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Before Willie Cauley-Stein had any inkling that he would return to Kentucky, his grandmother, Norma Stein, noted that it would not surprise her if he said no to the NBA.
“It’s weird how they know that stuff or catch that stuff. In my head, I was definitely out. I was definitely gone,” Cauley-Stein said. “As it got closer, I thought, ‘Maybe I am not ready to take that step. Maybe I am not ready to be out on my own yet doing my own thing. Maybe I have a little more growing up to do.’ I guess she just knew that.”
Maybe that’s because his grandparents, Val and Norma Stein, know so much about every part of his life after helping to raise him in Spearville, Kan.
“They have always been great, whether it was going to Little League baseball games or co-ed softball games when I was younger,” Cauley-Stein said. “They love all that stuff. They love going to football games and not even being in the crowd and just sitting in their car. All the basketball games (they go to). Even if I am not playing, they are still there.
“They are still back in my hometown going to those games. Kids are, like, four years younger than me and not even in high school when I was there and were in junior high and stuff, and they still go back and watch them. It’s just part of how they came up in the world and how they were raised. That’s why I am the way I am. My grandparents molded me in a way that I have great gratitude for them.”
Growing up in a small town helped shape Cauley-Stein’s unique personality.
“Willie is just a different type of dude,” Kentucky teammate Brian Long said. “He’s the best, though, and he’s awesome on the court. He’s just different, dresses different and things like that, but he has a great personality and he’s a great basketball player. Some of his outfits are crazy, but I’ve never seen him do anything too crazy.”
Cauley-Stein was hard to miss growing up because of his size and talent.
“I was just a dude growing up that played every sport there was in the town. My town was small, so you had to play every sport. I was good in everything that had to do with being an athlete growing up,” Cauley-Stein said. “You have to know how to humble yourself. Knowing you are that good in stuff you are doing and not making it seem like you know you are that good is what you have to do. That’s the biggest part about it is staying humble and knowing where you came from.
“The dudes that have trouble is when you get too big for your ego. Your ego gets too big for what you are trying to do. I try to keep it as straightforward and easy as possible.”
He also has not lost track of his roots and says if he goes home, “I could literally tell you name, middle name, last name, nickname, age, birthday of everybody there,” because he knows them all.
“Growing up in a small town is great. Being able to just walk out your house and go walk around and know everybody is great,” Cauley-Stein said. “We were always outside doing something, whether it was making forts or playing basketball or playing kickball in my front yard or going paintballing or going out to the lake. It’s the country. You can do anything. It was good. It’s exactly why I am the way I am. That molded me into something. Not a lot of guys get a chance to be molded like that.”
Now Kentucky coach John Calipari gets to spend another season molding 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.”
Cauley-Stein has never been afraid of criticism from Calipari, media members, fans or anyone else because he likes to “twist” the criticism to help him.
“Any criticism you just twist into a positive. I am a firm believer there is a positive and negative in everything, and you have the choice to make it a positive or a negative,” he said.
“When somebody writes something negative or says something negative about you, there is always a positive to it. You just have to find it. That’s what I try to do.
“I try to find a positive in literally any outcome there is. I am not a dude that is going to be a negative-type dude. Any time that I can search for a positive in any situation, that is what I am doing. Life is just easier that way.”
That attitude could make it easier for him to help younger teammates cope with the pressure the Cats will have on them again this year. Kentucky was the preseason No. 1 team last season and expected to win the national title but struggled at times before getting hot in the NCAA. Now it once again has a talented roster that many feel should produce a national title.
“The best thing is I don’t have to do it alone. I got eight dudes that have been through it. Last year those dudes went through exactly what me and Alex (Poythress) went through,” Cauley-Stein said. “People said you can’t do it (with a freshman-dominated team), and overcoming that and proving everybody wrong and showing can do it, there’s nothing better than proving people wrong who say you can’t do something. You get a good satisfaction when you prove everybody wrong like we did last year.”
That’s why he’s not worried about how Calipari will balance playing time among Dakari Johnson, Karl-Anthony Towns, Marcus Lee and himself.
“That’s not my job,” Cauley-Stein said. “That is Coach’s problem, but he’ll figure it out.”
What about those who say Kentucky will win it all this year?
“That’s a nice problem. It’s a good one to have, and maybe this year we can just concentrate on proving them right,” Cauley-Stein said.
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