Cassius Stanley and Flat Stanley Meet the Media

Cassius Stanley arrived for Duke’s media session previewing Saturday’s game with Louisville accompanied by a camera crew and a special guest.

Stanley carefully placed Flat Stanley, the world-traveling cutout figure who has been the subject of countless elementary school assignments, on the podium in front of him.

“I just met him today,” Stanley said of Flat Stanley (no relation). “We’re getting close. That’s my friend here. The story’s going to come out soon about our friendship.”

When asked if it was similar to the Lil Penny doll that Penny Hardaway made famous in shoe commercials 20 years ago, Stanley wasn’t so sure.

“I guess you could call it that,” he said. “Obviously, we all see that he and I don’t look alike in many ways. So we’re going to just say that we’re friends.”

On a more serious note, Stanley discussed the lessons the team took from Tuesday’s loss at Clemson.

“We’re just realizing that everyone’s coming for us,” he said. “For us as freshmen, we’re realizing every win in the ACC, every game in the ACC matters. It doesn’t matter if it’s the last team or the best team – every game matters. [We’re] taking everything and owning it basically – just going out there, making it ours and really making it personal and knowing we’ve got to bring it every day.”

Of Louisville, Stanley said, “They’re a veteran team, they’re very seasoned, they’re very strong, very big, very physical and so we’re just going to have to go out there, match their physicality and match their effort and intensity. But, [we have to] make them match our effort and intensity too and make them play at our pace. It’s going to be a good game.”