By Skip Myslenski
NUsports.com Special Contributor
SNAPSHOTS AS THE 'CATS AWAIT MICHIGAN'S WEDNESDAY NIGHT VISIT TO WELSH-RYAN. . .
JIMMY CHITWOOD is the hero of that cinematic classic Hoosiers, the cool hand who calmly drops the last-second shot that delivers tiny Hickory high an unexpected state title. He was also the boyhood hero of 'Cat point Bryant McIntosh, who back as a freshman admitted, "I just idolized him. I loved watching that movie. When I was younger, that's who I'd tell people was my favorite player."
Last November, after an elbow split his upper lip in the Wake Forest game, he even flashed back to that movie after hearing Chris Collins call out to the training staff, "Patch him up. Patch him up." Then again on Tuesday, with he and his teammates facing meaningful game in March for the first time in their college careers, his words tacitly called it up again as he discussed the roaring competitiveness that fuels him. "That's something I do have to focus on, not trying to do too much," he said at one point.
"I think I allow that because I trust my teammates, because I do enjoy passing the ball. One of my pure joys in this game is sharing the ball. I think that allows me to not do too much. But I also understand the moment and if I see maybe guys are uncomfortable, I have to understand that maybe I don't need to take over, but I do need to give them confidence."
He enjoys moments like that.
"I do enjoy that moment," he agreed. "Those are moments that I think all of us have dreamed about, but maybe some guys aren't ready for them at this time."
Did he experience moments like that as he led Greensburg to state championships as a high school star in Indiana, or is this a whole different realm?
"It's a different realm," he said. "But I still feel I've been prepared for this moment my whole life. The ball's always been put in my hands, starting at a young age playing for my dad, then just growing up in high school. My high school team was down three points my junior year with a minute to go, and we ended up winning that game in overtime, and I had to make a play at the end of the game to send it to overtime. So it's something— I've always had the ball in my hands and I've always had the confidence to do it."
Jimmy Chitwood, I said to him, flashing back to our conversation of so long ago.
He got it, and just looked down at me and smiled.
JUST TO REMIND: In his three seasons at Greensburg his teams went 77-3 and won a pair of state titles, and from junior high through his time at that school his teams went 109-7.
THE 'CATS, of course, didn't do much winning in February. They instead struggled through that month, finishing it two-and-five and closing it out with a one-point loss at Indiana after leading late by seven. Still, asked his team's condition on Monday, Collins avowed, "I think we're good. Even though we had a really disappointing loss on Saturday, I think our guys were encouraged. It was the best we've played in five or six games. Just didn't finish the game. We were really upset about that. Disappointed. But we were encouraged— I think we got a little bit of our mojo back. Our guys are excited."
"We've got a lot of excitement. We're playing for something," McIntosh soon agreed. "I felt the last game we had our best energy to our play in awhile. We've got to finish the deal. But there's things we can take away from that game. There were quite a bit of positives about it."
THE 'CATS soared in January, finishing that month six-one, and the topic du jour back then was their quest for their program's first NCAA tourney bid. Now, after their recent struggles, that topic is pressure and the possible effect of all that tourney talk. "I don't think so," McIntosh said Tuesdayt when asked if pressure was an issue. "It's part of the grind. I think every team goes through a little bit of a lull during the season and we've gone through ours. Now, after the last game, I felt we started to play better. Now it's just turning it around, getting it back to who we are."
"I don't think we played tight the other night. I thought we played pretty well, actually. So I didn't sense that," Collins would say. But then came, "Do they feel some pressure? Of course they do. We all do. That's part of doing this. In life it's about pressure. We all have jobs. We have pressure to put food on the table for our kids and do things like that. If you want to be good, there's going to be some pressure, and you've got to be tough, and you've got to go out there and get the job done."
Is experiencing this part of the much-discussed process of building a program?
"Sure. Sure," Collins said. "It's new. It's all new. Whenever you're trying to cross bridges or get over the hump, you have to go through it the first time. And you've got to be really tough-minded. And you've got to be together. And you've got to cross that bridge as a unit. There's going to be adversity along the way. Nothing that's worth anything is going to be easy. We talk about that all the time. It's not easy. If it was easy, it would have been done. It's hard to do the things we're trying to do."
And what must the 'Cats do to win these meaningful March games they're confronting for the first time?
"We need to be a little tougher," said McIntosh. "We made a couple crucial mistakes the last couple minutes (against Indiana). We need some of the guys to step up and help the starters out. We need a little bit more from our bench so we don't have to rely on our starters playing 30-plus minutes every night."
AND FINALLY, McINTOSH, on his job as a team leader as the 'Cats play meaningful March games: "It's a tough task. We're not used to this pressure. So just keeping guys focused on the moment, and not allowing the moment to become too big. At the end of the day it's just a game, and it's something we all love to play. That's something we've reiterated to each other."
NUsports.com Special Contributor
SNAPSHOTS AS THE 'CATS AWAIT MICHIGAN'S WEDNESDAY NIGHT VISIT TO WELSH-RYAN. . .
JIMMY CHITWOOD is the hero of that cinematic classic Hoosiers, the cool hand who calmly drops the last-second shot that delivers tiny Hickory high an unexpected state title. He was also the boyhood hero of 'Cat point Bryant McIntosh, who back as a freshman admitted, "I just idolized him. I loved watching that movie. When I was younger, that's who I'd tell people was my favorite player."
Last November, after an elbow split his upper lip in the Wake Forest game, he even flashed back to that movie after hearing Chris Collins call out to the training staff, "Patch him up. Patch him up." Then again on Tuesday, with he and his teammates facing meaningful game in March for the first time in their college careers, his words tacitly called it up again as he discussed the roaring competitiveness that fuels him. "That's something I do have to focus on, not trying to do too much," he said at one point.
"I think I allow that because I trust my teammates, because I do enjoy passing the ball. One of my pure joys in this game is sharing the ball. I think that allows me to not do too much. But I also understand the moment and if I see maybe guys are uncomfortable, I have to understand that maybe I don't need to take over, but I do need to give them confidence."
He enjoys moments like that.
"I do enjoy that moment," he agreed. "Those are moments that I think all of us have dreamed about, but maybe some guys aren't ready for them at this time."
Did he experience moments like that as he led Greensburg to state championships as a high school star in Indiana, or is this a whole different realm?
"It's a different realm," he said. "But I still feel I've been prepared for this moment my whole life. The ball's always been put in my hands, starting at a young age playing for my dad, then just growing up in high school. My high school team was down three points my junior year with a minute to go, and we ended up winning that game in overtime, and I had to make a play at the end of the game to send it to overtime. So it's something— I've always had the ball in my hands and I've always had the confidence to do it."
Jimmy Chitwood, I said to him, flashing back to our conversation of so long ago.
He got it, and just looked down at me and smiled.
JUST TO REMIND: In his three seasons at Greensburg his teams went 77-3 and won a pair of state titles, and from junior high through his time at that school his teams went 109-7.
THE 'CATS, of course, didn't do much winning in February. They instead struggled through that month, finishing it two-and-five and closing it out with a one-point loss at Indiana after leading late by seven. Still, asked his team's condition on Monday, Collins avowed, "I think we're good. Even though we had a really disappointing loss on Saturday, I think our guys were encouraged. It was the best we've played in five or six games. Just didn't finish the game. We were really upset about that. Disappointed. But we were encouraged— I think we got a little bit of our mojo back. Our guys are excited."
"We've got a lot of excitement. We're playing for something," McIntosh soon agreed. "I felt the last game we had our best energy to our play in awhile. We've got to finish the deal. But there's things we can take away from that game. There were quite a bit of positives about it."
THE 'CATS soared in January, finishing that month six-one, and the topic du jour back then was their quest for their program's first NCAA tourney bid. Now, after their recent struggles, that topic is pressure and the possible effect of all that tourney talk. "I don't think so," McIntosh said Tuesdayt when asked if pressure was an issue. "It's part of the grind. I think every team goes through a little bit of a lull during the season and we've gone through ours. Now, after the last game, I felt we started to play better. Now it's just turning it around, getting it back to who we are."
"I don't think we played tight the other night. I thought we played pretty well, actually. So I didn't sense that," Collins would say. But then came, "Do they feel some pressure? Of course they do. We all do. That's part of doing this. In life it's about pressure. We all have jobs. We have pressure to put food on the table for our kids and do things like that. If you want to be good, there's going to be some pressure, and you've got to be tough, and you've got to go out there and get the job done."
Is experiencing this part of the much-discussed process of building a program?
"Sure. Sure," Collins said. "It's new. It's all new. Whenever you're trying to cross bridges or get over the hump, you have to go through it the first time. And you've got to be really tough-minded. And you've got to be together. And you've got to cross that bridge as a unit. There's going to be adversity along the way. Nothing that's worth anything is going to be easy. We talk about that all the time. It's not easy. If it was easy, it would have been done. It's hard to do the things we're trying to do."
And what must the 'Cats do to win these meaningful March games they're confronting for the first time?
"We need to be a little tougher," said McIntosh. "We made a couple crucial mistakes the last couple minutes (against Indiana). We need some of the guys to step up and help the starters out. We need a little bit more from our bench so we don't have to rely on our starters playing 30-plus minutes every night."
AND FINALLY, McINTOSH, on his job as a team leader as the 'Cats play meaningful March games: "It's a tough task. We're not used to this pressure. So just keeping guys focused on the moment, and not allowing the moment to become too big. At the end of the day it's just a game, and it's something we all love to play. That's something we've reiterated to each other."