Soph Vinson sets ‘The Standard’

By Chris Wristen     Nov 4, 2003

Stephen Vinson vividly remembers stepping onto Naismith Court for the first time as a Kansas University basketball player.

The deer-in-headlights look in his eyes, his heart thumping like a war drum, the forced three-pointer he heaved against the EA Sports East All-Stars during KU’s 111-94 exhibition victory.

Everything was so big, so intimidating, so in-your-face scary. With a capacity crowd of 16,300 on hand, Vinson’s heebie-jeebies were understandable. It was a far cry from the 1,000 or so fans he’d played in front of at Lawrence High.

Fast forward five months to April 5, when Kansas slaughtered Marquette, 94-61, in the Final Four at the Louisiana Superdome. Vinson logged a career-high five minutes and logged a rebound and an assist in front of 54,432 people.

Allen Fieldhouse isn’t so big anymore.

“I’m much, much more relaxed now,” said Vinson, now a sophomore. “I think by the end of the year I was relaxed. It used to be 16,300 people would make you nervous, but when you get to play in the Final Four — which I was lucky enough to do — in front of 50,000 people, that’ll calm the nerves.”

This year the jitters are gone.

Vinson had the intelligence and work ethic necessary to succeed at the Division I level last year, but he said he lacked the physical attributes and understanding of the daily grind. That all changed over the summer.

“I grew a little bit — added maybe half an inch,” Vinson said, “but the main thing was to become more prepared this year to understand the college game. I had to put on some muscle, but I really made sure I was in shape and showed up this year ready to play.”

First-year coach Bill Self noticed Vinson’s preparation quickly. During the team’s “Boot Camp” conditioning sessions in early October, Self nicknamed Vinson “The Standard” because of his exhaustive work ethic.

“We just call him ‘The Standard’ because whatever we do, he works harder than anybody,” sophomore forward Moulaye Niang said.

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14952Soph Vinson sets ‘The Standard’