UMass man

Sporting News, The, March 18, 1996 by Michael Gee

And since then, holler guy or not, Camby has been the undisputed leader of the Minutemen. At its best, UMass plays beautiful team offense and savage team defense. But Calipari's team is built around and for the Camby presence.

"We feed off him," Padilla says. "And if he gets blocked or something, it has an effect."

Then again, when Camby begins the game with a few quick baskets or rejections, that has an effect, too. Whether or not Camby intimidates opposing players, he has messed with a few coaches' minds.

"That is a team that's a team." Temple Coach John Chaney says. "And it all starts with that big guy in the middle who says, `no you can't. The come down on offense, and all I can do is pull out my Bible book and say, `Please. Lord, don't let them make another basket.'"

"I don't know if I've ever seen a college player who can do the things Marcus Camby does," Virginia Tech Coach Bill Foster says.

It was Foster and Chaney's misfortune to meet UMass at or near its best. The Virginia Tech and Temple games exemplify the two sides of the Camby dilemma. If you guard him straight up, he'll hurt you. If you double-team Camby and junk up the defenses, he'll help his teammates hurt you.

In one meeting with Temple this season, Camby scored only 10 points. But his response to double-teams and collapsing zones was to move up to the high post and pass. Forwards Dana Dingle and Donta Bright (the sort of highly touted recruits Camby was not) are adept cutters and finishers, so they happily accepted his passes. Also, Temple ignored Travieso, and he hit eight 3-pointers.

"Marcus is totally selfless," Calipari says. "He's delighted to kill you with passing."

Foster's Hokies tried to stop Camby with one man. The results were predictable.

The first team to play Camby straight up was Dayton. Camby had 38. And, sadly, it was Daniels who gave perhaps the best explanation of the defects of that strategy.

"It's pretty tough," Daniels said. "I've never played against a 7-footer who could take you off the dribble from the 3-point line."

"If teams play him with one man," Calipari says, "he'll get 35 to 40 points a game. And one game, he'll get 50."

How, then, was the Minutemen's 26-game winning streak ended? Why did UMass suddenly seem so vulnerable down the stretch against teams such as Rhode Island and St. Joe's?

The answer can be found in the loss that knocked UMass out of last season's NCAA Tournament. Oddly enough, the game that highlighted Camby's vulnerabilities was the one that convinced him to give UMass the benefit of his maturing play.

The Minutemen lost to Oklahoma State in the East Regional final, and Camby was abused by 7-0, 300-pound Bryant Reeves, who bounced Camby into a 3-for-10 shooting effort.

"We usually wear people down, but they wore us down," Camby says.

Counter-intuitive as it seems, playing Camby straight-up appears to be the best option. If, that is, you have a 7-0, 300-pound center.

George Washington had such a center. And GW Coach Mike Jarvis gambled that Koul could contain Camby well enough to allow his team to exert defensive pressure on Travieso and Padilla. Simple mathematics says it takes longer to lose giving up two points at a time than three.