Mr. Dude,
Like I said, "Would you want your son playing for Bobby Knight?"
Ga. Tech's Collier happy with fresh start
By Jerry Tipton
HERALD-LEADER STAFF WRITER
It should come as no surprise that Jason Collier learned yesterday that he had an ulcer.
Who wouldn't get a sick feeling in the stomach after being targeted for more than a year by Bob Knight, college basketball's Baron of Berate?
Throw in a highly publicized transfer, the pressure of expectations at Georgia Tech and final exam week at one of those quote-unquote academic schools. It's enough to roil anybody's stomach acids.
''It's something that keeps on, constantly aching,'' he said yesterday. ''Just stomach pains. It feels like you're going to be sick all the time.''
Although the pain caused Collier to miss some practice time recently, he said the ulcer diagnosed yesterday shouldn't cause him to miss any playing time. And Collier will go into Tech's game against Kentucky Saturday with click-his-heels happiness. And not merely because he scored 22 points in each of his first two games as a Yellow Jacket.
Collier did more than change venues when he transferred from Indiana to Georgia Tech this time a year ago. He left Knight, whose intolerance can make people sick. He joined Coach Bobby Cremins, who once wore out a path to the hospital to visit the gravely ill Jim Valvano. As a result, he got a new self-image.
''I feel better about myself,'' Collier said. ''That's basically the thing about it. I'm not worried about things. I'm relaxed and having a good time. The thing about it is I'm getting a lot of playing time. I'm getting my confidence back that I had before I went to Indiana. I'm feeling really good about things right now.''
A Parade and McDonald's All-American as a high school senior, Collier was a good bet for a stellar college career. The seventh game of his freshman season at Indiana seemed to confirm that projection. By scoring 21 points and grabbing eight rebounds, he was the lone bright spot for the Hoosiers in a 99-65 Kentucky victory.
Collier expected more and better performances ahead.
''Then things got, you know, things got messed up a little bit,'' he said. ''And I didn't feel comfortable at Indiana anymore and decided to make a change.''
Collier scored two forgettable points against UK as a sophomore. ''I didn't really feel I had everything toward basketball,'' he said. A week later, he left Indiana.
Collier refused yesterday to talk about Knight. ''I'm not going into anything about Bob Knight,'' he said, cutting off a question. But last February, as he eased into life at Georgia Tech, his father Jeff's alma mater, Collier shed light on being a Hoosier.
''I just couldn't put up with the constant yelling,'' he said then. ''It never changed. I think it's good to a point to get yelled at and stuff like that. But you've also got to have someone there to slap you on the butt and tell you it's OK.''
Yesterday, without mentioning Knight, Collier said he did not respond well to a coach verbally bruising a player to motivate improved play.
''Sometimes I need to be set in my place,'' Collier said. ''But I'm not the kind of kid you need to tell to do something twice. If you tell me to do something once, I'll do it. It may not be the exact way (the coach) envisioned. But that's the way I interpreted it.
''A lot of kids need that kind of coach, that's constantly on them. The coach who wants them to do exactly what they say. Sort of like a robot. You know, I'm not that type of kid. I don't need someone constantly prodding me to do something. I'm a very independent person.''
Collier, who was a junior high student when he first met Cremins, described the Georgia Tech coach as a caring person. ''He knows how to treat his players,'' he said. ''That's what I like about him the most.''
Cremins wasted no time introducing Collier to a new way of basketball life. At his first practice, Collier was startled by a request. Cremins threw him a ball and said, ''Let's see if you've still got a three-point shot.'' Collier, a screener and rebounder at Indiana, happily fired away.
In a season and a half at Indiana, Collier took 13 three-point shots. After two games for Georgia Tech, he's taken seven.
''I worry a lot about him,'' Cremins said of Collier. ''The expectations. He hasn't played in a while. No question he's a player. But it's going to take a little time. The biggest thing is he can't get down on himself. He has to keep believing in himself.''
If he tried, Collier could not come up with a tougher way to get back into action after sitting out a transfer year. Within his first 10 days with the Yellow Jackets, he and Tech will have played cross-state rival Georgia, No. 3 Kentucky and No. 7 North Carolina.
''I don't want to get back into the games winning by 30 points or winning by 40,'' Collier said. ''I'm looking forward to Kentucky pushing me, North Carolina pushing me.
''I can't say I'm not going to get tired, I'm not going to get winded, I'm not going to get hurt. But I'm not going to give up.'' |
