Editor’s note: This is the first of two parts with John Wall. Second Q&A will be posted Monday morning.

By LARRY VAUGHT
larry@amnews.com
Kentucky freshman point guard John Wall came into this season already being projected as a potential No. 1 pick in the 2010 NBA draft and was even tabbed as the national player of the year by some.

However, even though he has played well for Kentucky, Wall has already learned one important lesson.

“It seems like every team we play against sees Kentucky on our chest and they really get after us and keep playing and playing. Guys are coming out and making shots and we have to get better on defense because they all want to beat Kentucky so bad,” said Wall.

The talented freshman offered these other insights into his first few weeks as a collegiate player.

Question: Are you used to guys trying to make a name against you or is this something different?
Wall: “It is not different, but I can’t worry about that. I am just trying to come out and help my team. If they need me to play defense and stop somebody, then that is what I will try to do. It’s not about me. I can’t just go take all the pressure on. My teammates have to help me. I am not really worried about anybody coming at me. It’s not high school. This is college and I have to just work on leading my team.”

Question: Any chance you guys are concentrating on doing things right offensively so much that it has hurt your defense while you learn the dribble-drive?
Wall: “I think we worry about our offense too much. We all worry too much about putting points on the board. We need to focus on our defense more. Coach Cal is on us for only wanting to score points and not play defense. We can score more points in a lot of games, but when a game is close and it comes down to one defensive stop, we won’t be able to get that the way we are going now.”

Question: So other teams have surprised you with how hard they have played?
Wall: “No, it hasn’t totally surprised me. College is a lot different than high school. They are all talented. They make it to college for a reason. Some people just make a high school team because they don’t have enough people and stuff like that. But here they play every night.”

Question: What has been causing so many turnovers?
Wall: “It has been some fatigue, but it has been more of a lack of focus. You have to be smart even when tired and there will be games they will need me even if I am tired and I have to make better reads. I have been lazy with the ball at times.”

Question: Do you guys just feel like you can outscore people and not have to play great defense?
Wall: “That is what we thought at first. You can do that on the high school level because you are good and nobody guard you. In college, they will guard you. So we have to play better defense. That’s the main thing we have to do better to be a good team. We can score on offense. We just have to learn to stop people. Until we do that, it will be tough because there will be a lot of games that will be close.”

Question: Does this team have the type of pride to want to be good defensively?
Wall: “We do. Everybody has to talk and care more. It starts with listening in practice and then doing it in games like we did against Rider.”

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