Kentucky, W.Va. have blended old, new

The most asked question before the start of the season in Lexington was how John Calipari would find a way to mesh the old with the new, the Billy Gillispie holdovers with the incoming group of highly touted freshman.

It was the same dilemma Bob Huggins faced three years ago when he inherited a team full of skilled and soft John Beilein recruits. He quickly added a trio of recruits that was led by talented forwards Devin Ebanks and Kevin Jones, but no one knew if it would work.

"It takes time,” West Virginia senior Da’Sean Butler said. "It doesn’t happen overnight.”

But now the Mountaineers have jelled and made their way to the Elite Eight and a date on Saturday night against another team basically made up of two factions — a Kentucky team that features three freshmen in the starting lineup and five newcomers among its top eight in the rotation.

Wildcats junior Patrick Patterson was set to be The Man if and when he came back to Kentucky. He averaged 17.2 points and 9.3 rebounds last season, but leading scorer Jodie Meeks left for the NBA.

Calipari didn’t just find a way to get Patterson to return to Lexington, but he also managed to get the 6-foot-9 power forward to buy into a completely different role.

"The first two years I was in the post, back to the basket,” Patterson said. "I never really took anyone off the dribble, never really shot on the perimeter.”

Now, Patterson has gone from a post player to one who has been allowed to showcase his newfound perimeter game. However, it’s resulted in significant dip in numbers to 14.5 points and 7.3 boards.

"He could have come back and said, 'This is my team and I’m shooting all the balls; I decided to come back,’” Calipari said. "Well, guess what he does? He scores less points, gets less rebounds and his stock has gone through the roof.”

Perry Stevenson, who started 34 games a year ago under Gillispie, is averaging just 7.8 minutes this season.

He hasn’t complained.

"I’m fine with my role,” Stevenson said. "As long as we’re winning, that’s what matters.”

Both coaches have done masterful jobs to get the chemistry to where the holdovers are productive and have accepted new roles despite the addition of new guys who have stolen much of the headlines.

John Wall and DeMarcus Cousins have received most of the national hype surrounding the resurgence of Kentucky, but Patterson hasn’t seemed to care.

"I know I could have gone anywhere else and averaged 30,” Cousins said. "And losing.”

"I’d rather win,” Patterson said. "That’s what’s important.”

There's not an inkling of jealousy because Wall and Cousins have come in and tried their best to blend in — just as Ebanks and Jones did when they arrived in Morgantown.

This is a rarity in a day and age when top recruits get pampered and are told they don’t get enough touches each time they walk off the court.

But this is why Calipari and Huggins are two of the elite guys in the business. They can recruit, coach and know how to handle their players.

Their relationship dates way back to when Huggins was a coach at Walsh College in the early 1980s and Calipari was a young, aspiring coach at Five-Star Camp in Honesdale, Pa.

Their personalities may be far different, but both are likely future Hall of Famers.

Instead of changing everything when he arrived, Huggins has kept much intact from the Beilein regime — including the 1-3-1 defense.

"You’ve got to give him credit, because when he came in, he didn’t impose his will on us,” said West Virginia point guard Joe Mazzulla, a Beilein recruit. "He met us halfway.”

"What makes him what he is is that he’ll adapt to his team,” Calipari said. "I saw him when he first went to West Virginia playing a lot of John Beilein stuff. They have had great success, and we’ll use some of his stuff — and he did.”

Calipari hasn’t just gotten Patterson to buy into his role, but also freshman Eric Bledsoe, a natural point guard, to accept his spot as the starting two guard.

"I know it’s what’s best for the team,” Bledsoe said.

Such an attitude is rarely the case, especially with a pair of teams that endured drastic changes.

But both have come together to move one win away from the Final Four.