are fairly basic. Coaches don’t expect to get much done, but they can use these sessions as a warm up for the long stretch of practices between Midnight Madness and the start of the season.

But if a random observer were to watch Memphis in these early workouts without knowing the date, he’d be more likely to guess that it was a December or January practice rather than the first week of October. The Tigers practiced Monday afternoon, and once again, their intensity and level of playmaking was sensational. Even the team’s harshest practice critic, John Calipari, had to stop the action at one point and exclaim, “This is like we’re a month into practice! We’re way above where we were last year. Not even close!” Of course, this isn’t too much of a surprise, given the number of veterans on the roster and possibility of Memphis’ No. 1 preseason ranking.

A couple observations:

– Sophomore forward Hashim “Big City” Bailey is positioning himself to contribute this year. Bailey slimmed down considerably during the summer, and his reshaped body is helping him becoming way more of a defensive force. During one drill, Calipari asked the team to applaud Bailey’s effort and asked rhetorically, “How much better is he than a year ago?”

– Point guard Andre Allen has had two outstanding practices in a row. Calipari knows he’ll have to find minutes for Allen, and one of the things he’s batting around is the idea of playing a very small lineup and seeing what happens.

– Sophomore forward Shawn Taggart sat out Monday. He’s been battling a sore back.

– Lou Holtz, in town to call the Memphis-Marshall football game Tuesday for ESPN, spoke to the team after practice.

– White Station sophomore Joe Jackson was in the Finch Center watching practice. Jackson has spent a lot of time at the Finch this summer, and that’s good news for Memphis. Jackson, a dynamic point guard, is a must-get recruit for the Tigers. In my opinion, he’s the best high school player in the city right now regardless of age or position.