As tired as the Tigers were Tuesday after four straight days of two-a-days, at least they weren’t in the hospital. Unfortunately, the same could not be said for one of the 15 visiting Chinese coaches who had to have his appendix removed. Luckily for him, that procedure has come a long way in recent years (I’ve never had to have my appendix removed, but apparently it’s all done with lasers now, meaning it’s far less invasive) and he will be ready to fly home with the rest of the group on Thursday.

John Calipari is cramming a lot of information into a short period of time. Last year, Memphis had nearly five weeks (and an exhibition game) between Memphis Madness and the season opener. This year, it’s three weeks and no exhibition game. So it really is a time crunch. With basketball, the casual fan doesn’t necessarily think about a lot of situational stuff that needs to be practiced before a real game. Though obviously the offensive and defensive systems require the most time, things like out-of-bounds plays or quick-hitting plays for late-game situations need to be installed. On Tuesday, a lot of time in the afternoon was spent on the Tigers’ zone offense (and zone defense, to a certain extent).

More observations:

– They put Derrick Rose with the first team on Tuesday for the first time. When people talk about Rose’s speed, the thing that separates him is that handling the ball doesn’t slow him down. A few times, Willie Kemp was sprinting as hard as he could defensively but still couldn’t catch Rose.

– Andre Allen was back full speed after sitting out with a quadriceps contusion.

– Doneal Mack has really developed a nice floater, a big addition to his game. He went to it a few times Tuesday and was very effective.

– Antonio Anderson has made everything the last couple days.

– Joey Dorsey is quietly going about his business during preseason camp, but his play has been stellar.

– One of the biggest surprises for the Chinese coaches is how loud and aggressive Calipari is in coaching his players. Their culture is more reserved, so they’re not used to the tone he uses. The funny thing is, Calipari has been — by his standards — amazingly calm. He’s barely raised his voice at all. I mentioned that to him Tuesday, and he laughed. The truth is, he hasn’t had much to yell about. Yet.