Cauley-Stein's return set UK dominoes in motion

LEXINGTON, Ky. – He admits now he was probably still a little loopy on pain medicine, lying there in a hospital bed back in April after having a plate and four screws inserted in his left ankle.

Some would argue that was a less-than-ideal environment for Willie Cauley-Stein to make such a major life decision as whether to stay at the University of Kentucky for a third season or bolt for the big bucks and even brighter lights of the NBA. But sometimes clarity strikes like a bolt of lightning, even when you're in a fog – or video-chatting with your cousin from the recovery ward.

"I was talking to him and I was like, 'Yo, I just feel like I can get better. I feel like I've got so much stuff that I haven't shown to nobody that I can do and make my stock so much higher,' " Cauley-Stein said. "I was super amped. I was fresh out of surgery, so what I was saying was just a bunch of nonsense – but it was real. I was really feeling that.

"That was one of my biggest decisions. I was laying there and I was like, 'Yo, I'm coming back, because I got something to prove to myself and to everybody else.' "

And so it was that the first, 7-foot-tall domino fell for the Wildcats. After his decision, five other players who helped UK reach the NCAA championship game last season announced they would also pass on the NBA and come back to school for another year, solidifying the Cats as heavy favorites to win it all next spring.

For Cauley-Stein, who likely would have still been a first-round pick even after his injury in the Sweet 16 against Louisville, the decision ultimately came down to whether he was emotionally ready to leave school. He knew declaring for the draft meant the end of "still just being a kid, you know?"

And few high-level college athletes seem to enjoy that more than the zombie-loving, Zubaz-pants-wearing Cauley-Stein.

"You don't get these years back," he said. "You only live it once. So why not live it? Why rush into something?"

Entering his third year here, Cauley-Stein has come to appreciate not only the perks of the position he's in – a star in the most glamorous program in America – but also the power to impact others that comes with it. Leaving the players' dorm one day this summer, he experienced "the coolest thing that ever happened to me" when an autistic fan named Harvey approached him.

Cauley-Stein got a hug and a request: to come into the Wildcat Lodge and meet the rest of the team. So he took Harvey door to door introducing him to the guys.

"That was the most humbling thing I've ever experienced in my life," Cauley-Stein said. "He was giving everybody hugs, and I wanted to cry. Like, that was the coolest thing. Like, I really changed this dude's life because he's probably never even been in that situation before.

"You get to see how you can change somebody's life just because you're a Kentucky basketball player."

This season, Cauley-Stein will try to change his own life by vaulting up draft boards. He averaged 6.8 points, 6.1 rebounds and 2.9 blocked shots in just 23.8 minutes per game last season. With 166 career blocked shots, he needs 109 this season to set a new UK career record. His 106 last season are second only to 2012 National Player of the Year Anthony Davis in single-season school history.

DraftExpress.com ranks Cauley-Stein No. 10 and ESPN's Chad Ford has him No. 14 among prospects for the 2015 draft. While he sat out Kentucky's six exhibition games in the Bahamas this summer, he's worked his way back into shape and has returned to practice.

"A couple of the guys said to me, 'We all forgot how good he was,' " coach John Calipari said last month. "I can't believe Willie when I watch Willie. Willie was so good the other day, I'm like, 'Oh, my gosh.' And then we all forgot that we would've won (the national title). With Willie playing, it would've been different.

"I mean, Willie was dominant. Willie was a shot blocker, a guy that could change the game on both ends. And so now you see him and you're like, 'Whoa.' … Willie is playing like he's a three. Like, we throw it ahead and he's in the open court crossing, throwing balls out, and I'm like, 'Holy geez.' "

Cauley-Stein said the ankle still aches at times. When he wears certain shoes, he can feel the screws rub against the sides, which creates more of a mental hurdle than actual discomfort. He can run, jump, plant, stop and start with no trouble now.

"It gets real sore after," he said, "but it's just something you gotta get used to."

He will push through the pain because this season is an audition, after all. He said he's treating it like "my rookie year" in the NBA, approaching every day "like a job," honing all the skills – especially on the offensive end, where he has been lacking so far in college – that pro scouts will want to see.

Calipari will be glad to hear that, as his only concern about the versatile big man is his focus. To call Cauley-Stein a free spirit would be an understatement. It makes him a refreshing interview but also an up-and-down player.

"He's got to stay in our circle," Calipari said. "You can never lead the circle from outside the circle. You gotta be in this. And they all gotta know that you're in here with us. If you try to separate yourself as a player from the pack, you can never serve them; you can never lead them. They don't want to hear it. They think you're about yourself.

"So being a free spirit and how he is – he's a good kid – he's just got to make sure he's inside this circle of what we're doing."

Junior forward Alex Poythress, his suite mate in the dorm and best friend on the team, whose decision to come back was heavily influenced by Cauley-Stein doing it first, doesn't believe that will be a problem.

"He loves being a Kentucky basketball player," Poythress said. "He just likes being part of this team."

Kyle Tucker can be reached at (502) 582-4361. Follow him on Twitter @KyleTucker_CJ.