Wednesday, November 14, 2001
Kentucky basketball preview
Prince truly king of the bluegrass
By Rusty Hampton
The Louisville Courier-Journal
Roster/Breakdown
| Schedule |
| Date | Opponent | Time |
| November |
| Thurs. 15 | Western Ky-& | 8 p.m. |
| Fri. 16 | Consolation Game-& | 6 p.m. |
| Sat. 24 | Morehead St. (UKTV-L) | 8 |
| Wed. 28 | Kent St.-&& (UKTV-L) | 8 p.m. |
| December |
| Wed. 5 | VMI (UKTV-D) | 8 p.m. |
| Sat. 8 | N. Carolina (CBS) | 4 p.m. |
| Sat. 15 | Kentucky State | 1 p.m. |
| Tues. 18 | Duke-# (ESPN) | 9 p.m. |
| Sat. 22 | Indiana-## (CBS) | 5 p.m. |
| Sat. 29 | Louisville(CBS) | 4 p.m. |
| January |
| Wed. 2 | Tulane-* (UKTV-L) | 8 p.m. |
| Sat. 5 | at Miss. St. (JP) | TBA |
| Wed. 9 | Georgia (Fox South) | 7 p.m. |
| Sat. 12 | at South Carolina | TBA |
| Tues. 15 | Ole Miss (ESPN) | 7 p.m. |
| Sat. 19 | at N. Dame (CBS) | Noon |
| Tues. 22 | at Auburn (ESPN) | 9 p.m. |
| Sat. 26 | Alabama (ESPN) | 8 p.m. |
| Tues. 29 | at Florida (ESPN) | 9 p.m. |
| February |
| Sat. 2 | South Carolina (JP) | TBA |
| Wed. 6 | at Tennessee (JP) | 8 p.m. |
| Sat. 9 | at LSU (JP) | TBA |
| Wed. 13 | Vanderbilt (JP) | 8 p.m. |
| Sat. 16 | at Georgia (CBS) | 1 p.m. |
| Tues. 19 | Tennessee (ESPN) | 9 p.m. |
| Sat. 23 | Arkansas (CBS) | Noon |
| Wed. 27 | at Vanderbilt (JP) | 8 p.m. |
| March |
| Sat 2. | Florida (CBS) | Noon |
| Sat. 16 | SEC Tourn. (CBS) | 1 p.m. |
|
Home games in bold.
&-NABC Classic.
&&-At Firstar Center.
#-Jimmy V Classic, at East Rutherford, N.J.
##-At RCA Dome, Indianapolis.
*-At Freedom Hall, Louisville.
UKTV-UK TV Network;
JP-Jefferson Pilot.
|
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Mateen Cleaves could have turned pro after his junior year at Michigan State but returned to lead the Spartans to the 2000 national championship.
Shane Battier could have jumped to the NBA after his junior year at Duke, but he came back and carried the Blue Devils to the 2001 title.
Is Kentucky's Tayshaun Prince primed to become the Battier of 2002?
Although he's more reserved than the gregarious Battier, Prince has become a comparable warrior on the court. In four years, he has evolved from a shy freshman into a team leader.
''He's so well-respected,'' UK coach Tubby Smith said of Prince, the Wildcats' 6-foot-9 senior forward. ''He's clean-cut. He's intelligent. He's the consummate All-American.''
The only senior on the first team of the Associated Press' preseason All-American list, Prince tested the NBA draft waters last spring before deciding to take one last stab at bringing UK its eighth national title and third in seven seasons.
''I think a lot of people will try to compare us because a lot of people are expecting us to win it all this year,'' Prince said. ''I kind of compare myself to (Battier).²
He came back to a team he knew would be dominant. Knowing what kind of basketball team I was coming back to made a lot of difference as well.''
Even without Battier, Duke - now led by indomitable junior guard Jason Williams - is the consensus choice to repeat as national champion. Kentucky, bolstered by the return of Prince and junior Keith Bogans and blessed with perhaps the deepest roster in America, is one of several teams expected to battle the Dookies.
''I was happy'' about Prince's return, said Mississippi State coach Rick Stansbury, tongue in cheek. ''We threw a party in Starkville. When Bogans said he was coming back, too, we let the party go longer.''
Seriously, Stansbury, a Kentucky native, knows what it meant to the commonwealth when Prince and Bogans decided to stay.
''You've got expectations with or without them,'' he said. ''They (UK fans) think they should win the national championship every year, so I'm sure he (Smith) would rather try to do it with them.''
Smith said that in his opinion neither player was ready to make the jump yet, but he did everything he could to give them the tools to make the decision themselves.
''College is only four years,'' Prince said. ''Four years seems like a long time, but as you experience it, it goes by so fast. Right now, I'm just having so much fun experiencing college basketball. The NBA is going to be fun as well, but I'm trying to experience college as much as I can.''
He's also in search of some hardware.
UK recruited Prince out of Compton (Calif.) Dominguez High School off its 1998 national championship run. He traveled across the country to help win one of his own, but so far he has fallen short.
Prince was named SEC Player of the Year last season after helping the Cats tie Florida for the regular-season title and win their fourth SEC Tournament title in five years.
''I don't think you're going to find a better player in the country than Tayshaun,'' said UK point guard J.P. Blevins, a senior co-captain along with Prince. ''To have him back is huge. He can take over and win ballgames for you.''
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