The update on Willie Cauley-Stein is that there is no update. His status remains the same for the Wisconsin game as it was on Sunday: doubtful.”I doubt he plays,” John Calipari said on Monday’s Final Four teleconference, “and he will be on our bench cheering like crazy.”Cauley-Stein missed Kentucky’s Elite Eight win over Michigan with a left ankle injury he suffered during the Louisville game on Friday. The sophomore forward came up limping at the 13:05 mark in the first half, hobbled to the locker room and never returned.Against Michigan, Cauley-Stein was on the sidelines with his teammates, but he was reduced to a supportive role, wearing sweatpants and a sweatshirt with his jersey over the top and a boot on his right foot. He used crutches to move around during the game until UK’s postgame celebration, when Cauley-Stein hobbled on one foot to the dog pile.By the looks of things Sunday and based on Coach Cal’s comments on Monday, it does not appear as though UK will have the services of its top shot-blocker against Wisconsin, but Cauley-Stein didn’t rule out the possibility when he spoke to reporters after the Cats’ Elite Eight victory, as faint as that prospect may be.”I hope so,” Cauley-Stein said when he was asked if he might play on Saturday. “I really hope so. I’m going to go back to Lexington and get a bunch of treatment, a lot of ice and maybe, just maybe, this weekend I’ll be able to suit up or something.”Dakari Johnson and Marcus Lee filled in admirably for Cauley-Stein when he went down with the injury. Johnson matched a career high with 15 points in the win over Louisville and Lee re-emerged from a seldom-used bench role with a 10-point, eight-rebound, two-block outing.UK managed to block six shots vs. Michigan without its best rim protector, but the Cats will miss his presence against the Badgers, who feature a 7-footer in Frank Kaminsky, Wisconsin’s leading scorer, rebounder and shot-blocker. “Do you understand that Willie changed most games for us?” Calipari said.Coach Cal said Cauley-Stein went “bonkers” in the locker room during the win over Louisville and then watched Sunday as he cheered on his teammates from from the bench, even documenting some of the front-row action with video posted on the UK Sports Video department’s Instagram account.Calipari said he talked to Cauley-Stein to make sure he was in a good place mentally.”I said, ‘Willie, we’re going to try to cover for you. It’s gonna be really hard. But let me say this: You personally, you’ve proven yourself. People know what you are. They know the impact you have on games. They know that you’re a 7-foot guard. They know that now. So is this hurting our team? Yes. But we’re gonna try to cover. You’re fine,’ ” Calipari said. “And I want them to understand, we are about them, and when you’re injured, doesn’t change things.”To bring you more expansive coverage, CoachCal.com and Cat Scratches
will be joining forces for the postseason. You can read the same great
stories you are accustomed to from both sites at CoachCal.com and
UKathletics.com/blog, but now you’ll enjoy even more coverage than
normal.