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Cousins wasn't a fan favorite in Alabama

Quick temper traces back to childhood taunts about his weight

While repeatedly insisting that playing against home-state Alabama on Tuesday night represents "just another game," Kentucky forward DeMarcus Cousins acknowledged that many of his fellow Alabamans might be watching with special interest.

"Probably the whole state," he said.

Reporters chuckled. But for Cousins, whose playfulness delights the Kentucky media corps, this was no laughing matter.

"Probably more people (in Alabama) are hoping for the worst than anything," he said.

When asked why people in Alabama might feel that way, Cousins said, simply, "I'm DeMarcus."

Cousins declined to discuss in depth the "bad situation" he said he endured as a high school player, first in Birmingham and then in Mobile. Suffice it to say, he seemed to attract attention for all the wrong reasons. His short fuse invited opponents to try to incite him. More than once the tactic succeeded, a reason the media did not vote him Alabama's Mr. Basketball.

UK Coach John Calipari suggested an off-court reason Cousins might feel persecuted.

"He was big and heavy," Calipari said before asking reporters, "Any of you here heavy in the seventh and eighth grade? He was heavy. He was picked on.

"If any of you have gone through that, you say, 'I still haven't gotten through that and I'm 51.' "

When Mark Gottfried was coach, Alabama recruited Cousins. The media pursued a revenge angle of new Tide coach Anthony Grant not following up. But Otis Hughley, who coached Cousins at Leflore High in Mobile, said the coaching transition made it difficult for Alabama.

Besides, Cousins was set to go to UAB because of his relationship with Coach Mike Davis. But not knowing how long Davis would be at the school, Cousins wanted assurances that he could get out of the letter of intent should UAB change coaches. When UAB declined to make that deal, Cousins looked elsewhere.

"Kentucky's the perfect place for him," Hughley said. "Cal's the perfect coach for him."

When asked what made Kentucky perfect for Cousins, Hughley said, "Well, it's not Alabama, No. 1."

Hughley quickly noted that he did not mean an insult to Alabama nor Alabamans. It's just that after all the turmoil Cousins endured, the big man needed to get away.

"You can't get a fresh start in an old place," the Leflore High coach said. "For people to appreciate and evaluate him as he is now. Kentucky had open arms. They got to see a big teddy bear."

Calipari noted how the UK staff and Kentucky basketball community loved — that was the word he used: "loved" — Cousins.

"Instead of looking at his weaknesses, we're looking at his strengths," the UK coach said. "Let me say this: for the first time in his life. Oh yeah!"

Not that Cousins is beyond scrutiny. As recently as last weekend, when Kentucky played at LSU, referees went to the sideline monitor to watch replays and judge whether Cousins should be receive a technical or flagrant foul for throwing an elbow.

The referees decided the original call, a personal foul, fit the crime. But Calipari sounded exasperated after at least the third time referees have checked monitors on Cousins. The UK coach lamented that the many bumps and could-be fouls that Cousins endures go uncalled.

On the Southeastern Conference coaches' teleconference Monday, Calipari said he had not formally protested to the league office. He explained his post-game remarks at LSU as "trying to keep the kid's emotions in check."

Perhaps as part of that process, Calipari said that uncalled fouls are part of the unfair lot of the big man in basketball.

"You're six inches taller and 40 pounds heavier," Calipari said he told Cousins. "They're going to rough you up. And that's how they're going to play you. You have to accept it and keep your emotions in check and play."

Calipari suggested that big men like Greg Monroe of Georgetown and Cole Aldrich of Kansas get the same treatment as Cousins.

When a reporter told Cousins that Aldrich got hit a lot, too, the UK big man rolled his eyes.

"I think I'm the only one taking it like this," he said.

Upon hearing this, Calipari smiled and suggested Cousins consult with Shaquille O'Neal. Many SEC big men of the past, including former UK All-American Kenny Walker, could lecture on basketball's version of Lilliputians being allowed to tie down Gulliver.

"But you know what?" Calipari added, "Were you in his shoes, you'd feel the same way."

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