SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- West Virginia star Da'Sean Butler said Friday that his injured right hand will not affect his play in the East Region final Saturday against Kentucky.

Butler says he wrapped his hand and wrist in ice after practice Friday as a precaution. Butler clutched his right hand in pain after a hard fall in West Virginia's 69-56 win against Washington in the NCAA tournament Thursday night.

Butler said he shot well at practice and hopes that will carry over into the game against top-seeded Kentucky.

He has hit six winning shots for the second-seeded Mountaineers this season and leads them in scoring at 17.4 points per game.

The Mountaineers already are playing without point guard Darryl "Truck" Bryant, who broke his foot in practice earlier this week.

The one-and-done player has become a reality in college basketball since the NBA changed its rules regarding the age requirements for early entry in 2005.

Most of those players, however, try to say the right things about the value of an education while they are in school even if they already have one foot out the door.

Kentucky freshman John Wall, the likely No. 1 pick in the NBA draft this year, at least was refreshingly honest when asked about what he hoped to get out of his college experience yesterday.

"I came to college for a reason, I wanted to enjoy it and see how the experience was," Wall said. "I know that I have a chance to do something special with a great team and a great coaching staff, so we have to keep fighting until we reach our goal."

But Wall also declined to talk about his future.

"Every time, I won't answer [when asked about the NBA]," Wall said. "I just try to tell them that I am trying to enjoy my college experience. I don't want to think about anything else, I just want to enjoy my time with my teammates and coaching staff and the whole college experience."

Kentucky has two other freshmen -- guard Eric Bledsoe and forward DeMarcus Cousins -- who could declare for the draft early along with Wall.

Cousins, who is 6 feet 11 and looks like he is every bit of 275 pounds (he is listed at 260), is a powerful force under the basket and excellent rebounder (9.9 per game) and will present problems for the Mountaineers.

"[Kevin Jones] and I have each other's back in terms of helping each other out defensively," West Virginia forward Wellington Smith said. "We've guarded [bigger players in the Big East], but the only thing is Cousins does a lot more in terms of scoring, he's so quick with his feet."

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