You are going to hear a lot about Frank Kaminsky in the coming days leading to the Final Four in Arlington, Texas.
You are going to hear about how his performance, which earned him Most Outstanding Player honors at the West Region in Anaheim, Calif., lifted Wisconsin to its first Final Four in 14 years and its venerable coach, Bo Ryan, to his first.
You are going to be taken aback by how his appearance — skinny, not athletic looking, shaggy beard and sleepy eyes (think Spicoli in “Fast Times at Ridgemont High’’) — does not match that of a player who scored 47 points in the Badgers’ last two NCAA Tournament games, a 69-52 rout over Baylor and Saturday night’s 64-63 overtime thriller over Arizona in the West Regional final.
You are going to be enlightened by his dry sense of humor and how he is usually the first player to crack up his curmudgeon coach.
You are going to hear about how he might be the most dramatically improved player from a year ago in college basketball.
What you are probably not going to hear about Kaminsky is this: That he is a poster child for the benefits of college players staying in school and not rushing into a professional basketball career.
Is there a player in the country that has made as dramatic a step in his college basketball career in a year than Kaminsky?
A year ago, he was an afterthought — a little-used reserve off the Badgers’ bench, averaging 4.2 points in 10.1 minutes.
This season, he led Wisconsin, with averages of 13.7 points and 6.2 rebounds. Then, on the biggest stage he has ever played, in that West Regional, he dwarfed those numbers.
He was the difference in both Wisconsin wins, scoring 19 points, including eight of the Badgers’ first 10, in the win over Baylor as well as blocking six shots. Two nights later against Arizona, he was again the difference, with 28 points — including three 3-pointers (not something you often see from a gangly 7-footer) — and 11 rebounds.
Those are Most Outstanding Player numbers for the entire tournament, not simply one regional.
“Frank Kaminsky is the reason Wisconsin’s in the Final Four,’’ Arizona coach Sean Miller said.
You can make the argument Kaminsky was not going anywhere as a pro after producing 4.1 points per game in his sophomore season. But look at what he became in his junior year with one more year of Ryan’s coaching and Big Ten competition. You can bet his rapidly rising stock is front-and-center on the radars of NBA scouts now.
The likes of Kansas freshman Andrew Wiggins, invisible while bowing out of the Midwest Regional second round last week, and Arizona freshman Aaron Gordon, who got an up-close-and-personal look at Kaminsky Saturday night, should take further note of what another year of college did for Kaminsky before they opt to chase the NBA money right way.
Though he did haul in a game-high 18 rebounds, Gordon was a disappointment offensively Saturday night with just eight points (more than four below his season average) on 3-of-11 shooting. He is also a 42.1 percent free-throw shooter, which will not fly in the NBA.
There was a point late in Saturday night’s game at the Honda Center when Wisconsin guard Sam Dekker asked Arizona’s 7-foot center Kaleb Tarczewski, “Isn’t it tough to guard Frank?’’
“Tarczewski said he’d never guarded anyone like him,’’ Dekker said. “Frank is just awkward. He just makes it awkward for people.’’
He makes it awkward with his surprisingly agile moves with the ball in the paint and, even more so, when he posts up beyond the 3-point arc and drains 3s (he was 3-of-5 from long distance against Arizona).
Kaminsky said his marked improvement is simply a result of “just working hard.’’
Ryan concurred, saying there was no magic to Kaminsky’s transformation other than, “He’s matured in every aspect because he’s worked hard.’’
“They tell me he’s funnier that he used to be, and his eyes are more wide open now,’’ Ryan joked. “Last year I thought at times his eyes were closed, then I realized that’s just his eyes. If you see him sitting sometimes you think, ‘Oh, look, Frank’s asleep.’ He’s not asleep, but he’s got that sleepy look.’’
As a by-product from his career breakout on this national stage, no one is likely to ever sleep on Kaminsky again — not in the Final Four or the NBA — whenever he might get there.