While Bryant Nash was in Europe with the Big 12 Conference All-Stars last August, the Kansas junior swingman believes his skills improved significantly.
Nash also saw some sights in Scandinavia he would prefer not to see again.
“In Oslo, Norway, we went to a ski jump,” Nash said. “It was like, ‘Man, that’s a long ways down.'”
Nash didn’t think twice when asked if he ever wanted to soar off the prodigious ramp.
“Nah,” he said with a smile. “I don’t do heights.”
His teammates may disagree. When KU held its annual preseason vertical leap test, Nash all 6-foot-6 of him jumped 32 1â2 inches higher than everybody on the team except Keith Langford.
To this day, Nash half-kiddingly claims a tender ankle kept him from winning.
“He has perfect athleticism,” senior Nick Collison said. “He can run like crazy. He can jump like crazy.”
It’s the type of athleticism coach Roy Williams would love to put to more use. Nash averaged just 1.0 points and 0.7 rebounds in 30 games last season. With depth a concern this year, Nash is hoping his confidence, once missing in action, comes full circle for his junior season.
“I feel a little pressure,” Nash said, “but I welcome it. I’ve got to step up to the challenge.”
His experience over the summer can only help. Nash, along with 11 other Big 12 players, went on a two-week, six-game tour into Norway, Sweden and Denmark. Nash averaged 4.3 points and 2.3 rebounds, shooting 56 percent from the floor. The Big 12 All-Stars, featuring Missouri’s Travon Bryant, Kansas State’s Pervis Pasco and Iowa State’s Jake Sullivan, compiled a 6-0 record on the trip.
“Anytime you have two to three weeks of concentration on basketball,” Williams said, “it’s got to help you.”
Nash hit a roadblock this fall, however, when he was sidelined for four weeks with a broken thumb, an injury he suffered guarding Aaron Miles in a pickup game.
The cast came off just in time for Late Night festivities on Oct. 11. Nash nailed a three-pointer during the scrimmage for his only points.
Now the question is whether Nash is ready to make a solid contribution after two seasons spent mostly on the bench.
“He’s got the most ability in the world,” Collison said. “If he can step up and get some confidence and feel comfortable out there, he’ll be huge.”
Williams certainly hopes Nash will be one of the players he can count on to come off the bench and contribute.
“If it was Bryant Nash it would be perfect,” Williams said. “If he’d come through, he gives us more size on the perimeter. Hopefully, he can come through and be a force on the boards. It’s my job to get him to relax more because in pickup games the guys tell me he does great things.”
Nash, Williams believes, will respond once the right button is pushed.
“(In the past) I’ve got him so tight or something he doesn’t feel as relaxed and doesn’t do the things in games as near as well as pickup games,” the KU coach said. “I’ve got to figure a way to get him to relax and do things he’s capable of doing.”
