Elsey Finds Fit at Baylor
1/2/2002 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 2, 2002
Editor's Note: Articles such as this one by Carroll Fadal appear in each edition of the Baylor Bear Insider Report, available upon membership in the Baylor Bear Foundation. For information on joining the Bear Foundation, click here.
What a difference a year makes.
Last season, Chad Elsey was heralded as Baylor basketball's shooting savior, a long-range gunner who would bust zones and give the Bears the three-point threat they'd lacked since Aundre Branch finished playing.
Having sat out the 1999-2000 campaign after transferring from SMU, Elsey was so highly prized that coach Dave Bliss actually structured his schedule around Elsey's December return, playing only four games before the Flower Mound junior regained his eligibility.
But after a breakout Baylor debut in which he scored 20 points, including four-of-five three-pointers, Elsey went into a prolonged slump that saw both his scoring average and playing time dwindle to almost nothing. He was buried so far in the bench, in fact, that most BU observers didn't think he'd bother to return for his senior year.
But after a couple of heart-to-heart talks with Bliss, Elsey not only has come back, he's a team captain and so far has been the Bears' most consistent player. He attributes it to a new attitude.
"I think last year, I cared about the wrong things," Elsey said. "I think I maybe got caught up in some of the expectations that people in the league and fans had. This year, the difference is I'm focusing on what Coach Bliss wants me to do and what I can do for the team, not necessarily for my expectations of myself as far as scoring.
"LAST YEAR, I related everything to offense. This year, I'm taking more of a defensive focus, and I kind of just let the offense come."
Funny how that works. The more Elsey concentrates on hustle, defense and rebounding, the better he scores. Through the Bears' first six games, he ranked second on the team, averaging 14.3 points a game. And even though at small forward, he spends a lot of time at the point of Bliss's trapping defense, the 6-6 senior's rebounding average of 5.2 a game ranked third on the team behind power forward Lawrence Roberts's 8.3 and post Greg Davis's 6.3.
But statistics tell only a small part of the story. Even down to a new curly hairstyle, Elsey is a different man, and the most noticeable thing is hustle.
"THE MARK OF A MAN is the ability to bounce back from adversity of sorts," Bliss said. "By his own account, last year wasn't a good one for Chad. But he's really helped the team this year. There wasn't a lot of talk, he just came in and took over the three spot for us. He's playing defense, he's rebounding, he's diving on the floor for balls."
Elsey attributes his new attitude to Bliss, maturity and his June 8 marriage to the former Julie Teter, who played golf at SMU.
"I've been playing college basketball for so many years now," Elsey said. "I'm sure I'm the oldest player in the Big 12, because I was already old, and I sat out a year. I'm 23, and a lot of these kids coming in are 17 and 18. I've been playing so long, it's about time to feel comfortable and feel like you know what you're doing.
"And being married creates stability in your life. You've got someone to come home to every day, someone there to talk about everything with, and you're thinking for two people instead of one person in all your decisions. That just changes your whole mindset on life in general."
One obvious area in which Elsey's mindset has changed is the simple fact that he's still playing college basketball after last year's disappointing showing.
"I think there was a significant chance I wasn't going to come back and play this year," he said, "both in my mind and in the coaches'. I was graduating, and obviously, I didn't have the year I wanted to have, and I knew I had some opportunities to play professionally overseas. I knew that was there for me if I wanted to take it, especially getting married and everything. At the end of last year, I definitely had questions whether or not I'd be back, whether or not they'd want me back or whether or not I'd even want to be back.
"Coach Bliss talked to me at the end of the year, and he told me that he wanted me to come back, try to work hard this summer and just forget about last year. I think I did that, but at the beginning of the year, I don't think I was playing like he wanted me to play, and then he kind of took me aside again and took me up to his office and vented on me pretty bad. After that, I've kind of turned it around and done more of what he wants me to do."
Bliss changed Elsey's mind and thus his play by getting him to stop worrying about whether or not his shots went in. "My responsibility is just to take the shot," Elsey said. "Sometimes you make it, and sometimes you don't. But regardless, you've still got to go back and guard the guy. Then, when you do those other things, it makes it that much more satisfying when the offense does work, because then, you're doing a little bit of everything. If all you can do is shoot and you're not making shots, then you're worthless. But if you can play defense and rebound, and then if you're making shots, you're doing three things well instead of one thing well."
HIS NEW defensive-minded role often puts Elsey at the top of Baylor's trapping defense that looks like a 1-3-1 zone. Last season, the acrobatic Terry Black occupied that spot and created havoc for opposing offenses, creating steals by relentlessly chasing the ball around the perimeter. Have those shoes been tough to fill?
"There's some stuff Terry did that anyone can do," Elsey said. "Anyone can play hard all the time, anyone can go to the boards and anyone can play with energy. There's not many people who are the athlete Terry was, obviously, he's a special player. But playing on the front of that defense, I think it shows that Coach has confidence in me and has respect for what I can do out there, because that's a full-time, running-your-butt-off job. When you play the trap, it kind of takes all the plays they've been working on all week and throws them in the trash, because there's no way to prepare for that."
NOT ONLY HAS Elsey's 180-degree turnaround captured Bliss's attention, it's also making him popular with his teammates and the fans, many of whom were critical of his play last season.
"It's my goal for people to look out there and go, 'That guy overachieves,' " Elsey said. "Last year, I think people would look out there and go, 'He has some talent, but he just doesn't play up to his potential.' This year, I think I've played so far at a level where people could say I've overachieved.
"My attitude and my play, I think, have earned the respect of my teammates this year, as opposed to last year and the respect I didn't have from my teammates."
Those things have combined to making playing at Baylor fun, something he wasn't having at SMU despite being one of the Ponies' best players. His sophomore year in the Park Cities, Elsey started all 30 games and averaged almost 14 points a game, second on the team. But he didn't get along with coach Mike Dement. "He's kind of a Bobby Knight kind of coach, and that doesn't work for me" and what once was a game had become a job.
"I told the coach I wasn't going to play there anymore, and I didn't know if I'd ever play anywhere again, because I'd only have a year and a half of eligibility left," Elsey said. "I didn't know who'd want a player with limited eligibility, but it turned out that people did want me. Baylor was a good fit for me."
And this year, he's a perfect fit for Baylor.
Editor's Note: Articles such as this one by Carroll Fadal appear in each edition of the Baylor Bear Insider Report, available upon membership in the Baylor Bear Foundation. For information on joining the Bear Foundation, click here.
