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A new star for the world stage: on his way to the NBA, Uconn's Rudy Gay will have plenty of teammates but no peers

Sporting News, The, August 5, 2005 by Mike DeCourcy

The ball is in Rudy Gay's hands as he stands at the top of the key. Directly before him is an open path to the goal, beckoning. And beckoning. And beckoning some more.

This takes less than a second, but that's a lot of time on any athletic field. Finally Gay attacks, and his long stride and deft handle propel him to the basket in a flash. By the time he arrives, though, two defenders are there to challenge, and his lefty layup bounces off the rim.

Right there, in the micro-est of microcosms, you have Gay's next nine months. The ball is in his hands. The opportunity is there. If he seizes it, the U.S. could retain the Under-21 World Championship and Connecticut could celebrate its third NCAA championship in eight years.

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Gay wants to be great. He would not be here otherwise because he already could be rich. He would have been a first-round pick in the past two NBA drafts. Achieving greatness in basketball, though, also is about demanding it.

"I think it takes time--and possessions," Gay says. "The more you're in that situation, the better you are at judging what to do. I think it just takes time."

OK. He has about two weeks. Everything Connecticut needs him to become this season, the U.S. needs him to be in defense of the only major men's basketball championship this nation currently holds. The U-21 championship will be contested August 5-14 in Argentina.

Gay clearly was the most talented player at last week's trials in Dallas, the only one NBA scouts could project, with certainty, as a future lottery pick.

He stands 6-9 and is a rarity, a true small forward. He elevates quickly and reaches high to release a jumper that essentially is unblockable. He is not a great defender yet but is so long it's almost unfair. He took an inadvertent shot in the crotch from Oklahoma's Taj Gray once, bent over to recover and still was able to reach out and poke the ball away from Gray.

While playing for Jim Calhoun as a freshman, Gay learned patiently. He shot 46.7 percent from 3-point range but tried only 60. He was one of six players who attempted between 240 and 305 shots. That's not balance; that's socialism. In the 2004 championship season, stars Ben Gordon and Emeka Okafor together launched nearly as many shots as the next four players combined. Somebody has got to be the man.

One veteran coach on the USA Basketball selection committee confidently predicted Gay would be MVP of the U-21 championships. Another expressed caution, wanting to see more assertiveness. "You can see the sky is the limit with him," says Boston College's Jared Dudley, Gay's trials roommate. "It all depends on how hard he wants to work."

This is an ideal venue for the right player to discover greatness. In 1999, Cincinnati's Kenyon Martin recognized he was more gifted than the college stars who joined him at the World University Games trials. He led that team to gold, then went from a 10-points-per-game junior to national player of the year. The trip to stardom was shorter for North Carolina's Sean May, but it's easy to extrapolate his NCAA Tournament dominance from his standout play with USA Basketball last summer*

"I've been thinking about that ever since we lost last season," Gay says. "Basically, I want to go out there and do exactly what Coach wants me to do--be aggressive, take the shots he wants me to take. I think I'll become more of a scorer. That's what Coach expects of me."

Not to create too much pressure for the young man, but Calhoun is one of 295,734,134 people in this country (estimated, of course). Gay is their best hope at the moment.

speed reads

There was no better news last week than this: Tennessee Tech coach Mike Sutton is breathing on his own. Sutton, the 2005 Ohio Valley Conference coach of the year, had been on a ventilator since being stricken in April with 6uillain-Barre syndrome, an immune system disorder. Sutton is a fine coach and a better guy.

Pittsburgh coach Jamie Dixon is happy PG Carl Krauser will return to school rather than play in Europe. But Krauser's late struggles and entry into the NBA draft led some to wonder whether he should be leading a young team.

Krauser can be a positive force, but that must be his primary focus now.

Pac-10 players and coaches often complain about not getting enough attention. Sometimes it's their own fault. Oregon PG Aaron Brooks was the only league player who competed at the USA Basketball trials last week. He wasn't the only one invited.

Temple PG Mardy Collins was the last addition to USA Basketball's trials for the U-21 World Championships team, and he became the most pleasant surprise. He showed the ability to play three positions and the versatility to score off the catch as well as with one-dribble moves in both the midrange area and on post-ups. He caught Kentucky's shorter Rajon Rondo (6-1) on one sweet low-post move. Collins, who is 6-6. says if he could play the position of his choice, he'd be a small forward. "I don't really like playing against small guys. I like playing against guys my height--a little slower."

A new star for the world stage: on his way to the NBA, Uconn's Rudy Gay will have plenty of teammates but no peers

Sporting News, The, August 5, 2005 by Mike DeCourcy

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