Monday, August 17, 2009
A gold medal is not enough for Tyshawn Taylor.
Despite having a high school championship and FIBA Under-19 World Championship under his belt, Taylor’s desire for an NCAA basketball championship remains as strong as ever.
“Once you get one and you get that feeling and you know how it feels, you don’t want to stop,” Taylor, a sophomore guard, said. “I think some people get one and they settle off and relax. I just want to keep winning. Hopefully this year it’ll happen for us.”
Because Kansas retained its team’s nucleus from last year, along with high caliber additions, the Jayhawks rank No. 1 in most preseason polls.
Taylor said this was the first time he had thought of the team as a target on the college level.
“It was different last year,” Taylor said. “I felt like we didn’t have anything to lose because nobody expected us to do that good, so we just went out there and played.”
Taylor said he hoped his team would not get caught up in the hype and suffer the same fate many top-ranked teams did last season. According to the Associated Press, the top-ranking team changed eight times in the weekly poll during the course of the 2008-09 regular season.
“Who wouldn’t want to be number one in the country?” Taylor said. “But it could be a negative if we let it get to us and get big heads and stop working hard.”
Taylor said he thought he had the formula for success figured out: communication and chemistry both on and off the court. He had these factors down with his high school team and with Team USA. He said Kansas had the same ingredients and said the fact that the team does not have a consistent dominant scorer shows its unselfishness and commitment to winning.
With senior guard Sherron Collins and junior center Cole Aldrich opting to stay in college, Kansas should not have a problem picking up where they were last year. The addition of the Henrys should help balance the scoring even more.
Because of these factors, Taylor said he didn’t think he would be as statistically dominant as he was at the FIBA U19 World Championship in New Zealand. Still, his role remains as important to Kansas as ever.
In his freshman campaign, Taylor was third on the team in points per game, second in steals and assists, and fourth in three points made and blocks per game.
Individually, Taylor made great strides in the U19 tournament when he showed his multidimensional skill set.
He led Team USA in points per game, steals and assists.
“Playing on the USA team prepared me for the upcoming season, playing with great players and being unselfish and learning how to make that extra pass,” Taylor said. “Once Coach Self sees my decision making got a little better than last season…I think my role will change.”
Besides improving his game, Taylor also worked on improving his name.
“I went up there with the mentality, ‘I’m not going to come up here and just play around. I’m going to really work,’” Taylor said. “I feel like I did some good things out there. I got my name out there a little bit.”
This summer may have given Taylor the boost he needs to help Kansas to the next level.
“I’m not exactly sure how hard it’s going to be from freshman to sophomore year,” Taylor said, “but I think I did everything in order to prepare myself for this tough transition.”
— Edited by Samantha Foster
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