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Somebody has to make a play Wednesday, Feb 27, 2008 By Harry King LITTLE ROCK - By the time I tuned to the finals of the World Match Play championship, Tiger Woods and Stewart Cink were playing No. 14 for the first and only time. That one hole was a tell-all, a blatant confession by Cink that Woods was superior. Desperately needing to win a hole, Cink left his birdie chip hanging on the lip and then conceded Woods' 3-foot par putt. He might as well have genuflected to Woods. Some might praise Cink for sportsmanship; I think he knew he played as well as he could a few weeks back at San Diego when he beat 150-something golfers and still finished 10 shots behind Woods. Woods intimidates; it's part of his persona. Twice, Aaron Baddeley had a 12-foot putt to oust the world's best. Twice, he failed. The circumstances - the opportunity to beat No. 1 - contributed to the misses. It's the same with other sports, including basketball. Young golfers practice a 5-foot par putt to win The Masters; young basketball players shoot a 20-footer to beat the buzzer for the win. Those mind games are normal and fine, but until a player does it for real, there is some doubt. Tonight at Tuscaloosa, it is time for Sonny Weems or Patrick Beverley or Gary Ervin or Stefan Welsh to make a play that matters. That's the guts of success in college basketball - get to the final couple of minutes with a chance to win and then do something to affect the outcome. Such performances can come from most anybody. Look back at the weekend: -Sophomore Tyler Smith drove for a basket to cut the Memphis lead to 61-60 and then backed in for a turnaround jumper and a 62-61 lead with 26.5 seconds to play in Tennessee's 66-62 victory over the then-No. 1 Tigers. He was the SEC Player of the Week. -The SEC Freshman of the Week was Patrick Patterson of Kentucky who recorded his sixth double-double of the season against Arkansas. -Sophomore Ben Hansbrough of Mississippi State made three free throws with 1.1 seconds to play to get the Bulldogs into overtime and Charles Rhodes scored six of his 24 in O.T. in a victory at South Carolina. Every night, an underclassmen produces a game winner. It just so happens that Weems, a senior, is the most likely Razorback to have the ball at the end and that was the case in the final minute at Lexington with Arkansas trailing 57-55. "I kind of knew he was going to try to pull up," Joe Crawford told a Lexington reporter. "I'd been watching the whole game, and I knew if I stayed in front of him I was just going to have to time him going up." Crawford got part of the ball on Weems' way up and the shot was short. Afterward, Weems said he rushed it. Based on last year, Patrick Beverley figured to be the designated shooter this season. Whether it's something mechanical or the fact that he's drawing more attention, Beverley is not shooting as well as he did as a freshman. He knows that. Putting the team first, he is rebounding hard and getting the ball to others. The Razorbacks who are 8-10 inches taller than Beverley should rebound with the same voraciousness for the ball. Rebounding is more than being tall and coach John Pelphrey made that point after the loss in Lexington. "Everybody talks about our advantage up front and you didn't see it," he said. "I'm still waiting for this great frontcourt (they're) talking about. I know there was talk about pros and stuff. Well, pros are supposed to get offensive rebounds." Kentucky outrebounded Arkansas 38-23, including 13-3 in offensive rebounds. Alabama has a couple of good players in Richard Hendrix and Mykal Riley, but little else. The Crimson Tide, LSU, and Georgia are at the bottom of the SEC, each at 3-9. Alabama's only conference victories came against Auburn, LSU, and Ole Miss - teams with a combined 11-25 league record. In other words, this is a primo chance to win an SEC game on the road. If the Razorbacks lose, they are likely to have to win out and win at least one game in Atlanta to get an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. ---- Harry King is sports columnist for Stephens Media's Arkansas News Bureau. His e-mail address is hking@arkansasnews.com. |
