Colorado University Athletics
Brooks: Booker Has High Hopes For His Last Run In LA
January 28, 2015 | Men's Basketball, B.G. Brooks
LOS ANGELES - Askia Booker is proof that you can go home again - at least for one final road trip. Beyond his playing days at the University of Colorado, the frequency of his trips back to LA will be governed by life after Buffs basketball and whatever career path awaits.
Of course, he'd like one that leads him to the rim, requires some dribbling, a fair amount of shooting and offers a monetary reward for all of the above. But that can wait.
Right now, "Ski" is focused on a Thursday night Pac-12 game at USC (7:30 p.m. MST, Fox Sports 1), then a quick crosstown turn toward a Saturday night visit to UCLA (8:30 p.m., Pac-12 Networks) and a venue - Pauley Pavilion - where Booker, or the Buffs for that matter, have never won.
Booker's final pair of LA games will draw his mother, father, brother and a number of close friends. "I love going home," he says. "I try to do it as much as I can outside of basketball. That's like my safe place almost. I get to rejuvenate, get to see my brother, talk to certain people and come back with a mindset where I'm ready to go."
Home - he played at Price High School - most certainly is where his heart resides, but maybe even a bigger part of his heart forever belongs to hoops. His passion for the game can be stated with absolute certainty. His drive to achieve is what separated him from peers in AAU ball and turned CU assistant Jean Prioleau in "Ski's" direction.
Booker's big shot resume is highlighted, of course, by last season's buzzer-beater that took down Kansas in the Coors Events Center. It put him on CU fans' forever faves list, but there have been plenty of nights in the CEC and elsewhere when the faithful roll their eyes and simply wonder "why?" after a shot is launched or an entry pass is picked off.
No disrespect meant, but "Ski" wears the term enigma like a second skin. If coach Tad Boyle ever compiles a career list of his most talented, most perplexing players, I'm betting Booker has a guaranteed spot among the top three. He might even be a runaway winner.
A couple of days ago, in light of Josh Scott's and Xavier Johnson's combined scoring (26.6 points) being absent for a combined 10 games, I asked Boyle if Booker has been given a "green light" to pick up the scoring slack.
He laughed and answered, "'Ski' doesn't need a green light . . . he's got the scorer's mentality. It doesn't change with 'Ski' in terms of (me) wanting him to take good shots. I want him to be aggressive. We know when 'Ski' scores and is efficient scoring the ball, we're pretty good. That's with 'XJ' and Josh or without 'XJ' and Josh.
"You can't try to do more, you just have to be efficient. When he's efficient we're pretty good offensively. I don't want him to feel like there's extra pressure and he's got to take more shots."
THAT'S WHERE THERE MIGHT have been a disconnect between coach and player. Asking Booker to take more shots - or even implying that he should - is close to asking a politician to serve up more verbiage. What Boyle wants in the "good 'Ski'" is more playing under control and more leadership - although that second request can be admittedly difficult for a guy who concedes to being "a loner."
Loner and leader are not mutually exclusive terms, but the degree of difficulty rises considerably for a guy who'd rather be hidden within his earphones, lost in his music. But, bless his heart (as they used to say, maybe still do, in the South), Booker is trying and I think Boyle is noticing. In a recent heart-to-heart, Boyle and Booker "discussed" Booker's play and where it should be in the context of team play.
Booker says he's playing about as well as he has at CU, and his recent numbers back him up. In his last five games he's averaged 17.8 points, hit 14 3-pointers and contributed 15 assists. He's topped 20 points in four of seven Pac-12 games. "I'm shooting in the 40s (percentages) now in both categories (overall, 3-pointers)," he said. "Last game I shot 50 from the three and 40 from the two, which is not bad at all. I'll take that every night. I'm just working on consistency now. If I can do that, I'll feel like I'm one of the better players everywhere."
But with "Ski" it's usually about how many shots are required to top 20 points. In the Buffs' 52-50 loss to Washington, he was 2-for-13 from the field. An efficient shooting percentage is vital, and that's what led to the Boyle-Booker summit. I asked Booker if it was a "settle down" kind of talk.
"Nah," he said, "it wasn't a settle talk . . . he kind of got in my butt. He had kind of some harsh words about it, but I didn't take it personally. He's coaching. It bettered me. It made me mentally tougher, especially with dealing with my teammates. As good as they are, I need to trust them. I need to make sure they get their shots. I need to make sure they're playing defense.
"And I have to do that first before I can tell anybody else about playing defense. Unless I can communicate at a high level, I'm not going to get them to play at a high level. I have to make sure I take care of my business with the team and bring everybody along."
With Scott (back) and Johnson (ankle) ailing, Boyle's younger wings and front court guys have gotten invaluable experience. The Buffs' 10-9 overall record (3-4 in conference) grates on him, but the forced evolution of sophomores Wesley Gordon, Dustin Thomas, Jaron Hopkins and Tre'Shaun Fletcher, as well as freshmen Tory Miller and Dom Collier and junior Xavier Talton has been a hard-times bonus.
Booker, said Boyle, "has to understand that we've got guys capable of scoring . . . we've played well offensively" in recent games.
THE JANUARY ABSENCES OF SCOTT and "XJ" isn't totally unlike what Booker and the Buffs dealt with last season. Well, in a way. When "Ski's" running mate, Spencer Dinwiddie, went down for the season with a knee injury, Booker was looked to as a picker-upper. But this January, he said, poses a different scenario and challenge.
"I've been through it once before," he said, "but to be quite honest - and it's nothing against Josh or Xavier - Spencer's injury was a lot worse (for the team) than both of theirs combined. That's how I look at it. I took that one a lot more personal, a lot more to heart, you know?
"That was the right hand/left hand type combo, you know? A Batman and Robin type thing. This year I've been relying on Jaron and Xavier Talton and those guys have come on. With Josh and Xavier Johnson, it's different with them being out. Wesley Gordon and Dustin Thomas and Tory (Miller) - those guys have done a wonderful job as of right now taking care of business.
"I've been through us missing a significant piece and I have to step up. I have to play at another level and that's motivated me to get better . . . if I have to take over a game I'll take over a game. If I have to distribute, I'll do that. If I have to make a stop I'll make a stop. That's just what I have to do. If I'm the leader of the team and the coach is depending on me, that's how it'll be."
Boyle recognizes what returning to LA for a final time as a Buff means to Booker. "It's a special place in 'Ski's' heart," he said. "He's got a lot of pride in where he comes from and what he represents. It means more than the trip to Seattle or Eugene . . . that's natural."
"It's special for some other reasons but when it comes to basketball it's strictly business," Booker said. He points to his performances in the back-to-back wins against USC and UCLA in Boulder, saying he "played great." And he did; his combined two-game totals were 38 points, 9 assists, 8 rebounds, 4 turnovers and 4 steals.
"And I plan on doing it in LA," he said. "We didn't win at UCLA last year; I want to win at USC and UCLA this year. Those are my goals and if we accomplish those then I took care of business."
For Booker, there's an undeniable finality to this trip. But it's basketball business first, homecoming second. It would be oh-so-sweet to mark his last run in LA with a pair of 'W's.
Contact: BG.Brooks@Colorado.EDU
