F
38
orthelasttwo years,FrankKaminskyhas sat
in the back of the classroom, soaking up
everything he could from his teachers; Jared Berggren, Mike Bruesewitz and Ryan Evans.
There was little or no pressure in following the
lead of the Wisconsin basketball team's upperclassmen beyond the pressure he put on himself.
"The people who graduated have been kind of
coaching us towards this moment," said Kaminsky, a junior from Lisle, Ill. "Everyone knew they
would leave at some point and they would have
to pass it down to us and they made sure we'd be
ready when our time comes."
That time has arrived for Kaminsky to step
front and center and take on an expanded role.
Conceding it seems "weird" to not have Berggren,
Bruesewitz or Evans in the locker room ― "They
were the staples of the program" ― he sounded
excited to see what the team can do, and he can
do.
"I can't wait for the season to start because
I'm ready for it," said Kaminsky, who averaged
10.3 minutes, 4.2 points and 1.8 rebounds in 35
games last year, including two starts. "We're going to need some people to step up after losing
all of our frontcourt; there are going to be some
opportunities."
Because he's the only returning "big" with
starting experience, however limited ― and this
is excluding the 6-foot-7 Sam Dekker who certainly played "big" as a freshman ― Kaminsky
was asked to evaluate his sophomore season: A)
good year; B) OK year; or C) not so OK year.
"I felt like I had an OK year," said Kaminsky,
who missed three games in January after suffering an eye injury at Indiana. "I felt at moments I
was playing really well and sometimes I didn't really show up to play. It was frustrating at points.
But it was definitely a good learning year."
Besides leading the Badgers in free throw
percentage (.767), Kaminsky had some shining
moments. At Illinois, he scored a career-high 19
points on the strength of going 12-of-14 from
the free throw line. In the Big Ten tournament,
he had eight clutch points in the Badgers' victory
over Michigan.
"I feel like I've grown up a little bit over these
last two years," said Kaminsky, who admitted that
he must constantly work on his self-confidence
//
VARSITY August 22, 2013
