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BYU MEN: Cougars hoping to lean on coaches' experience |
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JaredLloyd | Monday, March 12, 2007, 10:46 pm
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Jason Franchuk
DAILY HERALD
It doesn’t take a dramatic last-second layup to have your life affected by a deep charge into the NCAA tournament.
It can be anyone, not just that Danny Ainge guy, and BYU currently has two such beneficiaries of March Madness. Head coach Dave Rose and assistant Dave Rice, who played at Houston and UNLV, respectively, will try to cajole the Cougars to such a level they once reached as players.
They only have one roster member, senior reserve shooting guard Mike Rose, who has seen floor time in an actual tournament game. He played three minutes, missing all three shots in the first-round loss to Syracuse in Denver in 2004.
That was BYU’s last tournament appearance.
Dave Rose took over the program a year later and from Day 1 expressed his daily desire to reach lofty heights again.
He played in the 1983 title game, losing one of the most dramatic endings ever to North Carolina State. Rice, a former UNLV player, was part of the 1990 national championship team.
Different decades, yes, but the two played similar roles. They bypassed more individual accolades elsewhere for the chance to be on a winner.
They’d say any day of the week and twice on Sunday that their choices paid off. It is their belief that it’s a big part of who they are today. And it would be just as special for them to see BYU’s players experience such an everlasting thrill.
“I do think that when you have the opportunity to be around success, and to observe it on a daily basis, I think it affects your mindset,” said Rice, who is in his second year as BYU’s top assistant. “I think it would’ve been different (if he had taken a different path). You were around successful people, constantly getting a sense of winning and all the good things that come with it.”
Over the last 14 years or so they’ve known each other, the coaches have traded stories from their tournament diaries. They believe the similar experience influenced the way they dealt with each other professionally, as Rice was a longtime UNLV aide who was often recruiting Rose’s players at Dixie State College years ago.
Stories about their past — “in our day” type of talk — are typically left unspoken, although Rice said current players will occasionally ask what it was like 17-some years ago in the Runnin’ Rebels’ heyday.
More than anything, Rose and Rice believe the experience has shaped their personalities and coaching styles. And Rose still can’t believe how many people recall the most minute details of Phi Slamma Jamma, and his part on it.
“Whenever I hear that somebody remembers watching me play on that team, I automatically assume they must be pretty old,” Rose said, smiling. “It shows you how public everything in this tournament is, how big it is.”
It’s no exaggeration to say the first-round meeting between the eighth-seeded Cougars and No. 9 Xavier on Thursday could affect the futures of the participants.
There are five BYU seniors who could cement their legacies and get BYU’s first tournament win since 1993. Then there’s the prospects of finding work after college. A run in the tournament has been known to elevate a player’s status. Perhaps a tricky player to figure out for the NBA level, like 6-foot-6 power forward Keena Young, the MVP of the Mountain West Conference, could raise enough curiosity with his play that he gets some NBA draft workouts. Or at least some free agent looks by playing his best in a national setting.
Austin Ainge already has the name. His father’s coast-to-coast score that sent the Cougars to the Elite Eight in 1981 ensured that. But the point guard, who would like to be on a collegiate coaching staff soon, could get opportunities by further proving his ability in this tournament.
The others in their final year will also be searching for careers in or out of hoops, and perhaps a dramatic individual play on the sport’s biggest stage opens lucrative doors.
The most notable Cougar with an opportunity to strike it rich, quite literally, could be sophomore center Trent Plaisted.
If the Cougars can get by Xavier, odds are they’ll face No. 1 seed Ohio State in the second round. The Buckeyes are led by freshman Greg Oden, who basically everyone in college and NBA circles say will be a top-two pick whenever he decides to cash in.
One can only imagine Plaisted’s future ATM receipts if he can hold his own.
“People like to hire winners,” Rice said.
What remains to be seen is how BYU handles the pressure of this being it, the finish.
There have been important lessons from wins and losses to reach this point over the course of five months, but the NCAA tournament becomes the time for heroes and goats to be made — and the seven deadly sins to show themselves.
Who’s greedily taking too many shots?
What player will take the last shot, if it comes down to that? If it’s to be a senior, what one will be willing to bear that weight on his shoulders for the rest of a lifetime?
Rice understands the perils of the situation, having been through them like Rose at the highest level. That may offer a different level of credibility than many of the tournament’s coaches will have. They’ve been there. It’s a belief that subtle influences of their personalties have paid dividends.
“I think over the last two months, the players started to get a sense of all the really good things that come along with having success as a team,” Rice said.
Critics could rebuke that Rose and Rice were merely cogs in wildly talented machines. At UH, captain Rose played with Clyde Drexler and Hakeem Olajuwon, both voted among the NBA’s best 50 players ever.
Rice didn’t have it so bad, either, alongside Larry Johnson and a host of other future NBA stars.
Simply put, BYU doesn’t have that kind of talent.
But through rehashing their own stories, there are common bonds through those teams and, to this point, the Cougars — teamwork and focus.
“One thing common to all succcessful programs is having all the parts in their proper place,” Rice said. “It’s about everyone accepting roles. Yes, the base level is the talent. That has to be there. But what I’ll never forget about our team, and coach Rose would say the same thing, is the camraderie everyone had. Every player and coach accepting their role and doing whatever it took to win.
“The overall experience of being part of a winner is a special situation” Rice said. “It can definitely have an impact on careers.” |
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