Brandon Garrison has emphasized conditioning and decision-making this offseason

Last season, Brandon Garrison showed flashes of what his full potential can be, but it also came at a cost, as he would have really good plays mixed with costly decisions leading to uncharacteristic turnovers. Garrison played quality minutes off the bench for the Wildcats last season, and although he had games where he shined with brilliance, others were filled with bad decision-making, and Garrison knew that was an area he needed to clean up this off-season.

The big is ready to take on a much bigger role after Amari Williams' departure, especially as far as leadership goes. He knows that to be a leader, you have to lead by example, and that's why he made it a point of emphasis to improve his conditioning to take on that larger role with more minutes on the floor, especially early in the season with Jayden Quaintance out.

"After the season, that was the main thing we talked about, being in the best shape I can be in. (Coach Pope) asked me if I wanted to be in the best shape, and so I had to suffer during the summer, got after it with Randy Towner, the strength and conditioning coach, and it paid off."

With the larger role and taking on being one of the few veteran leaders on the team that has played under Mark Pope before, Garrison knew improving his decision-making would be a top priority this offseason as he takes on more of the point-forward role, similar to Amari Williams last season, where the offense ran through him a lot at the top of the key, as well as bringing the ball up the floor at times, too. Last season, Garrison had at least one turnover in 26 of his 35 games played, including three games with three or more turnovers. He knew he would need to shrink that number this season, which is why decision-making was such a big goal this offseason.

"That's just part of my game, you know, I got to make quick decisions, better decision-making. He lets his bigs take bring the ball up, so take care of the ball, you know, and have have him have my trust with it."

Garrison will get to really show off everything he has improved on very early in this season, and he'll be leaned on early in the season in the frontcourt while Quaintance continues to rehab.