Sorry I’m a little slow with the update, but I spent most of the weekend in Nashville watching my football powerhouse alma mater make all kinds of history. Before I left, I was able to catch the Tigers’ weekly pre-preseason workout on Friday, and here were a few of my impressions.

– Overall, it was a tremendous practice. And when I say that, I think most of you know that you can take it seriously because my evaluations are always tough but fair. What stood out to me was the focus and intensity of the practice. Maybe it’s because there are a bunch of new guys who don’t know what they’re doing out there, so they need to focus more. Or maybe it’s simply this group’s personality. Let’s face it. In the past, there were some guys on this team who were more interested in showing off or talking trash sometimes than practicing, not to mention any names (CDR, cough…Dorsey, cough). This group was locked in Friday, with a minimal amount of goofing around.

– Tyreke Evans has only had a handful of hours working with John Calipari, but I am already seeing some small breakthroughs in his game. He’s always been allowed to play at his own pace. Calipari will challenge him to play at Memphis’ pace, which is what Evans needs. Because when he fully embraces the mentality to GO instead of slowing the ball down, he’ll be a top-10 pick. If you can combine speed with his physical strength and scorer’s instincts, he will be difficult to stop.

– Shawn Taggart’s game looks very good to me right now. It’s interesting. If you look at Taggart during the regular season last year, especially in C-USA play, he was often a nonfactor. He only scored in double-digits twice in the league, both against Tulsa. That wasn’t always his fault. Calipari just rolled with Dozier and Dorsey most of the time, if they weren’t in foul trouble. Taggart had a very good NCAA Tournament, however, and I think that motivated him to put in some work this summer. Memphis’ offense is not really designed for much of a mid-range game, but with Taggart being more involved in the offense, I think that will change to a great extent this year.

– My suspicion is that this team has a chance to be a better 3-point shooting team than we’ve seen in recent years. Willie Kemp was pretty good last year, and he should be good again. Doneal Mack wasn’t as consistent last year as he should be. One of the strengths of this group of newcomers is 3-point shooting, especially Roburt Sallie and Tyreke Evans.

–One of the interesting things to keep an eye on this year is how the veterans react to the young guys. A couple times during the practice, Antonio Anderson just went nuts on a couple of the freshmen when they made mistakes or didn’t make layups. At one point, Calipari even told him to simmer down and give the kids some slack. He and Robert Dozier are used to playing with veterans; now they’re going to have to play with rookies and experience some growing pains.