For one player, this summer has really just been about getting back to full-time basketball. Colin Chandler was the first player to commit to Mark Pope after he was named head coach at UK. The former top-40 recruit should bring a lot of buzz to the court this season, but first, he has to get ramped up. The summer workouts have been a crucial part of Mark Pope’s first team in Lexington. The Kentucky Wildcats are looking to not only build chemistry, but the stamina to play in the fast-paced style Pope and his staff are expecting to play.
Chandler has been on a Mormon mission for the past two years, spending time in Sierra Leone and London. It’s clear that the mission didn’t exactly center around Chandler’s regular basketball practice.
In spite of this, Chandler appears to be beginning to reap the benefits of Pope and his staff’s conditioning program, which is designed for athletes in similar circumstances from their time at BYU.
“I’m not sure if I knew what to anticipate or how it would be like when I returned,” Chandler stated in a recent interview with the local press. Regaining my physical health is a challenging task that requires a lot of effort, particularly during the initial weeks. I put a lot of effort into rebuilding my body, but I was unable to play much live basketball.
The BBN is used to stellar freshman talent, and although Chandler has a different path than most we have seen, he does stand a chance to make a serious impact in year one in Lexington. “That was, I think, the toughest part but it’s been cool to see the gradual effect of getting better.” As I mentioned earlier, there aren’t many times when you feel like you’re getting noticeably better every day, but that’s something that I felt coming back, just feeling like I’m getting better every day.
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