| 31 January 2011
Ask any UConn fan about their basketball team right now and there’s a 96 percent chance they’ll respond like a doting dad talking about his son’s game-winning home run in Little League. “The kid on the mound was 6’2. He had a mustache. And Timmy still crushed it over the fence. You should’ve seen it.”
Well that’s us right now.
I don’t speak for every UConn fan when I say that this is our favorite team in years, but I speak for a lot of them. Especially considering what the UConn basketball program has been through in the past 24 months: A trip to the Final Four that might’ve ended in a championship if not for an injury to Jerome Dyson; An NCAA investigation; Illness that took our coach off the sideline for a big chunk of the 2010 season; punishment from the NCAA last summer; and most importantly, the team from hell last year. These past 24 months haven’t just been a “rollercoaster ride,” because really, that’d be an understatement. It’s been more like sitting in the passenger seat of a NASCAR car with a blindfold on. Sure things could end up ok, but really, with every turn, you’re just bracing for the worst.
Which is what has made this season so sweet. There are no egos, no drama and no guys worrying about their NBA futures; at least not any more than their college presents. I’ve always heard fans say their specific team is “a breath of fresh air,” and until recently, I never really understood what that meant. Now I do. I can’t remember enjoying a basketball team this much.
On Saturday, the first 36 minutes of the Huskies game with Louisville were a refresher course in exactly that. UConn was getting every bounce, break and call. Shabazz Napier and Jeremy Lamb were playing out of their minds. And the fact that Rick Pitino was pacing the sidelines dressed like a seedy Vegas strip club owner only added to the effect. Everything was turning up UConn.
Well almost everything anyway. That’s because as well as the team was playing, their star, Kemba Walker, was having maybe his worst game of the season. Our All-American guard couldn’t hit the broad-side of a barn with his jumper, and had a handful of uncharacteristic turnovers. Hell, he even missed a few foul shots, which is about as rare as seeing Jim Calhoun smile and praise someone.
Still, I was ok with Kemba’s subpar performance. Sounds weird, right? Not exactly, since for the past three months all I’ve heard is that my favorite basketball team is a “one man team.” That without Kemba, not only would UConn not be in the Top 10, they wouldn’t even make the NIT. That essentially, UConn basketball was “Kemba Walker and everyone else,” kind of like how the bassists and drummers in the Dave Matthews Band are just nameless, faceless entities behind their front man.
Which is why even though I was disappointed with Kemba’s effort, I was also happy that somebody else would finally get some acknowledgment for a win. That if UConn held on, it’d be hard to ignore the fact that Napier, Lamb, Roscoe Smith and Alex Oriahki had contributed to the victory just as much- if not more so- than Kemba had.
Now obviously for anyone who follows college basketball, or even simply just watches the 11 p.m. Sportscenter, you know that UConn ended up losing the game to Louisville. It was in part because of Walker, in part because of everyone else. No biggie, stuff happens. In a 35-40 game season, losses are inevitable.
But even as UConn was in the midst of blowing that leading, and blowing that game, my mind was already in a different place. Because as I continued to think about Kemba Walker, continued to think about one guy putting a team on his back and taking them to greater heights, and continued to think about the narrative of UConn’s season as a whole, I couldn’t help but feel like I’d heard the same story before…
Then it hit me, and really I’m very upset with myself that I didn’t think of it earlier. Being the insane college football fan I am, I can’t believe this: Kemba Walker is having a season that is almost exactly parallel to Auburn quarterback Cam Newton. It’s not a perfect apples to apples comparison, but it’s pretty darn close.
Let’s take a look.
Starting from the beginning, we basically already know the narratives of each team’s season.
Auburn entered 2010 campaign off of a solid, if not spectacular 8-5 first season under Gene Chizik. Expectations were high, but no higher than the ones my mom has that I’ll actually find a nice girl to settle down with this year. Essentially, with a new quarterback, and having lost five of their last eight games to end 2009, there weren’t really any. Auburn entered the season ranked No. 22 in the AP Poll and ranked No. 23 by the coaches, with fellow SEC teams Alabama, Florida, Arkansas and LSU in front of them. Amongst the other teams ranked ahead of the Tigers to start the year, were such heavy-hitters as Texas, Miami (FL) and Georgia Tech, three teams that- in hindsight- combined to go 18-20 this season.
Of course to Auburn’s credit, at least the Tigers were well-thought of enough to be ranked in the preseason. As for UConn, well, not only did they start the year outside the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll, they didn’t even receive a single vote in the preseason poll. Not one. Then again, after losing three starters off an 18-16 team a year ago, who could blame anyone for overlooking the Huskies? UConn was also picked by the coaches within their own league to finish 10th in the Big East. Not exactly a glowing endorsement, huh?
But once the games did start, you could tell that something just seemed to be different with these two teams, in large part because of their superstars. To partially quote the great philosopher Dennis Green, they were hardly, “Who we thought they were.”
At Auburn, Cam had the Plains rocking from the beginning. After an early season win over Mississippi State that involved more dropped passes from the Bulldogs than a typical fraternity flag football game, things started getting really goofy. Cam put Auburn on his back and carried them to back-to-back, come from behind, wild victories against Clemson and South Carolina. As the kids say, it was officially “On.”
Having watched both those games live, I’m still getting goose bumps thinking about them. They were both classics. In the Clemson win, Auburn trailed 17-3 at halftime, before rallying for 21 third quarter points, in an epic overtime win. A week later they completed the Palmetto State sweep, holding on against South Carolina 35-27, after falling behind 20-7 in the second quarter. Through those two wins Newton was the Tigers rock, slashing, gashing and tearing through both opposing defenses, and leaving a wake of missed tacklers and head-shaking defensive coordinators in his path. Newton threw for two of Auburn’s three total touchdowns in the Clemson win, and
accounted for five total touchdowns in the victory over South Carolina. It was also the first time that you sat there watching, and thought to yourself, “Damn. It just didn’t seem like Cam just was gonna let them lose tonight.” As someone who watches entirely too much college football, I can assure you that it wouldn’t be the last time either.
You got the same feeling watching Kemba plow through the Maui Invitational field a few weeks later.
While Cam dominated over the course of weeks, Kemba set the tone for UConn’s season in three days. He put up 31 points in a win over Wichita State in the opener, followed it up with 30 against Michigan State as a stunned Tom Izzo looked on in disbelief (with a goofy lei around his neck, I might add), and of course capped his run with 29 points in a win over Kentucky the next evening. From the time the final buzzer sounded in the Kentucky win, Walker was a bona-fide rock star, not only in the college basketball world, but more importantly within the UConn locker room. As the story goes, Kemba’s teammates actually gave him a standing ovation as he walked on the bus after the win the victory over UK. Jim Calhoun claims he’d never seen that in his 40+ years of coaching.
Still, even as early season conquering heroes, everyone else had their doubts.
After Auburn improved to 7-0 with a win over Arkansas, I remember having the audacity to mention in one of my columns that it was time to start seriously considering the Tigers as a BCS National Championship contender. Keep in mind the Tigers were the only undefeated team in the SEC at that point, and had just beaten a Top 20 team by 20 points.
Well, umm, let’s just say that didn’t go over well with other SEC fans. Some called me crazy, and others, well they called me names that weren’t nearly as nice. Everybody still saw Auburn as a “One man team,” and told me that as soon as the Tigers went up against a “real team,” like LSU or Alabama, they’d more or less get their faces smashed in (To quote Antonio Cromartie). Forget the fact that Auburn was 7-0. Somehow Cam Newton was the only one blocking, tackling and kicking extra points to get them there. Apparently his 84 teammates were just standing on the sideline and cheering him on. I don’t know.
Same with Kemba and the Huskies. Being a UConn fan, you wouldn’t believe how many texts, e-mails and Facebook messages I got from fellow Big East fans (Especially Syracuse fans), all with the same general message: “Wait until UConn gets into Big East play. Kemba’s great, but everyone else, not so much.” To which my response was, did anyone see Maui? Did anyone see Alex Oriahki’s slew of double-doubles? Niels Giffey’s 14 points in the championship game? Roscoe Smith’s repeated chest-bumps? Am I the only one who watches these games?
Really though, where the comparison takes a fun turn is with how these two guys impact their teammates.
Starting with Kemba, for two months now, I’ve heard everyone say that “Kemba makes everyone around him better.” Which is a nice compliment, but ultimately too simplistic. Because the truth is, every good point guard makes the players around them better. That’s their job. To get the wings open jumpers; to get the big guys easy dunks; and to find the open man in transition. Ultimately, if you’re a point guard, and you’re not doing that, your coach should park your butt on the bench and find someone who will.
What Kemba does is sooooooo much more complex. He doesn’t just “make everyone better.” Again, think bigger. Because what’s Kemba’s presence- and the confidence that his presence provides- does, is to raise everyone else’s level of play to somewhere it couldn’t get without him being there. Simply having Kemba on the court allows Napier, Lamb, Oriahki, whoever, to play with a carefree-ness (I think I just made that word up), that they wouldn’t have otherwise. Messing up doesn’t seem nearly so bad when you’ve got Kemba there to fix things. Simply put, Kemba Walker gives his teammates a confidence that they wouldn’t have otherwise. A confidence they wouldn’t have it without him. And a confidence they wouldn’t have it if any other point guard in the country replaced him. I’m not saying Kemba Walker is the best player in college basketball, but there isn't anyone whose specific skill-set impacts their team greater.
It was the same with Cam Newton at Auburn. Watching their games, and watching his teammates gain confidence, was like seeing a kid go from crawling, to walking, to stealing dad’s car and smoking cigarettes all in a three month period.
Not to take anything away from Cam’s teammates at Auburn, but having him under center allowed guys to play in a way that they just wouldn’t have with any other quarterback on the field. Was Philip Lutzenkirchen a good tight end before Cam got there? Sure, but having watched every relevant Auburn the last two years, I can promise you he wasn’t that good without Cam.
Same with Darvin Adams and Terrell Zachery at wide receiver. Those two played with the ease of knowing that all they had to was run a simple Go route, and Cam would get them the ball in stride. No looking up, no worrying about the safety helping out. Just run as fast, and as far as you can down the sideline, and Cam will deliver.
Even the Auburn defense- a group that literally was never even on the field with Cam- felt his presence. Notice how they didn’t seem at all concerned when Alabama spotted them 24 points in the Iron Bowl? It’s like they knew, “As long as we stop the hemorrhaging soon, Cam will get us out of this mess.” Well 28 points and a win later, that’s exactly what he did.
Ultimately, we won’t know the final stage of the evolution of Kemba Walker and this UConn team for another few months. But if it mirrors the ending to Cam’s season at Auburn, we Huskies fans are in for a treat.
And for the record, I’m not actually talking about winning a National Championship. It’s too early in the year, and there’s way too much basketball to be played for anyone to be thinking about that. As Duke taught us Sunday, we hardly even know any of these teams yet. UConn included.
Taking everything into consideration though, it isn’t so much that Auburn won their last game of the season. More importantly it’s how they did it.
For those of you who didn’t watch the BCS National Championship Game, well, full-disclosure, it was Cam’s worst game in an Auburn uniform. Any Tigers fan will tell you that. He threw an ugly interception early, had a fumble that nearly cost his team late, and was beat up and confused by Oregon’s defense in between.
And you know what? Auburn still won.
By the last game of the year, Cam’s infectious, winning personality had rubbed off on his teammates to the point where Auburn didn’t need him to be great, or even good, for them to win. Other guys picked up the slack. Freshman running back Michael Dyer had the best game of his career. Auburn’s defense held Oregon’s high scoring offense almost 30 points below their season average. And kicker Wes Byrum hit a game-winning field goal as time expired. The group that was called a “one man team,” for most of the 2010 season won a National Championship as well, just a team.
UConn isn’t there yet, and if Saturday proved anything, they’ve still got a ways to go before they can beat really good teams with little to no contribution from Walker. Still, looking at the last couple games, everything is balancing itself out. In just the past 10 days, Alex Oriahki had another double-double in a win over Tennessee, and Lamb had a career-high 24 points a few nights later against Marquette. Watching those games, it didn’t seem like Kemba had to be “the guy,” as much as just “a guy,” and UConn still won. We’ll see if that can continue for the next two months.
In the end, National Championship talk is still silly for this UConn club.
But if they keep playing the way they are, UConn will be a “team,” that nobody wants to play come March.
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