| | By Jay Bilas
Special to ESPN.com
Kansas center Eric Chenowith had a whole heap of amateur psychologists trying to get into his sky-scraping skull last season.
He wasn't mentally into it, they speculated.
Chenowith doesn't really love to play, they hypothesized.
He didn't work on his game over the summer. This one came from both they and Kansas coach Roy Williams.
But the cruelest cut of all? He's soft, they thought.
|  | | Eric Chenowith, right, teammate Kenny Gregory look over the Kansas media guide during Big 12 media day last week. |
It seemed every newspaper and radio station in the Midwest
was talking about Chenowith -- even the Kansas student rag took its shots at the Jayhawks big man on campus.
"That one really hurt the most," Chenowith said of the criticism that the KU student paper aimed at him. "The student newspaper really got on me, and it was so negative. Here I was, walking to class, trying to just be a regular student, and it
was always right there in my face. It was painful."
But it wasn't the low point. No, that came when Chenowith learned he was being replaced in the starting lineup. When Williams drew up his practice plan after the Iowa game, Chenowith was with the red team -- a.k.a., the second five.
"When I saw that I was on the red team, my confidence went down," Chenowith said. "My parents were there, the game was on national television, it was bad."
"I had some back spasms early on in preseason, and started out of shape. I
didn't start off well, then I lost my starting job, then my confidence was
gone."
Chenowith felt more than just the sting of wearing a red jersey when he lost the starting spot.
"When I was taken out of the lineup, I felt like coach Williams lost his confidence in me, so I lost confidence in myself," Chenowith said.
After the Jayhawks' NCAA Tournament loss to Duke, Williams had his team practice until Final Four weekend.
"He thought we had some things to work on," Chenowith said about the postseason practices. "After we lost, he
called me into his office and asked me what I thought it was that made us compete so much harder in the NCAA Tournament. I felt like we had just come together, and we got tired of hearing what we were hearing."
Chenowith clearly got tired of hearing about his struggles.
After a sophomore season in which the 7-foot-1 Californian averaged over 13 points, nine rebounds and two blocks a game, Chenowith was named second-team All-Big 12 and to the Big 12 All-Defensive Team. But then Chenowith went through his junior year in a Phog. His numbers a season ago dropped to 8.6 points and 5.6 rebounds per game, and his free throw attempts were cut in half.
But when Williams' postseason practice sessions ended, Chenowith decided to keep going to work. He nearly overdosed on big man camps.
"I worked out every day at my high school, and I worked out with (former NBA big man) Bob Thornton," Chenowith said of the first part of his summer. "Thornton worked with me on post-up stuff. You know, how and where to make the catch, little Rick Mahorn tricks, how to make reads, where and how to spin, stuff like that."
Above all, Thornton worked with Chenowith on believing in himself again.
"He told me that I wasn't trusting myself with my game," Chenowith said. "He saw that I had lost
my confidence, and worked with me to trust myself to make the right move."
|
“ |
Coach Williams says my play is like
night and day, that the work I've put in has made
a 180-degree difference. I feel really good. I've
put in a lot of work, I've gotten much stronger,
and I will not accept not playing well. I've worked
to hard to accept anything but the best from
myself. ” |
|
|
— Eric Chenowith,
Kansas senior center |
Chenowith's next stop was playing with the Portland Trailblazers summer league squad, and under the watchful eyes of Blazers' coach Mike Dunleavy and assistant coach Tim Grgurich.
"Every morning from 7 to 8:30, I worked with 'Gurg,' then from 10 to 11:30, I scrimmaged with the Blazers," Chenowith said.
"That was the best part of the summer for me. Coach Dunleavy was so positive with me, and 'Gurg' was so hands on and enthusiastic. I loved it."
The importance of Chenowith's legs was reinforced to him. He found he needed to get stronger in his lower body to get more lift. He soon saw his moves around the basket start to improve and his shots stopped falling short.
But he wasn't done.
Chenowith then went to a private big man camp run by Grgurich, and squared up against the likes of Adam Keefe, George Lynch, Melvin Ely and Dan Gadzuric. While Chenowith banged bodies with other big men, over 25 NBA
scouts watched from the stands, then offered advice.
"They told me different things they wanted me to do," Chenowith said of the NBA meat
inspectors. "They told me what they thought I didn't do well, and asked me
to work on it for the next day."
As if he hadn't sought enough big man advice, Chenowith went to see the basketball equivalent of the maharishi,
Pete Newell.
"I went to Newell's camp, and worked with the pros on the last day," Chenowith said. "I played against Raef (LaFrentz) and Antawn Jamison. It was good."
Chenowith believes that the work paid off, and will pay big dividends in his senior year.
"Coach Williams says my play is like night and day, that the work I've put in has made a 180-degree difference," Chenowith said after 10 Jayhawk practices.
"I feel really good. I've put in a lot of work, I've gotten much stronger, and I will not accept not playing well. I've worked
to hard to accept anything but the best from myself."
Chenowith takes the same approach when talking about the Jayhawks' chances in 2000-01 season. He's got his coach back after a
brief flirtation with the North Carolina job, and he's got his confidence back.
"I think the sky's the limit for us this year. We believe that we can win the national championship."
If Chenowith and Jayhawks don't win it all, it won't be for lack of work over the summer.
| |
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