They tell him how great he is, over and over. He issues a sheepish nod (oh, no -- busted again) and promises to do better. This would seem to indicate that Jared Jeffries hears his teammates, but what can they do to make him listen?

“I tell him all the time, all the time,” says Indiana guard Dane Fife, with the exasperation of a father telling his son to ease off the gas pedal. “I just don’t think it’s his nature to dominate.”

	Cruz: Brandin Knight & the Panthers are on the prowl. Palmer Steve Blake makes it all work for Maryland. Keown: Jared Jeffries is turning it on for the Hoosiers. Wickersham: Keith Bogans is back on his game, making the Cats a scary team. Gustafson: Trevor Huffman is out to prove the Golden Flashes are the real deal. Kirkpatrick: Channing Frye is quickly becoming the beast of the Big Dance.

At halftime of IU’s second-round Tourney win over UNC-Wilmington, guard A.J. Moye pulled Jeffries aside and said, “You’re a special player, and you’re made for games like this.” This time, Jeffries both heard and listened. The Big Ten Player of the Year came back from a dismal first half (two points, four turnovers) to score 20 in the second half and lead the Hoosiers into the Sweet 16 for the first time since 1994. During a nearly four-minute stretch late in the game, as UNCW made a run to cut IU’s lead to three, Jeffries scored 11 straight points for his squad.

Obviously, his teammates’ compliments are more than random kindness. They are pleas. If the Hoosiers are going to make post-Knight history, they need Jeffries’ liquid-smooth game to do it, even if it means the 6'10" sophomore swing-man must step out of character. “He can be so unselfish,” says coach Mike Davis. “He’d rather pass than shoot. And he does so many things, you have a tendency to take him for granted out there.”

Jeffries himself admits: “I have a really hard time looking at myself as one of the top players in the country. My teammates are always telling me I can dominate games, but I feel I can take over some other way -- defense, passing, blocking shots. Sometimes I forget I have to take over the scoring, too. I guess I don’t give myself enough credit.”

Jeffries has had trouble overcoming a sprained right ankle he suffered in a Feb. 9 game against Louisville. He doesn’t have the lift on his jumper or the explosiveness in his inside game, but his teammates are urging him to play through the pain. Says Fife: “He’s been really caught up in saying, ‘I’m hurt. I can’t move like I know I can. What can I do?’ I tell him it’s mind over matter. And I think he finally listened to me.”

You could say he’s bringing the noise.

This article appears in the April 1 issue of ESPN The Magazine.