Election Time
Adam Butler
www.PacHoops.com
With the question asked and then deferred to Spencer Dinwiddie by his coach Tad Boyle, Adam Butler
www.PacHoops.com
a grin grew on the mustached, junior’s face. He grinned, I imagine, because he flew
to San Francisco to say exactly what had just been tee’d up for him. The question was
deferred, I again imagine, because Boyle knew that seated next to him was his fearless
leader, the player holding the keys to their season. And so Spencer said it,
“But we don't view Arizona as the top, the cream, and everybody else in the rest. We
view ourselves as the cream and everybody else can fight for the rest of the spots. And
that's how we're going to approach the season.” It wasn’t brash and it wasn’t arrogant. To
Dinwiddie it was just a fact that quickly had the opportunity to make its way on to locker
room walls, the bulletin board material meant to serve Spencer Dinwiddie plates of crow
in arenas from Eugene to Tucson. And that very well may be what that becomes. He said
it and someone is going to take issue with it. I mean, he just called himself the cream of
the crop. People are going to want to knock him off that pedestal.
But that can’t matter. Because, and we’ve talked a lot about the big culture word, that’s
what has to happen to shift it. The Buffs aren’t far removed from Big-12 afterthoughts
and haven’t yet finished a Pac-12 regular season better than fifth. I’m a big believer in
theories like fake it ‘til you make it and perceptions become reality so I frankly love what
Dinwiddie has done here. He may have exposed himself and his team some, but now is
no the time for a team like Colorado to play the humble card. Now there is a time and
a place for both but on that day, and this season, Spencer could not wave the white flag
before the battle had begun.
I remember my high school baseball coach instilling a similar understanding. “As soon
as you begin to hope, you’ve already lost,” he’d yell at us. What it meant was, we needed
to believe that any time we set foot on the field – and it didn’t matter if we were playing
the New York Yankees or the local middle school – we intended to and expected to win.
After awhile, you believe it and it starts to work.
You begin to play against the game and not an opponent. Because the game doesn’t
change. Night in and night out the same factors to win a basketball game pertain to the
game before and the next one. Do those well and you’re going to give yourself a chance.
Wrap yourself up in everything else – like who is expected to win this, that or other – and
you’re well on your way to losing.
So I appreciate Dinwiddie saying what he said. He had to say because as Boyle
explained, it’s a misnomer that the Buffs are an experienced team. Sure there are four
starters returning but after that, it’s a whole lotta guys who need to figure out how to win;
to know that they need to win; to begin to believe that they will win.
“We’re going to try to win all of our games,” said Spencer Dinwiddie.
Sounds a lot like a guy who believes.
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