There are few certainties in life and even fewer on a basketball court. For 11 games last year, UConn had one certainty. His name was Kemba Walker and he would not lose. While we all remember the ankle-destroying crossovers and the impeccably timed floaters, the most impressive feat of Kemba’s historic run was his leadership. He somehow managed to steal the show, make his teammates better and be the uniting force that drove a team wrought with preseason question marks to a National Championship. Kemba Walker was the greatest thing that ever could have happened to last year’s UConn Huskies.
Here’s the catch; Kemba Walker is the worst thing that ever could have happened to this year’s UConn Huskies. Jeremy Lamb is not Kemba Walker. Neither is Shabazz Napier or Alex Oriakhi. Nor Ryan Boatright or Andre Drummond. Yet when you watch this team on the court, you get the sense that they’re looking around wondering who will step up. Who will be the hero and lead them the way Kemba did 12 months earlier?
It’s understandable in a way. During the NBA lockout, Kemba literally watched over the team. He attended practices and games. Just yesterday, he called them his little brothers. Even the media appears to be yearning for Kemba reincarnate as is evidenced by this Andy Katz tweet towards the end of today’s game against Syracuse…
Calhoun has every right to be mad at Napier. The last few possessions by him have been horrible. No patience. Frankly, he is no Kemba.
— Andy Katz (@ESPNAndyKatz) March 8, 2012
That notion undermines the incredible talent of this team that has three huge advantages. Their guards are lightning quick. They have monstrous size inside. And they have one of the best swingmen in the country. This may sound sacrilegious, but they don’t need Kemba.
All year we’ve heard about a void of leadership. Shabazz Napier took it so personally, he scolded his teammates for not anointing him their dictator-in-chief. It doesn’t work that way. Coach Jim Calhoun had this to say about Napier after today’s game,
“…it isn’t just Shabazz, it’s the team…Shabazz’s main concern recently, because he said to me, is getting Jeremy points, and that’s what he does.
But the thing is to make sure this guy gets points, make sure different people get things, and it’s not always easy. Quite frankly, he’ll tell you and they’ll both tell you, it’s not easy following a great, great player [Walker] because no matter what he did it was great. It wasn’t always great, trust it. He was an incredible kid, incredible player, but it wasn’t perfect.”
Napier has been incredible at times since Calhoun’s return from injury. Little by little it seems like he gets it. Against West Virginia, his clutch plays – including two remarkable steals – saved UConn from defeat. He sensed the moment and rose to it. That’s what leaders do. Unfortunately, after that, he launched an ill-advised three and fouled out on a boneheaded play, leaving his teammates to finish off the overtime victory. At the end of the Syracuse game, when UConn needed points to stop the bleeding, Napier again tried to seize the moment, hoisting up threes and generally ignoring the strategy that had given UConn an 8 point lead a few minutes earlier. Hell, it worked for Kemba.
Shabazz Napier is a gifted basketball player and, from all appearances, a great kid. He has a chance to have his name hung on the wall in Gampel right next to Kemba’s. But he isn’t the leader of this team. Jim Calhoun is. The greatest contribution that Napier can have in the NCAA Tournament is listening to his Hall of Fame coach, run plays with precision and make sure that Lamb, Oriakhi, Drummond and Boatright aren’t standing around waiting for him to win games for them.
In the meantime, Kemba Walker is nothing but a glorious memory in the chasms of our minds. The highlights are ever-present. The announcers pepper every broadcast with wistful remembrances. But it has no bearing on what happens on the court. The sooner the Huskies embrace that, the better.
