Chris Davis was at Southwest Junior High on Saturday, watching son Bobby, wearing No. 20, when his wife called and told him another No. 20 had checked into the game on TV.
After the Southwest game, the Davises and relatives visiting from South Dakota packed into the family Suburban and drove to Stilwell, where the Lawrence High boys varsity basketball team Davis coaches was competing in the Blue Valley Shootout. On the way, Davis called friend Aman Reaka for a report on Stephen Vinson’s big day against California in Kemper Arena.
“I just put my cell phone on speaker and let him talk,” Davis said. “He had a nice time telling us about Stephen’s assists and solid play. Sounded like a very typical Stephen game.”
There have been times during Vinson’s career that Lawrence High has been practicing while a KU game has been on TV. Davis has had someone keeping an eye on the game so that in the rare instance Vinson gets in, the coach is alerted, stops practice, and lets all his players watch him make the most of his minutes.
“He gets pulled in a lot of directions, but whenever I ask him to come talk to the guys, it’s, ‘You bet, what can I do?’ And he’ll pop in unexpected sometimes,” Davis said. “He’s a great role model.”
For more than high school players. If each of Vinson’s more-talented teammates showed up and gave a Vinson-like effort, Bill Self would spend the entire practice pinching himself to make sure he wasn’t dreaming. It was the same way in high school.
“He didn’t let one thing slip by him that could keep him from giving everything he could to make himself better,” Davis said of Vinson. “Every single little thing. In all my time coaching basketball he paid more attention to detail than anyone.”
Already riding high after getting the report on Vinson pumping life into a stagnant offense by keeping the ball moving, Davis’ day only got better. His Lions won the Blue Valley Shootout by playing the sort of unselfish basketball Davis preaches and Vinson practices. Vinson was a junior when the Lions won the title five years and one day before Saturday. On that day, the star of the fifth-place game scored 42 points, 27 of them in the fourth quarter and overtime.
“I remember that game,” Davis said. “Jeff Hawkins. He got a ton of them from his defense. His defense is still awesome, but in high school, wow. He’d often guard the point guard, bang, he’d have a steal and a layup. He was so quick. He just blew by everybody.”
If McDonald’s All-American Mario Chalmers can bring the effort in practice, take care of the basketball and keep it moving in a way that makes the offense seem as lively as it did with Vinson at the point, the day will come when Hawkins and Vinson watch Chalmers run the team. That day seemed far away Saturday, when Chalmers had six turnovers in 11 minutes.
With Hawkins in foul trouble and Chalmers in the throes of freshman-itis, Self had the guts to call on Vinson, who rewarded his coach’s faith. Afterward, Self urged everyone to stop thinking of Vinson as a walk-on.
“Stephen understands he can’t let one thing go by or it will cost him that moment,” Davis said. “He was preparing for a long time for Saturday.”
