1951
Tuesday • February 24, 1998
Sport
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Texas A&M Hoop Dreams
^Southern Comfort\ Sharpe Shooter / Basketball Jones
Schmidt adapts to Texas life \ Timing perfect for Sharpe in sophomore year / A&M junior gaining respect
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By Katie Mish
Staff writer
eatt:
56,
en Michael Schmidt started
playing basketball in the seventh
_ . V* grade, he was forced to give up
v&uedi mother sport to do so — hockey.
/ rely o “j use( j to pi a y hockey, but I started to
me ; j jet too tall for hockey, so I decided to
O’Brie iwitch over to basketball,” Schmidt said,
frey. h Schmidt, a freshman education major
^ornpaa railing from Toronto, was the No. 1 - ranked
a acthi ligh school player in Canada and was
i for bus lamed to the 1997 Canadian
mem. inder-22 National Team,
showini Schmidt said his most
ittlewa nemorable moment was
isease igning his letter of intent
a mom olexas A&M after be-
menta n 8 recruited by
^Ugl Minnesota, I)~
.^^faul, Syracuse
d South-
f«fSt BUt
r , iigned wdth
Texas A&M be
iongta| ore even setting
at nead oot in the state of
jedwhis [exas.
-tion. "i came to A&M
y spoke iccause of the peo-
organia lie and the great at-
lasasti nosphere, and it’s
wouldk he college life that
tativeo wanted,”
dtofai khmidtsaid.
Schmidt cred-
spoke his mother
dioaitt ^ his hi g h
ttlemei cho °! . coacl i-
ilist Gai ,teve Re P lc ’ as mo
overt infl uences
in his early play.
,e ' 7 lere at A&M he looks
o his recruiter and his
:naiBi ^^5 on campus,
prograi Schmidt said the
ty ^ ilay at the college lev-
is more physical
lan play at the high
chool level.
“Day to day you’re
playing against
great players,"
Schmidt said.
“Every day you're
playing someone
who might be going
to the NBA or be an
All-American candi
date. In high school,
maybe you have one
tough player per team.”
Schmidt said he
would like to forget his
first season at Texas
By Chris Ferrell
Staff writer
Jeff Schmidt
Staff writer
which
the first losing
season of his
career. He said he
hopes next year to
win the Big 12 Con
ference and go on to
the NCAAToumament.
Shanne Jones, a
sophomore forward, said
Schmidt is a good guy to be
around, and he has really
eing around Prissy Sharpe, you get
the feeling that timing is every
thing. There is her timing
on the basketball court, something
which, along with her desire, has led
her to become one of the nation’s
top rebounders.
Sharpe has recorded 15 dou
ble-doubles for theTexas A&M
Women’s Basketball Team this
season, averaging 15 points
and 10 rebounds per game.
While her scoring has been
big, it is her rebounding
that sets the 6-foot-1 -inch
sophomore apart from
other players.
“She is a great re
bounder,” senior center
Kim Linder said. “Her
was \ scoring is huge for us,
but her rebounding is
just unbelievable.
She’s not tall, she’s j
not a great leaper
but she rebounds
really well. I
think it’s her de
sire for the ball.
I don’t know
anyway else
nose for the ball. Rebounding is something that
you hav e to have an instinct for. You have to
want the ball. You have to have the I-want-the-
ball attitude. You have to say, ‘when the ball | Shanne Jones
comes off, I’m going to go get it.’ Some /could borrow a line
people have it and some people don't" /from Rodney Danger-
Sharpes emergence this season ,ic,* n^ith^r
has been critical for the Aggies, but / get anv re spect. Dur-
not completely unexpected. She /j n „ Jones’ first season
was the teams leading returning / at A&M , his sophomore
rebounder and shot blocker I he averaged l2A
and second leading s “ re r lp oints a me * k , ague
coming into the season. After ■
putting up such impressive
numbers as a freshman, ■ , ^ u ^
1 nearly five rebounds a
game yet was not named
to the Big 12 Newcomer
team. Despite averaging
19.1 points per confer-
Jplay, second among con-
fference newcomers, and
stepped up offensively as well 1 to explain it.”
as defensively. \ Sharpe said her ability to
“He plays aggressively on de- \ rebound is something that
fense; he’s one of our better defen- \ she works on relentlessly,
sive players and he’s a real tough per-\ “That’s something that
son who doesn’t back down from \ can help my team,” she said,
anyone,” Jones said. “For a freshman, 1 “On this team, it might not
he came ready to play every game.” 1 be my responsibility to lead
Jones said that he has been im- \ the team in scoring. 1 think
pressed at the level of Schmidt’s \ its my responsibility to re
play, especiaUy for being a freshman. \ bound. My team looks to
“At the beginning of the season 1 me to rebound and I take
his shot wasn’t falling, but now that 1 pride in doing that,
it is you can just see how well he’s play- \ “I’ve said this a lot I
ing,” Jones said. “Tie’s playing at what we \ think it > s just having a
expected him to play all year. He s just a *
Sharpe said that she want
ed to become more consis
tent this season.
“I just wanted to play
good and I definitely _
wanted to average a dou- / ence g a me this season,
ble-double. Now I’m actu- /8 ooc ^ f° r fifth in the Big
ally doing that. /12 Conference, Jones will
“It was my goal to do /probably not garner
as well as I’ve been do- / an y all-conference
ing. You always have /notoriety,
confidence in yourself. / "Not with our
So, yeah, I expected to /record. It’s a team
do well. I’m very/game,” Coach Tony
pleased with how I’ve /Barone said. “You’re
been playing. /a victim of your team
It’s a mind-set re- / in terms of its won-loss
ally. Consistency is/record as well as the
something that /profile of it. He should’ve
has come into play, /been on the all-newcom-
In the past I wasn’t as consistent /ers team last year.”
as I am now. In a game I pretty / This season has been
much know that I’m going to go /tough on all the players,
out and get my double-double /especially Jones. Jones
or whatever. I’ve been really /has attempted to
consistent and that is the dif- /shoulder the offensive
ference between this year and /burden but the Ag-
lastyear.” /gies continue to
Last season Sharpe start- /struggle,
ed 23 of 27 games for an / “ H is only real
A&M team that relied heav-/p ro bi ern IS ^e
ily on freshmen. Those /gg^s down on
freshmen have now been /himself too eas-
playing together for two | ily He shou i dn > t
his effort has been at the top of the line,”
Barone said.
However, Jones almost never became
an Aggie. Jones played his freshman year
at Stetson and left when his head coach
took the head coaching job at Akron. He
was ready to follow his coach to Akron but
he was not granted a release by Stetson.
Jones felt that his former team would not
be successful with a new coach.
“I thought that there was going to be
chaos after he left,” Jones said.
Eventually, he obtained the release and
became an Aggie instead.
Under NCAA guidelines, Jones was
forced to sit out his true sophomore year
and redshirt. During that season Jones
received the team’s “Mr. Hustle"
award at the annual basketball
banquet even though he did not
even play that season.
This season, Jones has
been on fire. He started off
the season with 27 points
against Stephen F. Austin
University. He has led
the team in scoring in
13 of its 24 games, in
cluding a career-high
32 points against
the University of
Texas. Despite
these accom
plishments,
Jones still sees
things he can im
prove upon.
“I could re
bound a little bet
ter and get better
at three-point
shooting
and
perimeter
defense,”
Jones
said.
really good player.”
Please see Sharpe on Page 8. Ido that because
Please see Jones on Page 9.
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