Perhaps by now, Mike Krzyzewski hates Frank Mason. During Frank's frosh season, in early Nov (raw Frank), he took it to Duke in MSG. Now, he does it again in MSG to Duke as a senior. Maybe Frank has hated Duke all along?
Frank shows up to play every game. Some say Frank "isnt the most gifted", but I dont know what else I'd have to see out of him to call him gifted. He is gifted with athleticism (can get elbow above rim). He is gifted with a tough/attacking mindset, you know...the kind we wished Ellis or even EJ had...And he is truly gifted as a rebounder--uncannily so.
Frank has the full repertoire of shots. Drives, mid-range, runners, long balls, dunks, FTs.
Frank's gifts to the KU team are his solid, unwavering personality, both on- and off-court. He works hard in the practice gym. He brings that same steady demeanor to each and every game. Isnt that the best example we could possibly hope for? Frank is a great, great role model of how to excel in Self's system--> one has to bring it every game, and one simply must be competent in many things on both ends of the court.
We've talked about TRob's or Jamari's "motor". How about Frank's motor?
Various Self teams have created lively discussions about who exactly there is that can be given the ball in crunch time, to just "go get a bucket" as Self says. A nice historical benchmark would be to say: who is this year's 'Keith Langford' or 'Sherron Collins'. The 08 Champs had Chalmers, Sherron, and Mr. Rush. In following years, it was almost always Sherron. In 2011-12, it was Tyshawn. It infamously was not EJ the following year. Nor Naadir. (Think consistency. Undeniability. Uncontainability). We could knock Tyshawn's consistency (of FG% or 3%), but he brought it every game, even on a knee that needed surgery. These last 3 years it has been Frank Mason. He's gotten better. When it wasnt Perry or Wayne last year, or Devonte (who also deserves his own headline blog/gushfest)...there was always Frank.
Each team has its "alphas". Frank is one of ours. Devonte could be one. Josh Jackson, by putting up some proof of concept stats, could very well be one as well after another 10 games to judge.
So. Track your "alphas". As the main man goes, so goes the team. Langford didnt have the best game against Syracuse. We lost. Sherron had a poor (injured) outing vs UNI, we lost. Tyshawn's 3ball departed him in March/April--we lost KY. Frank (&Wayne) had poor 3pt outing vs Villanova, in the same game...we narrowly lost. Frank and Wayne found other ways to score. But from a pure statistical standpoint, we were abysmal from 3%, and Perry allowed himself to be driven into his old shell in that one game last year.
Maybe the lesson from last year's run is simply that Frank Needs Help. How about 4 or 5 guys that show up every single game. Toughness, rebounding. The moral of this story is that Frank cannot do it alone. If he got hurt, where would we be? Without our leading scorer? Without our leading personality. I hope enough of Frank's attributes have rubbed off on the other key alphas on the team to allow them to help Frank, as well as carry his torch, if needed.
Love Frank's 100% "on" all-the-time gameface. I hope Malik Newman is taking notes from his redshirt seat...we know Vick has been. As has Devonte. And we know also that Josh Jackson is a very bright mind who notices everything...I'm pretty sure he has taken note of Frank's work ethic and competetive fire. Josh arrives with all these things as well (clearly has "it"), but Frank's is a great example of how to polish and weaponize all those attributes.
