LEXINGTON, Ky. _ Here's a timely question: What happened to the Nick Richards who was a revelation in the Bahamas in August?
That Nick Richards commanded the court with a presence that caused Kentucky coach John Calipari to marvel at the change in production and personality. Richards was a new man bearing no resemblance to the freshman who faded away in the final 10 games of last season: 11 total points, 20 rebounds and only one game playing double-digit minutes in that final month.
This sophomore season brought promise of the Bahamas Richards being no illusion. He grabbed 19 rebounds against Southern Illinois.
But eight rebounds and 26 points in UK's last five games begs the question: What happened to the Bahamas version of Richards?
When asked that at a news conference Friday, associate coach Kenny Payne said, "Whew. If we could figure that out ... "
Payne, who substituted for Calipari, said the onus was on Richards to emerge.
"We haven't given up on Nick," Payne said. "But we're not going to hand it to him. One of the things Cal has done with all these kids is he puts it on them to figure it out.
"We've tried multiple things. Start him, hoping that would turn a light on. But at the end of the day, Nick has to take ownership of how he plays."
Payne said he had a heart-to-heart with Richards this week. He asked the player if he could shoot, had mastered various moves, block shots, sprint the floor.
Richards nodded each time, which Payne said led to a telling conclusion.
" 'I've done my part,' " Payne said he told Richards. " 'The rest is on you. That's just the way it is.' He will figure it out, and when he does, we'll be a much better team."
To borrow from Brad Calipari's chest tattoo, Richards' basketball fate must be earned. It will not be given.
"He just has to digest it," Payne said. "Grow up. Fight for it. It's just not going to be handed to him."
This echoed the message delivered by the elder Calipari, who apparently has appealed to Richards' pride.
"Cal says, it's time for you to be a man," Payne said. "Man up."
When asked to explain the wild difference between his play in the Bahamas and the United States, Richards said Kentucky was playing "real games," now.
"The Bahamas were more like pickup games for us," he said. Richards averaged 12 points and 4.8 rebounds in the four exhibition games in the Atlantis ballroom.
Richards later wanted to amend his description of the games in the Bahamas.
"I shouldn't have said pickup games," he said. "I should have probably said it's more loose. It's a real game, but you just play more loose out there ... . It's not as intense."
Earlier in this young season, the elder Calipari all but said Richards would rank fourth if Kentucky had a depth chart for "bigs." PJ Washington, Reid Travis and EJ Montgomery _ perhaps in that order _ would hold the top three spots. And there's only so much playing time to be had.
"Yeah, it's definitely motivation for me for him to say that as a coach," Richards said. "He's just trying to push me toward the right direction, hopefully boost my confidence and just hopefully let me play better as a person."
The word "confidence" caught the listeners' attention. More than once in the Bahamas, the UK coaches linked Richards' fade-away last season to a drain of confidence.
Richards all but recoiled when asked about his confidence presently. "I'm always confident," he said. "I'm more confident in myself than I've ever been."
Maybe so. But it seemed telling Friday when Payne said, "It's hard for people to evaluate non-confident athletes. It's easy for an evaluation to say he doesn't quite have it.
"Oh, he has it. You just haven't seen him at his best ... . Nick's going to be fine. I'm not worried about him."
