catmandoo
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Member # 1284
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posted 10-16-2014 09:18 AM
Willie and his family are making a good decision and Willie will prosper for it on and off the court.
Kentucky coach John Calipari gets to spend another season molding Willie Cauley-Stein into a special player. Cauley-Stein was named to the all-Southeastern Conference defensive team last year when he averaged 6.8 points, 6.1 rebounds and 2.9 blocked shots per game in 37 games before being injured in the NCAA tournament. His 106 blocks were second-most in school history, and he flirted with a triple-double when he had 15 points, eight rebounds and nine blocks against Providence.
As a freshman, the 7-0 center averaged 8.3 points and 6.2 rebounds and had 60 blocks in 29 games, including 14 starts after Nerlens Noel was injured.
Cauley-Stein, 21, was ranked as the 10th-best center in his recruiting class by Scout.com, but he had never concentrated solely on basketball because he was also an all-state wide receiver in football.
He needed ankle surgery after his injury, and that kept him out Kentucky’s exhibition games in the Bahamas in August.
“This was definitely the longest I have gone without playing or doing something,” Cauley-Stein said. “It was more rest and strengthening it. It is not like a ACL where you go through all the rehab before surgery and then rehab after. Mine was just rest, which is so annoying because I am always busy. I am always trying to do something and to sit out and not do anything makes you a lot hungrier. I would like to have done something beside just rest.”
He did go through individual workouts in the Bahamas and was cleared to resume full workouts not long after that. He will be at full speed when the Wildcats officially open practice later this month.
Still, many are surprised Cauley-Stein came back for his junior year. He was projected as a first-round draft pick because of his size and athleticism. Some mock drafts even had him as a lottery pick. However, it was not hard for him to accept he was not ready for the pros.
“The way me and my family talked about it, you only have got these years once. You are only going to college once. You will only be this age once, so you can’t rush into something you are not 100 percent behind. If you are not 100 percent behind it, you are not ready to go and take a step toward whatever it is. Not just the league, but anything,” he said. “If I stay here and am fully ready for the next step, then I could have a longer career there.”
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