Mark Pope returned to Lexington from coaching at USA Basketball U19 Training Camp this week and wasted no time ramping up summer workouts at the Joe Craft Center. With eight hours of training per week — four hours being skill-related instruction — over eight weeks to work with, Kentucky is pushing to make the most of every second, starting with day one on Tuesday.

Conditioning is a “new focus” for the Wildcats during this stretch, Pope told KSR, a “huge emphasis for us the way we want to play this year.” They’ve also made some “significant headway” on learning each other during the “speed dating” process with so many new faces and names in the building.

“Being able to function on the court,” Pope said of what he’s looking to accomplish this summer. “Understanding our terminology, understanding how we play, understanding how the coaching staff communicates. Those are kind of three areas where we’ve got to be great.”

We got our first look at those things — and the new Wildcats together, in general — in Kentucky’s day-one highlights from the basketball facilities. Those include that crucial conditioning test to get started, followed by ball handling and shooting drills, plus some light scrimmaging.