2008 Woodie Awards
Better late than never
Ben Nielsen
Issue date: 2/23/07 Section: Sports
- Page 1 of 1
The Southwest Baptist men's basketball team is going to win the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association Tournament. Guaranteed.
What has convinced me of this is the way Southwest Baptist played in a 69-59 loss Wednesday, Feb. 24 on the road at Central Missouri.
I feel this way about the men winning the tournament because of one moment on the bench early in the second half when Southwest Baptist was losing by eight. At some point senior Jason Jemison got mad. I do not know why, but he was upset. Assistant Coach Stan Johnson tried to calm Jemison down, but Jemison did not seem to be listening. Noticing this, senior Jared Young got out of his seat, cleared out a seat next to Jemison and calmed him down.
This is a really big deal to me. It is the first time all season I have seen that kind of leadership from a player on the court. This is what Guiot has been demanding all season and it took the next to last game of the regular season for it to show a glimpse.
One could easily say, "Southwest Baptist University did not win, so why get excited about it?" For those who attended the game, many felt SBU would have won had this game been played at home or on a neutral court, which is what the MIAA Tournament will be played on.
The officiating Wednesday night was horrible, which led to SBU's inability to defend in the paint and the monstrous rebounding margin. I am not an expert in basketball analysis, but I can only assume it is hard to rebound or defend in the paint when one is not allowed to do anything. But this can only be expected from MIAA officiating crews when the game is at Central.
There have been many criticisms about Guiot that have been thrown around. Some I agree with and others I do not. One I have heard a lot about is the way Guiot is treating his players. I do not know the extent of how he treats them, nor do I know if how he treats them is right or wrong. What I do know is most of what is driving Guiot to act the way he is acting is because he has been missing internal leadership from players. Guiot's philosophy demands strong internal leadership. His style of coaching is not one that can overcome such an absence of leadership.
Guiot has not all of a sudden become a bad or mean coach overnight. He is neither. Guiot has done nothing different than he did last season. What is different is that Guiot is dealing with a new group of players who had no idea what to expect from him coming into this season and experienced shell shock. They did not know his intensity and his desire to win.
Guiot has a different personality on the court than he does off of it. This is not to say this is a good or bad thing, it is just an observation. Many coaches, if not all, are like this. But not all incoming freshman and sophomores can decipher Guiot's personality change as one about winning or intensity. This is why Guiot must have player leadership.
Guiot said that if this team could find a leader and play as a team, they had the talent to do whatever they wanted. Let's just hope they have not found that too late.
What has convinced me of this is the way Southwest Baptist played in a 69-59 loss Wednesday, Feb. 24 on the road at Central Missouri.
I feel this way about the men winning the tournament because of one moment on the bench early in the second half when Southwest Baptist was losing by eight. At some point senior Jason Jemison got mad. I do not know why, but he was upset. Assistant Coach Stan Johnson tried to calm Jemison down, but Jemison did not seem to be listening. Noticing this, senior Jared Young got out of his seat, cleared out a seat next to Jemison and calmed him down.
This is a really big deal to me. It is the first time all season I have seen that kind of leadership from a player on the court. This is what Guiot has been demanding all season and it took the next to last game of the regular season for it to show a glimpse.
One could easily say, "Southwest Baptist University did not win, so why get excited about it?" For those who attended the game, many felt SBU would have won had this game been played at home or on a neutral court, which is what the MIAA Tournament will be played on.
The officiating Wednesday night was horrible, which led to SBU's inability to defend in the paint and the monstrous rebounding margin. I am not an expert in basketball analysis, but I can only assume it is hard to rebound or defend in the paint when one is not allowed to do anything. But this can only be expected from MIAA officiating crews when the game is at Central.
There have been many criticisms about Guiot that have been thrown around. Some I agree with and others I do not. One I have heard a lot about is the way Guiot is treating his players. I do not know the extent of how he treats them, nor do I know if how he treats them is right or wrong. What I do know is most of what is driving Guiot to act the way he is acting is because he has been missing internal leadership from players. Guiot's philosophy demands strong internal leadership. His style of coaching is not one that can overcome such an absence of leadership.
Guiot has not all of a sudden become a bad or mean coach overnight. He is neither. Guiot has done nothing different than he did last season. What is different is that Guiot is dealing with a new group of players who had no idea what to expect from him coming into this season and experienced shell shock. They did not know his intensity and his desire to win.
Guiot has a different personality on the court than he does off of it. This is not to say this is a good or bad thing, it is just an observation. Many coaches, if not all, are like this. But not all incoming freshman and sophomores can decipher Guiot's personality change as one about winning or intensity. This is why Guiot must have player leadership.
Guiot said that if this team could find a leader and play as a team, they had the talent to do whatever they wanted. Let's just hope they have not found that too late.
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