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"The enthusiasm with a group like this is contagious," he said. "The individual workouts and weightlifting are almost like treading water. Everybody wants to get to practice. If I ever get to the point where I wasn't looking forward to starting the season I, would think about getting out."
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Calhoun also has a young team with just two players back from the one that was ranked No. 1 for five weeks last season and lost to George Mason one game short of the Final Four.
"Nine of our 13 kids have never been in a practice," he said. "I'll really try to make things a little simpler at the start. There will be less assumptions toward them for the first week as they try to master the fundamentals. Reference points to the past, or even last year, won't work."
Barbee has no reference points, just a blank sheet for a practice schedule.
"Obviously a lot of my philosophy was shaped by coach (John) Calipari, playing four seasons at UMass and coaching with him for seven at Memphis, so I'm smart enough not to change a lot but I put enough of my philosophy and spin on it.
"Everyone I reached out to said the biggest piece of advice was 'Don't try to get in everything before that first game. Don't try to force it all in.' When you're getting ready for the season as an assistant you can pick and choose what you get involved in. As head coach it's now everything and you can't prepare for that until you do it."
And Cremins is ready.
"I've gone through a lot of my old practice plans. Some things have changed, some haven't," he said. "What definitely hasn't changed is that now after practice you can really talk with the kids and spend time with them. Then you get to go home and have dinner with your family."
