Best yet to come for UK’s Cousins

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Moments after John Calipari called him the best big man he’s ever coached, Kentucky freshman DeMarcus Cousins emerged from the Wildcats’ locker room and acted as if he needed to apologize.

To his teammates, to the fans, to the 24 NBA scouts who flocked to Rupp Arena to watch him play in Tuesday’s 85-75 victory over Ole Miss.

Even on a night when the forward scored 18 points and snared 13 rebounds, Cousins felt he didn’t give them his best.

“I don’t know what was wrong with me tonight,” Cousins said. “I was dead tired after 30 seconds. My mind was kinda gone.”

It was tough not to chuckle at the 19-year-old Cousins, who has absolutely no idea how good he already is – or how much better he can be.

Wildcats point guard John Wall will likely be selected with the No. 1 overall pick in this summer’s NBA draft. Lately, though, Cousins is the Kentucky player generating the most buzz.

Tuesday’s double-double was the fifth straight for the 6-foot-11, 270-pound Cousins, who is averaging 16.2 points and 9.7 rebounds on the season despite seeing just 21 minutes of action per game.

No post player in college basketball – heck, maybe no player, period – has played as well since the start of 2010 as Cousins, who teams with Patrick Patterson to form what is arguably the top frontcourt in the nation.

“I’ve never had a player come this far this fast,” Calipari said.

That’s not to say that Cousins struggled at the beginning of the season. The No. 2 recruit in the Class of 2009 has been a force for Kentucky since he first took the court.

Rather, it’s Cousins’ attitude adjustment that has elevated his game to another level. Cousins said he arrived on Kentucky’s campus last summer thinking he knew everything. He said he was often reluctant to accept coaching.

Cousins, for instance, used to insist on catching the ball on the wing so he could put it on the floor and make a move toward the basket before either scoring or passing to a teammate. When Calipari told him he wanted him to become more of a true post player, the two clashed.

“Earlier in the season I was fighting [his advice] a lot,” Cousins said. “I guess I’m just slowly starting to mature. I’m listening to Coach. I know what he says is best for me.

“That’s why I came here. I knew Cal would do this for me, and my mother knew the same thing. He’s helping me get to where I want to go.”

At the very worst, Cousins projects as a Top-10 pick in the draft, and no one would be surprised if he were one of the first four or five players selected.

Cousins’ size, strength and assertiveness – he grabbed nine offensive rebounds Tuesday – suggest that he’d be ready to step in and make an impact for a team as a rookie.

Cousins has also dramatically improved his performance from the free-throw line, where he’s made 35 of his last 48 foul shots. Cousins didn’t have any choice but to get better, as teams are resorting to fouling him on purpose in order to keep him from scoring easy baskets.

Cousins shot 10 free throws Tuesday – and, as usual, he felt as if he should’ve been at the line even more.

“I’ve got a scratch on my back right now,” he said. “I don’t know how I got it, but it was burning after the game. I think I might be the next Shaq. I just wish I was a referee sometime so I could see what they were seeing, so I could understand. I wish they were in my shoes, as well.”

Actually, a lot of people probably wish they were Cousins right now.

Mix in the fact that he’s demonstrated a willingness to be coached, and it will be tough for NBA teams to find a reason not to draft Cousins, an Alabama native who was headed to Memphis before Calipari left to take over at Kentucky.

Calipari was asked if he had ever worked with a player of Cousins’ caliber.

“Not a big man, including in the NBA,” said Calipari, the former New Jersey Nets coach. “I hate to do that to the kid. I’m losing my mind again. My team [the Nets] wasn’t very good up there, either.

“But you’re talking about a skilled 6-11 player that can make free throws and pass. He has a great mind for the game. He’s emotionally growing day by day by day.

“He still loses his mind sometimes and I have to take him out. The stuff he does sometimes … he can’t help himself. But he’s maturing. They all are.”

One-on-one with Kalin Lucas

A few months before the start of the season, Michigan State point guard Kalin Lucas emerged from an East Lansing tattoo parlor with a new design etched into his right arm.

Surrounding a picture of a scowling, saber tooth tiger was the phrase “Attack Or Be Killed.”

“I came up with the saying myself,” Lucas said. “Being ranked No. 2 in the preseason and having made it to the Final Four last year, I knew we were going to have a bull’s-eye on our back, a target. So I just had to get this on my arm.

“I look at it before every game. It reminds me that we’ve got to stay in attack mode, or we’ll be killed.”

The Spartans have more than lived up to the moniker thus far. At 17-3 overall and 7-0 in league play, Michigan State has a two-game lead over second place Wisconsin (5-2) in the Big Ten standings.

Lucas is one of the main reasons.

Last season’s conference player of the year, Lucas is averaging a team-high 15.8 points and 4.1 assists. On Saturday his 3-pointer with 1:27 remaining lifted the Spartans to a 65-64 come-from-behind victory at Minnesota.

The shot couldn’t have been more gratifying for Lucas, who was criticized by coach Tom Izzo earlier this season for a lack of leadership. Izzo went as far as to remove Lucas from the starting lineup for a game in late December, but these days he’s anything but upset with the 6-foot-1, 190-pound junior.

“It was the best Lucas has been all year,” Izzo told reporters after Saturday’s game. “Are we looking for him to be a rah-rah guy? No. We’re looking for him to demand stuff on the court. You can lead in different ways.”

Lucas – a native of Sterling Heights, Mich. – took time after Sunday’s practice to chat with Yahoo! Sports.

Q: Some guys can’t wait to get away from home after they graduate from high school. Why did you choose to stay close to home?

A: Mainly because I wanted my friends and family to be able to come and watch my games. They were at all my basketball and football games in high school. In college I wanted the same thing. Plus, I’ve got a little brother that looks up to me a lot. I wanted him to be able to come watch me play whenever possible.

Q: I’ve heard you and your brother are really close. Tell me more about him.

A: His name is Javin and he’s 10. He plays basketball, too. I just love him. That’s my little man. This summer we spent a lot of time together. Most of the time, when I go home, we’ll go to the movies or to the mall. During basketball season it’s hard to spend a lot of time with him. He comes to my games, but a lot of the games start late, so when the game is over he has to leave right away so he can get home and take a shower and be ready to go to school in the morning.

Q: How would you describe him to someone else? Do people say he reminds them of you?

A: No, my little brother reminds me of my dad. My dad is a jokester. He loves to play around all the time and he’s always smiling. That’s how my little brother is, too.

Q: I know that you take a lot of pride in the fact that you grew up just outside of Detroit. What is it you love the most about your hometown?

A: It’s just a city of hard-working people. That’s why it was so good that the Final Four was there last year. The city was going through some hard times. People were losing their jobs and getting laid off. A couple of my aunties were laid off. Bringing a Final Four to Detroit was a blessing for all of those people. It gave them something to smile about.

Q: Did the loss to North Carolina in the championship game ruin your Final Four experience? Or will you still look back on it with fond memories.

A: We obviously wish we would’ve won, but it was still positive. We brought a lot of smiles to people’s faces. They didn’t have to worry about their jobs or being laid off – even if it was only for a weekend. What we brought to the people of Detroit, what we showed them, was that if you work hard, it will pay off. We worked hard all season, and it paid off in the end. All the summer workouts, all the time we spent lifting weights, watching extra film. It was all worth it in the end.

Q: Who are some of the guys you really look forward to playing against, guys you really get juiced up to play?

A: I like going against Kansas. I like playing against the best teams and the best players, and I think Kansas is the top team out there. And Kansas has Sherron Collins. He’s a point guard just like me. We’ve got a lot of mutual respect for one another. We worked at Deron Williams camp together last summer in Dallas.

Q: What makes Sherron so tough?

A: He’s just really, really strong. He doesn’t care who is in front of him. He knows he can get past them because he’s so strong and powerful. And he can create his own shot. That’s big when you’re 5-foot-10. That’s what I like the most about his game.

Q: There have been so many close games in the Big Ten this year, games that have gone right down to the wire. I know you’re at the top of the standings, but you probably don’t feel like you can relax, do you?

A: We can’t take a rest at all. Plus, Coach Izzo wouldn’t let us do that if we wanted. We may be on top right now, but at the same time, we haven’t played a lot of road games. We’ve still got to go to Purdue and Wisconsin and Illinois. It’s still going to be tough on us. We’ve got to keep our focus and stay in the gym.

Q: Is the league as good as you’ve seen it since you’ve been at Michigan State?

A: Definitely. The conference has some great players. When you’re a part of the Big Ten you’ve got to come out ready to play or you’re going to lose. In the Big Ten you’ve got to be ready to grind.

Q: If you could vote for one player in the Big Ten to get player of the year besides yourself, who would it be?

A: Draymond Green, Durrell Summers, Raymar Morgan. One of those guys.

Q: Good answer. Changing the subject … Coach Izzo held you out of practice a few weeks ago because he thought you could be doing a better job as a team leader. Looking back on it now, can you see how the disciplinary tactic could’ve been a good thing?

A: It was a good thing. But at the same time, we’re looking forward now. We’re past that. Coach and I are back on the same page. We’ve got the same goals. We’re trying to keep a strong record and keep winning. I think it was good what he did, but I’m not worried about it anymore. It’s in the past.

Q: Did it strengthen your relationship with him?

A: It did. I think me and Coach are closer now. We sit down and talk more. Everything is great between me and him. With him being the coach and me being the PG, we’ve got to be on the same terms. We’ve got to see eye-to-eye on things, and right now we do. We’ve got to keep building on our relationship and we’ll be fine.

Q: I read where he looked at you in the huddle near the end of the Minnesota game and told you to take over. Then you hit the game-winning 3-pointer. It has to feel good for your coach to have that kind of confidence in you.

A: I actually knew he was going to tell me that before we got into the huddle. He said it and kinda winked at me. I already knew what time it was. I just came down and made a big play. At the same time, my teammates made some big plays also. We had some huge stops on defense and other guys made big shots. It was a team win.

Q: If I were a fly on the wall in your locker room, what would I see? Are you guys a goofy, fun-loving team that likes to cut-up? Or are you mature and businesslike?

A: Our team is both. We can be serious at times but, for the most part, this a team that loves to have fun. We joke around a lot. There are a lot of characters on our team. We’ve got some goofy guys on our team that love to laugh.

Q: Who decides what music plays in the locker room? Who has control of the tunes?

A: No one is in control. If someone wants to play something, they go and play it. If no one likes it, they’ve got to change it.

Q: What gets played the most?

A: Probably something by Lil Wayne or Gucci.

Q: How have you adjusted to the spotlight that comes along with being a college basketball star and the face of a program, where you’re always on television and in the news?

A: The main thing is me staying humble and not trying to be bigger than the program, where I think I’m better than everyone else just because I’m on a magazine. I just try to stay humble and keep God first in my life.

Q: Speaking of magazines, I stumbled across a signed copy of Sports Illustrated on E-Bay the other day with you on the cover. I think it was selling for about 50 bucks. Does it make you feel weird that people would pay for your signature?

A: I didn’t know people were doing that until last year, when we got to the Final Four. I went and looked on the Internet and saw people selling the same stuff we signed. I was like, ‘Those people are making money off of me!’ I guess you can’t worry about it.

Q: If you could get someone’s autograph – or if you could pose for a picture with a famous person – who would it be?

A: I’d want to get my picture with Ashanti. She’s beautiful. I’ve loved Ashanti since I was in middle school.

Q: What do you like to do in your free time? Something totally unrelated to basketball?

A: I like playing Xbox. I love playing video games.

Q: Do you and your teammates have anywhere you like to hang out? A restaurant or a club?

A: A lot of times we go to Red Lobster or Applebee’s after games, just to chill and get something to eat.

Q: I’m sure there will be plenty more celebratory meals to come. Does this team have the same potential as last year’s?

A: Of course we do. I think our team is better than last year’s. It’s still kind of early, but we’re making a lot of progress. The best players on the team are starting to play better. If that continues, we’ll be in good shape.