All Eyes on PJ: Washington Working toward Return
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Per NCAA Tournament policy, the first 15 minutes of Kentucky’s practice Thursday at the Sprint Center was open to the media.
Looking around, John Calipari saw immediately what was going on. All eyes, cameras and phones were trained on PJ Washington.
“The rest of us, they don’t even know we’re here,” Calipari commented to his team.
Free of a cast and scooter, Washington warmed up with his teammates with no apparent limp and looked his normal self as he shot. The remainder of practice was closed, leaving the full extent Washington’s participation to everyone’s imagination. Knowing how the last week and a half has gone, it’s safe to say the collective imagination of the Big Blue Nation will be running wild leading up to tipoff against Houston at 9:59 p.m. ET on Friday.
That scooter Washington rode last weekend in Jacksonville, Florida? It inspired a parody Twitter account. The video Washington posted of himself walking Tuesday? It launched a #PJChallenge meme. That doesn’t even account for the rumors about the cause of Washington’s injury or the conspiracy theories about the diagnosis.
Coach Cal didn’t need reinforcement for his favorite refrain of “you people are crazy” in reference to Kentucky fans, but he’s gotten it anyway. It’s a good thing Washington has a sense of humor about it all.
“It’s been funny,” Washington said. “It was just funny to see everybody freaking out about it and the tweets they were sending and stuff like that. People were DMing me, calling me, stuff like that. Everybody’s just been bugging me.”
Washington was the subject of further bugging as he addressed the media for the first time since his absence due to a sprained foot sustained in the closing minutes of the Tennessee game. He was asked in more ways than he could count about his status for Friday night, but he politely deflected each time.
“They train us really well here,” Washington said. “We talk to the media all the time, so I’m pretty used to it. I’m just happy be in this position I am with my teammates.”
Washington and his teammates are on the verge of playing for an Elite Eight berth after those teammates won a pair of games last weekend in the sophomore forward’s absence.
“I definitely want to play in this tournament,” Washington said. “This is what I’ve been working for all year and just to sit out was definitely hard on me. To see our guys winning definitely picked me up a little bit and then to see how excited everybody was is just kind of funny, I guess.”
The excitement is understandable, considering UK could potentially add a third-team All-American to a team that blew out Abilene Christian and survived a tough game with Wofford to advance. Whether that happens remains to be seen.
Calipari plans to follow Washington’s lead, taking the same approach he did to Reid Travis’s injury. As Travis recuperated from a sprained knee, Calipari let him do so on his own timetable. When Travis felt ready to return in the SEC Tournament, he did. Similarly, Calipari expects Washington’s minutes to be limited when he does come back.
“Thank goodness the game is at 9 (Central Time),” Calipari said. “We have more time. It’s the first time I’ll ever say this. I wish it was at 10. But, you know, greatest thing for him is the doc said that you can’t hurt yourself. And if that were the case, I wouldn’t let him play. Doc said, ‘You’re going to be in pain after the game if you do play, but you know how much pain can you deal with.’
“He wants to play. Now, it’s can he play? We don’t know.”
Washington and Calipari haven’t been the only ones asked repeatedly about the status of Kentucky’s star. His teammates have fielded the questions too, but they know a challenge is ahead of them against the Cougars regardless what happens with Washington.
“We’re a very confident team right now,” Tyler Herro said. “We know tomorrow is going to be a tough game either way with or without him. It’s going to be a good test for us.”
That’s not going to quell the rampant speculation about whether Washington will play. It will all finally be settled Friday night, though with far less drama than everything that preceded it.
“I feel like if I’m feeling good, I’ll just talk to Cal and we can talk about it and go from there,” Washington said. “If not, I’ll talk to him the same way.”
