Last season, Terrence Jones and Doron Lamb had no choice but to be more mature than the average freshmen. With Kentucky’s short bench, John Calipari turned to Jones and Lamb early and often. Sure, the pair had its share of ups and downs but, in the end, Jones and Lamb overcame bumps in the road to help lead UK back to the Final Four for the first time since 1998.Along the way, the maturity Jones and Lamb showed manifested itself in their willingness to accept whatever role was assigned to them. There were times when Jones was called up to shoulder the scoring and other times when it was Lamb. On other occasions still, the two had to focus on aspects of the game like defense or rebounding while their teammates saw the lion’s share of the shooting opportunities.Stepping back and allowing others to shine is an ability many players don’t develop until late in their careers. Jones and Lamb didn’t even need a full season at the college level to learn how to do that.”We realized what we had to do for the team to win ball games, so we did it,” Lamb said. “Every game, somebody different was on and it didn’t really matter who as long as we won the game.”So now Jones and Lamb have spurned the NBA Draft and are back for their sophomore seasons, it’s their time to take over and determine the fate of the 2011-12 Cats on their own, right?”It doesn’t happen here that way,” Calipari said.Instead, Calipari will be asking Jones and Lamb to be a part of a team that will mix their talents with those of fellow returner Darius Miller and yet another top incoming recruiting class. The Cats are projected to be a deeper team than last year with a number of offensive and defensive weapons. Logically, that means the two sophomores could be in line for a slight drop in playing time, but they see that more as a positive than a negative.”I think it’s going to be a lot more fun because guys are going to be able to get more breaks and compete at the same level from the beginning of the game to the end,” Jones said.Jones makes the point that all the minutes he was called on to play last year contributed to a drop in his level of play as the year wore on. Having more teammates who will be able to give him breaks should combat that fatigue in 2011-12, but Jones wanted to do something about it himself.”I just felt last year the biggest thing for our team was being in shape, conditioned and strong,” Jones said. “I wanted to really improve on that for this upcoming season.”The commitment has paid off, as Jones has put on weight while improving his stamina. Calipari has seen a change in Jones’ body and a progression in maturity beyond even what he showed during UK’s NCAA Tournament run.”He’s on that path right now,” Calipari said. “I’m loving it because I’m seeing him physically grow. I’m seeing him mature as a person. I’m really proud of what he’s doing.”The devotion Jones has shown this offseason will make him one of the nation’s top players if he can translate it to the court, Calipari says.”I’m in my office, the lights come on, there’s music, I look down, there’s Terrence Jones in that gym,” Calipari said. “That means he becomes one of the top three players if not the best player in the country.”Early last season, Jones flashed that form, dominating out of the gate at the Maui Invitational. However, teams began to adjust to him and UK adjusted its style of play to create more opportunities for Jones’ teammates. As a result, Jones went from a projected top-five pick to a borderline lottery selection. Jones was not happy with his NBA stock and he made a decision to return and improve upon it. Lamb made a similar decision and opted to return to UK rather than hope to be picked late in the first round. Jones and Lamb credit Calipari for helping them obtain the information they needed to make a decision.”Coach doing that for us was an amazing thing,” Jones said. “That’s what type of coach he is. He loves and cares for his players and is going to give them every piece of information he can give them to help make decisions.”It was still up to Jones and Lamb to apply that information and both were mature enough to make the best decision possible.”We had a meeting after the UConn game when we first came back on campus,” Lamb said. “He told me where I was at in the draft and what would happen if I came back. I decided to come back and work hard.”Coming off a freshman season that saw him average 12.3 points and shoot nearly 50-percent from 3-point range, Lamb knew he needed to work because opponents will be ready for him.”I think they’ll face guard me more and close on me when I get the ball at the 3-point line, so I have to work on my mid-range game, go to the rack and make foul shots,” Lamb said.After getting a taste of the Final Four a year ago, Jones and Lamb are hungry to get back. They know how important the work they have done in the gym will be to their goal of winning a national title, but they also know the way they help guide this new crop of freshmen will be just as central to the Cats’ success.”I know what we have to do win games, so I’m already teaching the freshmen what we need to do to try to win it all,” Lamb said. “They’ve heard what I said.”