Frank Kaminsky earned his time in the spotlight at UW but he still isn't comfortable there

MADISON – Frank Kaminsky found himself in a place he earned with his play on the basketball court, yet it is a place he still doesn’t feel completely comfortable:

In the spotlight.

The consensus national player of the year as a senior at Wisconsin, Kaminsky returned Thursday night to see his No. 44 lifted to the rafters of the Kohl Center.

“It feels great,” Kaminsky, in his third season with the Charlotte Hornets, said of the attention and adoration. 

But?

“To be completely honest, I don’t really like it that much,” he added. “I stick out being 7-feet tall. I’d like to be 6-1, put a hat on and just go somewhere and not be me for about 20 minutes. That would be great.”

And, most important, hang with friends and former teammates who returned to the Kohl Center.

RELATED: Kaminsky's greatest hits as a member of Badgers

Teammates such as Sam Dekker, Josh Gasser, Bronson Koenig, Nigel Hayes, Duje Dukan Ben Brust, Zak Showalter and others who were in the Kohl Center stands Thursday. 

“An event like this to bring all of us back together is important,” he said. “Today is a celebration of what I kind of accomplished at this school. But I see it more as an opportunity for everyone to come together and be together. 

Kaminsky’s four-season journey at UW has been thoroughly chronicled.

Freshman: Kaminsky average 1.8 points and 1.4 rebounds per game. 

“He wasn’t very good as a freshman,” Gard said. “I didn’t know if he could play for us.”

Sophomore: Kaminsky improved his numbers to 4.2 points and 1.8 rebounds per game. 

“His sophomore year wasn’t anything to write home about either,” Gard said.

The departure of center Jared Berggren opened the door for Kaminsky to win a starting job as a junior in 2013-’14.

“He got tired of not being good enough,” Gard said. “He made a commitment to being great. He wanted to be great.”

Kaminsky announced his arrival as a force in the fourth game of the season when he hit 6 of 6 three-pointers, 16 of 19 shots overall and 5 of 6 free throws to set the program mark for points in a game with 43. 

“I think he just grew from there,” Gard said.

Kaminsky led UW in scoring (13.9 ppg) and rebounds (6.3) and into the Final Four for the first time under Bo Ryan.

His performance in UW’s 64-63 overtime victory over Arizona in the West Region final – 28 points and 11 rebounds – was remarkable. 

Senior: Kaminsky capped his rise, and UW’s under Ryan, by being named the consensus national player of the year in 2015. He became the first UW player to win the Naismith Trophy, the Wooden Award and the Oscar Robertson Trophy and was also named AP player of the year.

He scored 21 points and grabbed 12 rebounds in his final game, a 68-63 loss to Duke in the national title game.

“The path he came on, from when he was a freshman and sophomore to where he finished, is unbelievable,” Gard said. “How he improved, how he grew, how his mentality changed.

“Obviously, he is a poster child in terms of a player putting in so much time and such a commitment to develop and make himself into what he is…

“Everyone thinks we have a secret potion or a magic wand or pixie dust that we sprinkle on guys…The guys that have blossomed and developed like that have been guys that if you were clocking hours (of) work that they put in on their own, they’d be doing overtime. And he did. He put in a lot of time.”

Kaminsky took center court at halftime dressed in a splendid red suit and armed with a microphone.

He thanked everyone he could -- former teammates, high school buddies, members of his family and the UW fans.

"These guys, they've become like family to me," Kaminsky said, pointing to his former teammates.