{"id":85885,"date":"2025-08-15T23:24:10","date_gmt":"2025-08-15T23:24:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/85885\/"},"modified":"2025-08-15T23:24:10","modified_gmt":"2025-08-15T23:24:10","slug":"he-cant-breathe-if-theres-not-something-on-the-line","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/85885\/","title":{"rendered":"‘He can’t breathe if there’s not something on the line’"},"content":{"rendered":"

With expectations set high for year two of Collin Chandler<\/a> at Kentucky, this summer\u2019s offseason was massively important for the 6-foot-5 guard. Head coach Mark Pope<\/a> has seen the progress being made behind the scenes to not only meet, but hopefully exceed them. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s made an incredible jump,\u201d Pope told Matt Norlander of Chandler this week on CBS Sports\u2019 Summer Shootaround<\/a>. \u201cYou know, one of the things that he was focused on this summer was his ball handling, his ability to get wherever he wanted to get and not have handling the ball slow him down from getting there. And he worked incredibly hard at it this entire summer. He\u2019s made massive progress, like, it\u2019s really stunning. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think he\u2019s finishing the ball better. He\u2019s another guy that grew immensely defensively during the season last year, and he\u2019s carried that over. He\u2019s got a chance to be an elite-level defender.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ball handling was an area Chandler clearly was not fully comfortable with to begin his freshman season. After taking two years off from basketball for his mission trip, it took a few months during the regular season before he rediscovered the groove that made him a top 35 national recruit. By the time March rolled around, he was productive, confident, and impactful as one of the first guys off Pope\u2019s bench. His size and length should allow him to naturally improve as a finisher and defender as he continues to develop. <\/p>\n

But it\u2019s not just the improved on-ball skills or physical traits that have Pope excited about what Chandler\u2019s sophomore campaign might look like \u2014 that would be his mindset and approach to a highly important offseason. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s playing so hard for us right now,\u201d Pope added. \u201cI feel like he can\u2019t breathe if there\u2019s not something on the line, like he is the most competitive. He just can\u2019t wait to get to the next competition. It doesn\u2019t matter what it is, by the way, it could be anything. <\/p>\n

\u201cIf we\u2019re guessing if we\u2019re going to see a blue car or a red car when we turn the corner, he wants to be in that,\u201d Pope continued. \u201cHe\u2019s going to have a huge impact on the team this year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Across eight games back in March, Chandler averaged six points and 1.8 rebounds per outing while shooting 52.2 percent (12-23) from deep. But this offseason is much different than last. There is no lengthy ramp-up period after years away from the game. He suffered a minor injury in July, but returned weeks ago<\/a> and continued to stand out in summer practice. Now it\u2019s about piecing everything he\u2019s learned together to create a breakout star for the Wildcats. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Join KSR Plus! With a KSR Plus membership, you get access to bonus content and KSBoard, KSR\u2019s message board, to chat with fellow Cats fans and get exclusive scoop.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With expectations set high for year two of Collin Chandler at Kentucky, this summer\u2019s offseason was massively important…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":85886,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[68],"tags":[402,59335,398,400,401,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-85885","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-basketball","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-collin-chandler-22-farmington","10":"tag-ncaa","11":"tag-ncaa-basketball","12":"tag-ncaabasketball","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85885","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=85885"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85885\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/85886"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85885"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85885"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85885"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}