Ready to lead
April 30, 2015
Three returning players ready to lead
By Kevin Erpenbeck
Three weeks ago, buzz was surrounding the seven UK basketball players that declared for the 2015 NBA Draft.
Now, all the attention is focused on the three main pieces that decided to stay from last year’s group. But Tyler Ulis, Marcus Lee and Alex Poythress are ready to be the focal points of next year’s team.
They’re ready to be leaders.
“We have an entire new team with seven people leaving,” Ulis said. “But with the leadership of me, Marcus and Alex, I feel like we’ll be fine.”
Ulis’ path to becoming the starting point guard of next year’s team began after the Cats’ Final Four loss to Wisconsin. Head coach John Calipari texted the 5-foot-9 player, “I’m going to build a team. Get your guys and let’s do this again,” referring to how close UK was to winning the national championship.
That was all Ulis needed to hear to make his decision to stay.
“He told me he wanted to coach me again and make another run at it. I was all down for it,” Ulis said. “I feel like he wants me to lead the team, especially as a point guard. I have to step up and do a lot more than I did last year.”
But that new sense of leadership doesn’t come without some adjustment. Lee said that after a week had passed since Willie Cauley-Stein, Karl-Anthony Towns, Andrew and Aaron Harrison, Trey Lyles, Devin Booker and Dakari Johnson had made their announcement to turn pro, it hit them that they were the only ones left.
“We were walking around in the gym and were like, ‘Where’s the rest of us?’” Lee said. “We slowly started talking about things we needed to do when we realized we were all we had.”
But pretty soon, that practice gym will be filled with new faces as the more recruits commit to UK in the coming days. The Cats are bringing in the No. 1 overall recruit in Skal Labissiere and the No. 1 point guard of the 2015 class, Isaiah Briscoe.
UK got another commitment on Tuesday when JUCO transfer Mychal Mulder announced he would be joining the team next year, giving the Cats a knockdown three-point shooter. The All-American from Vincennes University averaged 15.7 points and hit 46 percent from beyond the arc last season.
But if there’s anything the three newly appointed leaders can teach the incoming players about playing for a buzzworthy program, it’s how to handle the outside pressure that comes with suiting up for the blue and white.
“The pressure is going to be the same every year. The new guys will have to learn that,” Poythress said. “Tyler, Marcus and I will be there to help them along the way. It’s just hard. But I feel like we have a great group of guys coming in and they’ll be able to handle it.”