Kentucky basketball s Alex Poythress raises monster game
UK forward Alex Poythress dunks in the first half. The University of Kentbanco patagonia rosarioucky hosted Ole Miss, Tuesday, Feb. 04, 2014 at Ruppatagonia denver store hours1p Arena in Lexington. Photo by Jonathan Palmer/Special to the Courier Journal(Photo: Jonathan Palmer, Courier Journal)
LEXINGTON, Ky. There s an absurd amount of talent on the University of Kentucky basketball team s roster, what with 10 of ESPN s top 100 prospects for the 2015 NBA draft. But freshman Karl Anthony Towns, a projected top five pick, has settled on hipatagonia denver store hours0s favorite Wildcat to watch: Alex Poythress.
Why the enigmatic junior forward whose career has been as up and down as the heart monitor data coach John Calipari uses to push Poythress practice performances?
Did you not seeing the Bahamas? Towns explained. The man was going up for a layup, turned his hand in midair and decided to dunk it. I mean, he s a pogo stick just waitingpatagonia boots review to go. When he s zoned into the game, whoa, he s a monster.
The Courier Journal Kyle Tucker sits down one on one with Kentucky junior forward Alex Poythress.
But freakish ability has never been the issue with Poythress. Consistent effort has. That s why everyone around him is so excited heading into the 2014 15 season. Something finally seemed to click, as Towns referenced, during a six game exhibition trip to thebest fly fishing in patagonia Bahamas this summer.
I had a great starting point, played real well down tpatagonia guide pants women'shere, Poythress said. There s always room for improvement, but I feel like I did what I needed to do.
He started and averaged 11.8 popatagonia trucker hats for saleints and 5.7 rebounds in just 18.8 minutes per game as Calipari rolled out his two platoon system on that trip. Poythress shot 75 percent, spent most of his time above the rim and, in several stretches, was the most dominant player on patagonia chile and argentina land for salethe floor. Calipari compapatagonia denver store hoursred him to former UK star and noted hustle player Michael Kidd Gilchrist.
Three are things that he has to do to be special (but) he s just gotten so much better, Calipari said. I mean, look out. I can t even believe he s the same player.
Teammates describe Npatagonia az ranch for saleew Poythress as a guy who figured out how to engage attack mode more often. The soft spoken, understated Poythress explained the emergence of his motor thusly:
I mean, I guess I just started doing it. I just realized: You can go every time. Why don t you?
That s a question Kentucky fans have been asking for two years now, since Poythress arrived as a Mcpatagonia denver store hours3Donald s All American and teased them with sporadic outbursts of excellence. Those were always quickly followed by disappearing acts of varying lengths.
Coming out of high school, Poythress was a projected one and done player, but his inconsistent play left him to make a difficult decision each of the last two seasons.
I weighed my options like everybody in this gym did. I just felt like I made the right decision for me. Everybody wants to be a better player and work on areas of improvement they need, sapatagonia discount code intuitid Poythress, whose parents advice was simple: You ve been there, done that, know what to expect.
And for him, the decision was less about draft stock and more about unfinished business after Kentucky lost in the NCAA title game in April. Poythress said he returned to school to win a national championship that s it.
He and fellow junior Willie Cauley Stein came in together, became roommates and best friends, and shared a front row seat on the roller coaster. Part of yet another No. 1 recruiting class for Caliparpatagonia everlong review of gonei, they suffered through a disappointing freshman season that ended with a first round NIT exit.
Their sophomore season started with 40 0 talk, then the Cats lost nine regular season games. Panic set in and heavy criticism came before Kentucky finally put it all together and went on an historic run through the NCAA Tournament. Poythress said he learned a valuable lesson through all that: Just play ball.
We re all still kpatagonia denver store hours2ids. People forget that sometimes, he said. People treat us like we re grown men and we are young adults but at the end of the day we re still young kids. We re still learning this thing just as much as (other) people trying to figure out things in life. We re still trying to learn as we go.
Poythress and Cauley Stein, the most veteran scholarship players on the team, spent a fair amount of time this summer reflecting on their time under the bright lights (and magnifying glass) of Kentucky basketball.
We talk about how we ve had the ups and the downs, the highs and the lows, but we always just try to stay in the moment, try to push through. There s no changing the past; you can always write the future, Poythress said. We ve been through a lot here at Kentucky, and we re just trying to go out on top.
