A funny thing happened when John Calipari benched Devin Askew after four games. Kentucky’s freshman point guard didn’t pout. He didn’t vent on social media. He didn’t make excuses, even if a valid one existed: He would still be in high school had he not reclassified. Askew, a consensus top-40 recruit, could’ve called everyone in his inner circle until he found someone who would absolve him of fault and instead blame the coaching staff for not appreciating his talent. But he didn’t.

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“That’s not what we do in this family,” his father, Brian, said. “He’s never been a bring-it-home-and-complain-to-us kind of kid. He handles it. That’s the beauty of this: He’s always been about taking the steps in order. He doesn’t need to skip steps. This is one of the steps on the way to where he wants to get, and it’s a beautiful step because it’s teaching him and he’s growing.”

So when Askew lost his starting job before the game against Notre Dame on Dec. 12, he accepted a harsh reality that prompted the demotion. He simply was not ready. The game was coming at him too fast and furious. The pressure of leading a preseason top-10 team was a little overwhelming, especially when those great expectations deflated almost immediately and the Wildcats were in shambles after only a few weeks. Just imagine how his mind must’ve raced. By sitting Askew, Calipari pressed pause and gave him a chance to regroup.

There was some obvious wisdom in that decision, but even more in the way Askew has handled it.

“I kind of looked at it like I needed it. Like Cal did that to take pressure off me,” he said. “It kind of just calmed me down when I stepped back. It allowed me to see the game from coming off the bench and it calmed me down. It slowed the game down a little bit for me.”

That sounds a bit passive, which Askew certainly is not. He wasn’t just a bystander in his basketball education. He put his head down and went back to work. He studied film. He snuck in extra sessions at the gym with assistant coaches. He drilled the things that had stymied him early: panicking and picking up his dribble without knowing where he was going with the ball, driving into traffic without a plan about what to do once he got there. And although his improvement was not quite instant, it sure felt like it.

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Through his first five games, Askew had 13 turnovers, nine assists and two steals. In the last four games, he had six turnovers, 16 assists and eight steals. After coming off the bench for two games, he got his starting job back when Terrence Clarke was sidelined by an ankle injury, and he has made the most of a second chance. In 103 minutes during those three game, Askew has turned it over just four times. He’s playing aggressively on defense and under control on offense, and he found Davion Mintz for the winning 3-pointer on a drive-and-kick against Vanderbilt on Tuesday night.

“He’s never stopped working,” assistant coach Bruiser Flint said. “He’s one of the hardest workers I’ve ever been around as a coach, period, in all my coaching career. He’s been working hard and he’s been doing the things that Cal has been asking him to do: run the team, be a better floor general. He’s done that; it’s just taken him some time.”

Yes, an eternity. Askew has played nine whole college games. That is, of course, an absurd notion — that anyone not playing at lottery pick-level a third of the way through his freshman season is suffering from delayed development — unless you’re a blue-chip recruit who signs with Kentucky. Unfortunately, when young players don’t immediately thrive in Calipari’s program, which markets itself as a one-and-done factory, that can go one of two ways. Bad attitudes and bad advice lead to hasty decisions (see Kahlil Whitney) or maturity kicks in and patience is rewarded (see Immanuel Quickley).

If there was any question which way Askew would go, allow his father to clear that up.

“I have full trust in that whole coaching staff, especially Coach Cal,” Brian Askew said. “One thing you have to love about Kentucky is that it’s tough — no way around that, it’s hard — but if you can learn from that and fight through it, you’ll be fine in life. In our family, I wouldn’t say we enjoy watching Dev struggle or go through hard things, but we show up to support him in those moments too because it’s rewarding when you can see a kid dig himself out of it. That’s the beauty in the struggle, right?”

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This kind of refreshing, level-headed parent talk should sound vaguely familiar to Kentucky fans. It’s similar to the way Paul Washington used to describe the development of his son PJ under Calipari. And that’s no accident. Two of Paul Washington and Brian Askew’s other sons played together on a grassroots team and the families became close friends a few years ago.

The elder Washington was thrilled when Askew signed with the Wildcats and has served as an adviser of sorts on how to handle everything that comes with the Big Blue circus. Washington was a McDonald’s All-American who had a roller-coaster first season at Kentucky — he fell out of the starting lineup for a six-game stretch in February — before blossoming into a star (and NBA lottery pick) as a sophomore. When Askew got benched, Paul Washington called.

“I told them about how PJ got in Cal’s doghouse his freshman year,” he said. “And I gave Devin the same advice I gave my son. What’s your number at Kentucky? No. 2? OK, what was your number in high school? No. 5? Well then go play like No. 5. Go watch your old highlights to find your confidence again. Remember who you are. Remember that you deserve to be here. Listen to the coaches, keep a level head, but also go play your game and have fun again.”

In the four games since getting that advice, Askew is averaging 10.3 points, 4.0 assists, 2.0 steals and just 1.5 turnovers. He has made a 3-pointer in each of the last three games to keep opponents honest. He’s driving harder and finishing — or finding an open teammate, like in the double-overtime win at Mississippi State when he assisted on four of the Wildcats’ made 3-pointers that finally unlocked a stagnant offense.

“I know what I can do,” Askew said. “I gained a lot more confidence out there on the court after the Notre Dame game and it just keeps improving. I’m back to myself, so I feel great.”

It helped that Askew and his family were prepared — thanks to Washington — for two of the hardest things about the Kentucky experience: Calipari’s intense coaching (read: screaming) and a fan base that can be unrelenting (read: irrational).

“Kentucky fans are like Yankees fans,” Brian Askew said. “It’s tough, but I respect it, because they’re very passionate and you want to be a part of something like that.”

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And what of Calipari’s aggressive style?

“When he gets on me, it’s because he wants the best for me,” Devin Askew said. “He believes in me. He’s only doing it because he loves me. He’s our coach, and he’s just an animated type of guy. But I just take it as he’s trying to make me understand and get me better. I take it in a positive way. I don’t take it in a negative way. There’s no need for that.”

If the Wildcats, who started 1-6 but have won two in a row, are to salvage this season, they’ll need fellow freshman Brandon Boston Jr. to take notes. The former top-five recruit is mired in a miserable slump and has been benched at the ends of both recent victories: the final 12 minutes at Mississippi State and the last six minutes of the nail-biter against Vanderbilt. Askew should be an example to Boston and all of their teammates on how to respond to a challenge.

This, after all, is what each of them signed up for.

“You know when you come here what you’re getting,” Brian Askew said. “You know it’s going to be a fight, it’s going to be a battle, it’s going to be some hard times. For anyone to say you didn’t know what you were getting is not telling the truth. For us, this coach and this staff and this place were perfect for Devin. This is what he needs: the direction, the honesty, just holding the kid accountable. Those are things that my family loves and respects. Take basketball out of the equation and those are the kinds of people I want around my son.”

Likewise, players and parents such as the Askews are exactly the kind of people upon which Calipari would like to build his program. Building, of course, implies time. And the hope has always been that Askew, who arrived on campus a year early, would be the rare elite recruit who’d stick around multiple seasons. Like Washington. Although the NBA probably isn’t going to come calling for Askew after this season, other college programs might. The Cats have been plagued recently by West Coast kids struggling early and then transferring back closer to home.

“If this is a growing year, if it takes this whole year to get the hang of it,” said Brian Askew, who lives in California, “then he comes back and does it again next year. He loves it out there. He loves the grind. He loves everything about Kentucky. He trusts the process, because it’s a great process.”