The father, as a player, performed always with a cauldron burning in his belly. It was no surprise then that his kid received some tough love, or that- early on-he told his kid, ”You`ll know when you`re good enough to beat me. I`m never going to let you win at anything.”
”Your first instinct as a parent,” explains the father now, ”is to protect your son. But life`s not that way. You get bumped. You fall down. And the measure of a man is how you handle hurdles in life.”
This father and his kid would face off in all kinds of contests, but the kid would be bumped most fiercely in the family`s driveway, in the games of basketball they played there. This, too, was no surprise. The father was a former NBA All-Star, and he was not about to give in, not about to surrender his primacy in a game he had once played so willfully and well.
”You`re supposed to let me win,” the kid would cry after many of these games, but the father would not relent and the kid would not get his first win until he was a blossoming 14.
”I was trying to hold him. But my (once-injured) leg (which ended his career) wouldn`t go,” the father, Doug Collins, remembers about that day.
”It was fierce,” the kid, Chris Collins, remembers. ”He wasn`t about to give over the reins. There were some elbows thrown. It was pretty ugly. It was a great moment. I was really excited. He was pretty mad. As much as he couldn`t move, he`s still pretty intense.”
That same intensity now courses through Collins. The Younger, who metamorphosed from that kid into an all-star at Glenbrook North. Now he is a 6-foot-3 freshman at Duke, a backup to All-American guard Bobby Hurley, one of the heirs apparent who will someday be expected to contribute another chapter to the Blue Devils` long line of successes.
That, certainly, is a daunting challenge. Yet, faced with it, Chris Collins thinks back to his dad`s tough love and says: ”I`m glad he did it. I think that just made me real competitive as a young kid, and ever since then I`ve loved challenges.
”Some people have said, `He can`t do this.` `He`s too small.` `He`s too slow.` `He can`t really jump.` `How`s he going to play defense in the ACC?` I look at all those things as challenges, but I`ve always been pretty confident in my own abilities. Not to the point of being cocky. But I`ve always believed in my ability to do things.
”I just try to go out and not prove people wrong, but show people I can do it. I look at guys who have done it at my position. Mark Price (of the Cavaliers). John Stockton (of the Jazz). John Paxson (of the Bulls). Guys who aren`t athletically gifted, but just go out and do the job every single day.” Now, and ahead: They are all point guards, those players Collins mentions, and that is where he sees himself playing for seasons to come. But listen to his coach, Mike Krzyzewski. ”This season,” says he, ”Chris has two main areas that he has to concentrate on.
”One is how he fits with this team, that`s the most important. In other words, when you`re in the ballgame, how do you play with Hurley, Grant Hill, Cherokee Parks? What`s your role with this team?
”Then, for the future, what`s your role for the future? You need to develop your ball-handling skills, your leadership skills. By playing against Bobby in practice sessions, he`ll get a lot of experience in that.”
So you`re grooming him to succeed Bobby?
”He can be both (a point guard and shooting guard). I don`t want to answer that question the way you`re asking it. It`s not me avoiding the question. It`s me not putting him in a box. I don`t want to put Chris Collins in a box. I don`t know who Chris Collins is going to be exactly. Let`s see how he`s going to develop.”
Postscript: One other factor could color Collins` future at Duke, and his name is Grant Hill. The junior forward, who is blessed with multifaceted skills, has already said he will be back for a fourth season, and that means this should be remembered.
He played point as a senior in high school. He played point for the Blue Devils when Hurley was hurt last season. And-not insignificantly-he enjoys the position and is good at it.
Hard-luck kid: The fates have not been kind to Indiana junior Pat Graham, who sat out last year with a broken foot and then broke the same bone in the same foot at last month`s preseason NIT. He has not yet been declared out for this season, but he is listed as out indefinitely and is facing a most uncertain future.
Some of that future will be cleared up Monday when he is X-rayed for the first time since the night of his injury. Doctors may, just may, find then that he is healing quickly enough to make it back by March. Or they may find the worst, and determine then that he is through for another year.
If they reach the latter conclusion, a most interesting case is sure to land in the lap of that NCAA department called legislative services. For all indications are Indiana will then petition that department, and ask it to grant Graham a second redshirt-injury year.
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Common sense says it should be granted. But an exception would have to be made to that rule limiting a player to one redshirt year and five total years of eligibility. Common sense just doesn`t always win out in cases like these. Here, it should.
Check it out: Those (pick one, since they can`t be referred to these days without a flattering adjective) super/superlative/stupendous/scintill ating sophs at Michigan still have a tendency to underrate opponents, and overrate their ability to win just by showing up. If they do that Monday night when they face No. 17 Nebraska at the Rainbow Classic, their awakening could well be one of those rude ones. For the Huskers themselves, you see, are talented, and have been looking forward to Hawaii since practice opened Nov. 1.
Keep an eye on: Back when he coached at Rindge and Latin School in Cambridge, Mass., Mike Jarvis helped develop a center who was born in Kingston, Jamaica. Name of Patrick Ewing. Now Jarvis is coaching at George Washington, and in the process of developing a frosh center born in Kabba, Nigeria. Name of Yinka Dare, who is 7 feet 1 inch, 265 pounds, in only his third season of organized ball, and promising enough to recall the original Nigerian Nightmare. Name of Hakeem Olajuwon.
And finally: No one, absolutely no one, gives an opponent more fits than Pete Carril and his patient Princeton Tigers. Just ask Illinois, which struggled to beat them earlier this month. But here is what Carril has to say about his team. ”For Hannibal,” says he, ”it was the Alps. For Napoleon, it was Waterloo. For Lee, Gettysburg. For Hitler, Stalingrad. For Princeton basketball, it`s 1992-93.”
Ah, Pete, since you`re obviously a history buff, here`s what 1992-93 probably means for Princeton basketball: a fifth straight NCAA tourney appearance. And to tell you what that means, Pete, here`s a bit more history for you. Only a dozen schools besides yours have appeared in the last four.