By Keith Taylor
Kentucky Today
Quade Green never considered leaving Kentucky.
Although it was heavily rumored that Green would be transferring to another school following his first season with the Wildcats, he squashed the suggestion that he would be leaving for LaSalle or any other school.
“I just laughed at that one,” he said. “That was hilarious, but I wasn’t paying no mind to it. I don’t know who said that. I wasn’t frustrated. I already knew what was happening. I let that go down the drain and let it die down.”
Green one of the team’s top three returnees next season, said it “feels great coming back” and is anxious for the future despite the competition that awaits with a stockpile of freshman guards joining the fold.
“I feel like I’m a veteran now,” he said. “I’m the old guy on the team, so I have to take care of the young guys and I have to take care of myself and the team. Hopefully, we all click together when the season starts and go from there.”
Going into his sophomore campaign, Green said he’s devoting more time to the gym and wants to “have a better year than my first year.”
“(I just have to be) in the gym every day, work on what have to work on and that’s it,” he said. “(I have to let it) escalate from there.”
Green, a prolific shooter himself, said the newcomers will provide Kentucky with more depth, especially on the perimeter.
“We’re going to have a lot of guards,” he said. “We’re going to have a lot of guards that can dribble, shoot, so they won’t be crowding up on you on the paint. Everybody can spread out. We have a bunch of shooters on our team. It seems like everybody can shoot now, so you really have to guard everybody now. You have to guard us now because we’re able to shoot at the 1-3 (positions).”
Green isn’t backing down from the competition and is willing to play at any position to help the team succeed next season.
“Wherever they need me to, I’m there,” he said. “If they need me to play the five spot, I’m going to play the five spot. If that’s where they need me, that’s what they need.”
Green already likes what he sees from his future teammates.
“We’re bonding, really,” he said. “Ever since day one, since we came here, everyone’s been bonding as a team. We’re playing pick-up (games) every day – nothing better than that when you’ve got a new team coming in. They’ve been asking some questions, how things go, and we tell them what the routes are and that’s it.”
Green isn’t sure how eager the team will be this season but doesn’t expect anything less than what it takes for the Wildcats to succeed.
“This team, you really don’t know how hungry we are until the season starts going,” he said. “But it looks like everyone is in the gym, so everybody is hungry from what I’ve seen.”
Keith Taylor is sports editor for Kentucky Today. Reach him at keith.taylor@kentuckytoday.com or twitter @keithtaylor21.