Alex Poythress and Willie Cauley-Stein are Kentucky basketball’s odd couple.Poythress is the quiet one. With the media, he’s polite but reserved. On the court, he lets his game do the talking.Cauley-Stein, on the other hand, will never be mistaken for shy. From his candid, often off-the-wall answers in interviews to his tweets all the way down to his clothes, his personality comes through.The contrast might make the two juniors seem unlikely to share a bond, but you won’t find two players on the team closer than Poythress and Cauley-Stein. In fact, it’s their differences that bring them together.”He’s more outgoing, talking, doing a lot of stuff,” Poythress said. “I’m more laidback, chill. That’s probably why we get along.”They get along so well that when John Calipari learned Cauley-Stein would bypass the NBA Draft, he immediately figured Poythress would do the same.The word “brother” comes up often when Cauley-Stein and Poythress talk about one another. The two suitemates also agree that their ages (Cauley-Stein is the elder by 19 days) belie the true nature of their relationship.”Even though he’s younger than me, he’s like the older brother,” Cauley-Stein said. “I’m the kind of dude that wants to go outside and see everybody and always on the move, and he’s always the dude that’s like, I’m going to stay in the room and watch a movie and do grown-people stuff and I’m always trying to experience all the fun stuff.”For all his “grown-people stuff” off the court, Poythress has taken his time blossoming as a player on it. Given his personality, that makes some sense.Through two college seasons, Poythress has alternated in equal measure between showing flashes of his ability to dominate and a propensity to fade into the background. There have been games like his 20-point outburst against Duke as a freshman and outings like the one just two weeks later at Notre Dame when he attempted just one shot.It should come as no surprise that Poythress’ longest sustained stretch of consistent play coincided with UK’s run to the national championship game. Even still, Poythress was but a supporting cast member, providing a versatile defensive presence, rebounding and the occasional jaw-dropping play.Once the run was over, he had a decision to make. In spite of what Coach Cal may have thought after Cauley-Stein announced his return, Poythress made the call on his own.”I talked to the coaches, talked to my mom, talked to my dad, my sisters and my family and I just weighed my options,” Poythress said. “I feel like I made the right decision to come back.”Based on early returns, Poythress appears poised to prove himself right.Showing off what assistant John Robic called a “rebuilt engine,” Poythress averaged 11.8 points – tops on the team – and 5.7 rebounds on a six-game Bahamas tour. The raw numbers aren’t far off from his production through his first two seasons, but he posted them playing just 18.8 minutes per game on UK’s starting platoon.Anyone who has spent much time watching Poythress during his UK career doesn’t need to look at any numbers to know the player on the floor this August was different. “I was coming with the mindset that I’m playing good these games,” Poythress said. “Coming in with that mindset, I’m going at people, making a statement really.”Physically, Poythress is still the imposing 6-foot-8, nearly 240-pound specimen he’s always been. He still wears No. 22 on his jersey and a stoic expression on his face too. Inside is where Poythress has changed.”Probably mentally,” Poythress said. “Just being more focused. Mentally, being more prepared. I’ve been here two years. I know what to expect. Just going in and make sure I do it.”The scary thing for UK’s opponents this season is Calipari still sees room for improvement. He knows the platoon system presents some unique challenges he’ll have to navigate with Poythress to make sure his growth continues, but the progress the Clarksville, Tenn., has made so far is indisputable.”He may be a guy that needs more minutes just to get more comfortable playing because, you know, that’s the biggest thing with him is the comfort level in his game,” Calipari said. “But, you know …  there are things he has to be able to do to be special. Because he has, you know, he’s just getting so much better. … I can’t even believe he’s the same player.”His evolution as a player has been accompanied by growth as a leader. Poythress is the first to admit that getting in the face of a younger teammate doesn’t come naturally to him, but he also knows he’ll be called on to do just that given his experience playing on one team that was bounced in the first round of the NIT and another that came up a win shy of a title.”You can be the most laidback person off the court, but on the court you gotta speak up, you gotta be more vocal,” Poythress said. “I’m doing a better job of that.”Coach Cal has had players who were able to do that the moment they arrived on campus. For even those who can’t, it’s still the assumption that true freshmen should be able to dominate on the court from day one.Poythress is a reminder of how unfair that expectation is and that deviating from the one-and-done path doesn’t signal failure.”I’m a junior now,” Poythress said. “It just takes people different times. Ain’t nothing wrong with that. There’s a lot of great players in the pros that played in college for three years. You’re not really trying to worry about that. You’re just trying to do what you can, however long it takes you. Just trying to take baby steps, really.”