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Improving on greatness Scary but true: Gardner could be even better this yearPosted: Thursday November 07, 2002 8:48 PMUpdated: Tuesday November 12, 2002 3:00 PM
By Steve Rivera, Special to CNNSI.com This could very well be Jason Gardner’s most productive season. That’s saying a lot about a player who for the last three seasons has been a mainstay for Arizona, a team that has been no worse than a No. 3 seed in the NCAA tournament in that span. But the circumstances dictate that Gardner, Arizona’s 5-foot-11 point guard, is poised to reign among the elite of college basketball’s guards. Gone is the seemingly ever-present shadow of Jay Williams, the former Duke great who garnered all the attention the last couple of years. No longer will Gardner look -- or worry -- to see how Williams is doing out East. Instead, Gardner will focus on a senior year where he has the potential -- and numbers -- to go down as one of the all-time great backcourt players in Arizona basketball history. Figure that he’s among the school’s leaders in minutes played (4th, 35.6 per game), points (10th, 1,512, assists (6th, 464), steals (7th, 167) and production. And that’s saying plenty for a school affectionately known as Point Guard U, after producing the likes of Steve Kerr, Jason Terry, Mike Bibby, Damon Stoudamire, et al. "All those [records] are not important to me but it’s good to know I’m at the top with Mike B. [Bibby], JT [Terry] and Steve Kerr and all those other guards," said Gardner. "I guess it’s real big. They’ve all had fine NBA careers and have won championships [Kerr has four]. And Bibby, Stoudamire and JT are like the up-and-coming NBA point guards. But being on those lists kind of shows my work ethic and how much Coach O [Lute Olson] has helped me improve." Actually, it’s improve and adjust -- something Olson’s been doing for most of the last 12 years, going from a predominately tall team to a run-and-stun, guard-oriented one. The adjusting Gardner has morphed through hasn’t been easy -- and not just on the court, but in his psyche. In his freshman season, he was named college basketball’s top freshman (beating out Williams), after helping lead his Wildcats to a No. 1 seed in the West only to lose in the tournament’s second round.
Gardner had more than arrived, making a mark despite Arizona having some of the best talent in the country in Richard Jefferson, Loren Woods, Michael Wright and Gilbert Arenas (only Wright is not in the NBA). Then came his sophomore year, when he was asked to perhaps defer more to the others, his numbers dropped, going from 12.6 points and 3.7 assists per game to 10.9 points and 3.7 assists per game. The numbers, however, brought criticism. "Some people say I had a great freshman year, and I did, making five or six shots a game," Gardner said. “[As a sophomore], a lot of people wanted me to be scoring 15, 16, 17 points a game, but I couldn’t. I had to sacrifice for us to win the championship." Arizona fell 10 points short, losing to Duke and Williams 82-72 in the finals. But as he saw Jefferson, Wright and Gilbert Arenas bolt for the NBA as underclassmen, he too wanted the glory. He declared, too, only to return to the team after playing poorly in the predraft combine. "I think that helped me work on my game," Gardner said of the NBA experience. "I worked harder that summer. I felt I didn’t do so well so I needed to work harder." Then came last season, where once again, he had to re-invent himself, going from a look-first guard to shoot-first leader with so many new faces on the team. He did what he had to keep Arizona winning, and by midseason Arizona -- and Gardner -- were the talk of the year. Gardner, CNNSI.com’s midseason player of the year, was averaging more than 27 points a game, and Arizona, unranked at the beginning of the season, was in the top 10. Arizona proceeded to cool off -- as did Gardner -- and the team ended its season in the Sweet 16, losing to Final Four participant Oklahoma. Once again, Gardner contemplated leaving to the NBA, but didn’t. "It wasn’t like my sophomore year when I really wanted to leave," Gardner said, of this past summer. "This year I tried to weigh all the options. It was better for me not to make a quick decision." And now he’s back -- for what many think will be a season to remember. Already, the team is picked by many to cut down the nets at the Final Four in New Orleans in April. And a reason why is Gardner, a guy can score if he has to or a guy who can get everyone else involved when he needs to. "The thing when you evaluate a point guard is by how well his team plays whether he scores or not," Olson said. "From a scoring standpoint it’s about percentages and what you’re shooting and what your assist-to-turnover ratio is." Apparently, Gardner has bought into Olson’s theme. Gardner said it’s not about numbers this season -- although if they come, they come. It’s about winning -- something Arizona vows do plenty as college basketball’s deepest team. "It’s my job to make this team better," Gardner said. "Whatever it takes to win. If it means scoring 30 points or scoring 20 points I’ll do it. But if it means scoring five points and having 10 assists I’ll do that, too." Clearly, he’s in a position to do what he has plans to set out to do. With Arizona two-deep at every position, he’ll be able to be more of a playmaker than a point-maker guard. He has finishers to lead the break and scorers to hit the jumper. "It’s an ideal situation for him," Olson said. "Now, he’s going to be in a position to be able to work that much harder defensively. And he knows he’ll be able to know he’ll be able to get his breath because he’ll have help." Already, Gardner is considered on of the conference’s -- if not the nation’ -- top competitors. Rival guard Luke Ridnour, another point guard, said Gardner "is so quick and tough. When you have those two weapons it’s tough to defend. I like going against him because he is so good. He makes you play up to his level."
Other top Pac-10 guards
Steve Rivera covers the Pac-10 for the Tucson Citizen.
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