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  • Kaminsky, Wisconsin prepared for Kentucky

    By: LARRY VAUGHT

    INDIANAPOLIS — Having gone against Kentucky in last year’s Final Four, Wisconsin center Frank Kaminsky says the Badgers have an idea about what to expect here Saturday night in their Final Four rematch.

    “You have a scouting report that's just a year old. It's not going to be easy. But Kentucky's a really good team and we're going to have to prepare as well as possible from them. We know they're different from last year, so are we. So it's going to be a good game,” said Kaminsky, his team’s leading scorer, rebounder, shot blocker and field goal percentage shooter, said.

    Kentucky beat Wisconsin 74-73 last year. Kaminsky, a consensus All-American this seaosn, was just 4-for-7 from the field and finished with eight points, five rebounds and two steals in 32 minutes. He also had three fouls — a fairly high total for a player who has not fouled out of a game this season and did not have a game with four fouls until Wisconsin’s win over Arizona in the West Region final last week.

    “Marcus Lee played him some. We really played him with a bunch of different guys,” Kentucky coach John Calipari said Thursday. “I don't think there's one thing that we did. He missed some shots that he normally makes. Just looking at it, because I glanced at it again to make sure, What did we do? You know, played like we always play.

    “Dakari Johnson played him a lot in that game and Marcus Lee was the other. I even think we put -- I don't know if we put any smaller guys on him, I can't remember. We know how good he is. I just saw him out in the hallway. I said, ‘Look, I'm so tired of looking at your tape right now.’ How much better he's gotten in a two-year period is almost scary. He and (Sam) Dekker both. They both have a swagger about them, they both have a high belief in their teams. They know how they're going to play. This is who we are. They do it.”

    Dekker had 15 points on 3-for-4 shooting from the field and 8-for-8 at the foul line. The Badgers also went 8-for-20 from 3-point range compared to 2-for-5 for UK and 19-for-20 at the foul line. The Wildcats had 21 charity shots and made 14. This year Wisconsin opponents have averaged just 11.5 free throw attempts per game.

    Dakari Johnson had 10 points on 4-for-6 shooting and seven rebounds in 18 minutes last year against Wisconsin and Lee had four points on 2-for-3 shooting in 10 minutes. However, guards Aaron and Andrew Harrison were a combined 7-for-22 from the field before Aaron hit the game-winning 3-pointer with about six seconds to play.

    “Having so many tall, athletic players on our team, it definitely doesn't make it easy (against UK). At the same time we know that we're going to be able to get some stuff just like they're going to be able to get some stuff going on on offense. It's going to be a battle, we know that,” Kaminsky said. “They have like seven guys over 6-10, so ... It's going to be fun. I can't wait. It's not going to be easy to prepare because obviously there's no scout team in the country that can replicate what they have on their team.”

    Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan said Kaminsky worked to improve. He had 29 points in the win over Arizona.

    “He's looked at the films. He's very astute when it comes to picking up nuances of moves, using his body, positioning,” Ryan said. “His parents are very athletic, very smart. So we were getting a player who we knew was hungry and wanted to prove that he could get to be pretty good. We tend to enjoy having those kind of guys around. But for somebody to go to the level he has, from start to finish, no, I've never had a player like that.”

    “It definitely wasn't easy, but I was willing to put in the time, effort and work,”  Kaminsky said. It's gone better, better than I planned.”

    He said the loss to Kentucky last year taught him a valuable lesson.

    “I learned that maybe I wasn't as good as I thought I was at that point in time. Just going against a team like theirs, they have so many elite players on the court at all times, I just struggled and didn't play as well as I wanted to,” Kaminsky said. “I think that was a big driving factor, motivating factor to try to get back here, try to play better than we did last year, hopefully come out on top. It going to be definitely tougher than last year, we know that.”
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