Gold, not stats, mattered to Teague, Gilchrist
July 12th, 2010 | 
Author: By LARRY VAUGHT
Statistics didn’t really matter to Michael Gilchrist and Marquis Teague. All the two future University of Kentucky basketball players cared about was that they helped the United States win the gold medal Sunday at the FIBA Under 17 World Championship in Hamburg, Germany.
Gilchrist had 16 points, four rebounds and one assist while Teague had four points and eight assists in a 111-80 win over Poland.
“Oh my God. I have won a gold medal. There’s not much more you can say than that,” said Gilchrist. “I think everybody dreams of one day playing in the Olympics and hopefully this gives me a taste of what they could be like. We didn’t really do anything we were not capable of doing to win. We just played the way we could.”
Teague felt going into the tournament that the U.S. had the best talent.
“Every game our chemistry got better, too. We all just played to win,” he said. “I know I came out and played as hard as I could every minute. That’s the reason we played so well. Now we get to go home with the gold medal that we wanted. There’s no better feeling than that.”
Teague, a point guard from Indianapolis, averaged 7.0 points, 8.0 assists and 1.9 rebounds per game while playing 19.5 minutes per contest. He shot 36 percent from the field (20-for-56) and 67 percent at the foul line (16-for-24). He had 48 assists compared to 19 turnovers.
Gilchrist, a forward from Philadelphia, averaged 15.0 points per game despite playing only 19 minutes per game. He also added 7.3 rebounds and 1.8 assists per outing. He shot 65 percent from the field (42 for 64) and 80 percent at the foul line (36-for-45). He had 30 points and 15 rebounds in the semifinal win over Canada.
“I like to fill a stat sheet. I try to do a lot for my teammates,” Gilchrist said. “Whatever it takes to win, that’s what I will do. I am on it when I see something needs to be done. I can do more than just score to help a team win.”
Both Teague and Gilchrist have been gone from home for several weeks training and playing with the USA team. However, there’s no break this week for either player. Instead, both were headed to the Nike Peach Jam in North Augusta, S.C., to participate in a 24-team tournament that showcases many of the nation’s top prep players to a horde of college coaches.”
“You get tired, but playing basketball is what I love to do,” Teague said. “I have loved spending time with Mike. We were roommates like we usually are when we do stuff like this. We got to talk even more with this team and got to where we were really reading each other well on the court. I got the same with (potential UK recruit) Tony Wroten, too. I knew what he would do and what to expect. That’s why the more you play, the better you are.”
Gilchrist said he did not want a break from basketball.
“I will go to Peach Jam, then home and then off to Indiana to play,” Gilchrist, the nation’s top-ranked senior-to-be, said. “I don’t really get tired of playing basketball. I don’t want time off.”
Gilchrist does have one dilemma — where to put his gold medal.
“I am not sure what I will do with it or where I will put it, but I guarantee you it will be in a nice place,” he said. “You don’t get many chances to say you won a gold medal for your country.”
Posted in UK Basketball
In my opinion, basketball is the consummate team sport. It matters much less which team has the best collection of individual talents but how the team blends and utilizes the talent it does have to maximize the team’s effectiveness. When I read these types of stories, my heart warms as a fan because that is precisely the approach to the game that great teams develop, and all parts buy in and accept it. Coaches must do it! Players must do it!
In all of sport, the marginal differences between the really good teams/players and those that achieve greatness is very small. Look at team batting averages in the major leagues or any key statistic in the major sports and you can see this demonstrated repeatedly. This year’s Kentucky basketball team clearly had the most talented collection of individual talent in the country, but all year long I read about them that they “won on pure talent” and that they over came the deficiencies that not playing as a team created.
In my opinion, this remains Coach Calipari’s greatest challenge at UK. Can he assemble a group of great players, basically for 1 year with each assemblage, and convince them, as a team, to sacrifice their individual press clippings and stats for the benefit of the team, and the rewards that great team play produces at the end of the line.
Hey prof I think he can and will. I truly expect that when the above mentioned youngmen arrive at UK he will be ready. Not every recruit will be one and done. We retained 2 recruits from last year(after a unmentioned youngman gets in line). We will definetly retain at leat 2 players from this year probably more. That gives UK a base of experience that will help the new guys during the summer with expectations and how to run the system. Something last years team did not have.
I think that year 3 will be Hoods breakout year and if Miller and Liggins stay we will enough experience plus young talent to get to the final 4. But it’s jusy 1 mans opinion.
KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK. GO BLUE AND HUG YOUR KIDS.
UKFMLY, I also believe that he will get that job done too, but at present it remains an open question. I believe that he has already accomplished much in a little over 1 year on the job at UK. He has returned UK Basketball to the conversation regarding the national championship, and he has placed UK Basketball at the very top of the recruiting hill. He has used a lot of his own personal capital to restore the UK Brand, and as you say, as he builds the team roster back up over the next 2 years, we should see even better results on the court than we saw last year.
I know I often appear to be a nattering nabob of negativism with respect to Calipari and what he has NOT done. Part of that is my desire to see everyone in this program to keep their eye on the real prize, and that is championships, and part of it is that I am impressed by results, not potential. You get no argument from me about the potential success that this program may enjoy during the remainder of the Calipari era, no matter how long that may be, and I hope it is for a very long time.
What a great experience for these young men, a gold medal at such an early age. They competed against the best that each country had in their age group, this speaks highly of the talent these young men possess. I know they have great futures ahead of them.
After reading what Teague said about being tired but playing basketball is what he loves to do, it reminded me of my husband. He was a walk on under Rupp, in other words, he did play his freshman year, was just a player to get ‘beat up’ on by the scholarship players, and got kicked off after the first semester..grades, stupid idiot! He use to sit in front of the TV watching NBA games and would wonder what it must be like to get paid doing something you really liked to do. These boys are doing what they like to do, they enjoy what they are doing and they know eventually they will reap their rewards. It must be nice to enjoy what you are doing the way they are doing it! GO CATS!
Both of these young men have the TEAM spirit, in other words there is no I in team. That is what it takes to win games,medals, and titles. I’ll be happy to see them wearing Blue and White,along with any others on that team that may find their way to Kentucky.
Big Blue Nation says: CONGRATULATIONS AND WE ARE PROUD OF YOU!!!!!
Marquis better work on his free throws and field goal shooting! Not good numbers.
Michael on the other hand … Lordy.
[...] FIBA U17 World Championship, future Wildcats Marquis Teague and Michael Gilchirst talk about how winning is more important to them than stats (shocking thing to say in the news), but UK fans have to be impressed with the stats that the [...]