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Willie Cauley-Stein, left, talks to Nerlens Noel during Kentucky's Big Blue Madness last week. Cauley-Stein said he is glad to be playing with Noel, one of the nation¿s top freshmen and says getting to practice against Noel daily should help his confidence. (Victoria Graff / October 16, 2012) |
LEXINGTON — Freshman Willie Cauley-Stein says he didn’t know a lot about Kentucky’s rivalries with teams such as Louisville, Tennessee or Florida when he got here, but he quickly found out one thing.
“I just know we’re supposed to hate Louisville. That’s really all I know. Right when I got here (I¿found that out). I hate Louisville,” Cauley-Stein said.
Here is more of what Cauley-Stein had to say at Kentucky’s media day about a variety of subjects:
Question: Is there a big man in college you’re interested in going up against once you start playing?
Cauley-Stein: “Not really. I really don’t know that many people. At Adidas nations, I went against Mason Plumlee (of Duke) and Pat (Patric Young of Florida) and they were beasts. Pat’s big and I was real skinny, I was a little freshman. I know Pat from our recruiting trip so it was kind of nice seeing him again because I haven’t seen him since then. I’m anxious to play against him and the Plumlee brothers.”
Question: Have you played any together with Nerlens Noel and Kyle Wiltjer on the same team?
Cauley-Stein: “A little bit in open gym, we’ve played together on the same team and we’ve been working a lot on pick-and-rolls.”
Question: What do you think that lineup would look like with three bigs out on the floor? How much would that work together with three bigs?
Cauley-Stein: “It would create a lot of matchup problems. Even on the defensive side, not a lot of people will be able to get in the paint, they’ll have to settle for jump shots. We’re all pretty good at rebounding too, so it’s just going to create havoc for everybody.”
Question: With point guard Ryan Harrow, with some of his mixtapes, do you expect a lot of lobs this season, kind of like last year?
Cauley-Stein: “Absolutely. We work on that in practice. Every drill in practice has to end with a lob, so everything we’re doing is lob-based. I feel like a lot of our points are going to come from lobs.”
Question: With your speed, how much has Calipari talked to you about getting out and running the full court?
Cauley-Stein: “He says that every practice. That’s how you play anyways, the running is pretty much natural to how we’re going to play anyways.”
Question: How hard will it be to get a shot off against Kentucky if you and Noel are in the lineup together?
Cauley-Stein: “Depends on who’s shooting I guess. If you were to see the lineup on paper, you would say no one’s getting a shot up. You really don’t know though. It’ll be tough.”
Question: Have you ever played that kind of basketball (with two bigs)?
Cauley-Stein: “In high school, you know, you only have one big, so I’ve never really played with two bigs. But if we do, it’s going to be nice. No doubt it’s going to be nice.”
Question:Question: So it can be done successfully?
Cauley-Stein: “Oh yeah, definitely. Especially with the lineup we have, like our whole lineup together, you can put anybody out there and especially how big our team is. The matchups are going to be a problem for other people because you’re going to have to have one big player on one guy and the other guy it’s going to be a mismatch.”
“I just know we’re supposed to hate Louisville. That’s really all I know. Right when I got here (I¿found that out). I hate Louisville,” Cauley-Stein said.
Here is more of what Cauley-Stein had to say at Kentucky’s media day about a variety of subjects:
Question: Is there a big man in college you’re interested in going up against once you start playing?
Cauley-Stein: “Not really. I really don’t know that many people. At Adidas nations, I went against Mason Plumlee (of Duke) and Pat (Patric Young of Florida) and they were beasts. Pat’s big and I was real skinny, I was a little freshman. I know Pat from our recruiting trip so it was kind of nice seeing him again because I haven’t seen him since then. I’m anxious to play against him and the Plumlee brothers.”
Question: Have you played any together with Nerlens Noel and Kyle Wiltjer on the same team?
Cauley-Stein: “A little bit in open gym, we’ve played together on the same team and we’ve been working a lot on pick-and-rolls.”
Question: What do you think that lineup would look like with three bigs out on the floor? How much would that work together with three bigs?
Cauley-Stein: “It would create a lot of matchup problems. Even on the defensive side, not a lot of people will be able to get in the paint, they’ll have to settle for jump shots. We’re all pretty good at rebounding too, so it’s just going to create havoc for everybody.”
Question: With point guard Ryan Harrow, with some of his mixtapes, do you expect a lot of lobs this season, kind of like last year?
Cauley-Stein: “Absolutely. We work on that in practice. Every drill in practice has to end with a lob, so everything we’re doing is lob-based. I feel like a lot of our points are going to come from lobs.”
Question: With your speed, how much has Calipari talked to you about getting out and running the full court?
Cauley-Stein: “He says that every practice. That’s how you play anyways, the running is pretty much natural to how we’re going to play anyways.”
Question: How hard will it be to get a shot off against Kentucky if you and Noel are in the lineup together?
Cauley-Stein: “Depends on who’s shooting I guess. If you were to see the lineup on paper, you would say no one’s getting a shot up. You really don’t know though. It’ll be tough.”
Question: Have you ever played that kind of basketball (with two bigs)?
Cauley-Stein: “In high school, you know, you only have one big, so I’ve never really played with two bigs. But if we do, it’s going to be nice. No doubt it’s going to be nice.”
Question:Question: So it can be done successfully?
Cauley-Stein: “Oh yeah, definitely. Especially with the lineup we have, like our whole lineup together, you can put anybody out there and especially how big our team is. The matchups are going to be a problem for other people because you’re going to have to have one big player on one guy and the other guy it’s going to be a mismatch.”
