When boiled down to its essence, the decision-making process of the player with the ball can be summed up in the question, "Do I give our team the best chance of getting something out of this possession where I am now?" The answer to this question dictates whether the player shoots, works himself into better position, or gives the ball up entirely. As the player implements his initial answer to that question, the situation around him continually changes. The player who can come up with - and act on - an answer to that question as quickly as the changing situation demands is going to give his team effective possessions on a regular basis; a player who can't is going to spend a lot of time on the bench.
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| Cheek has loads of swagger. |
Nowhere is this more evident than the guard position. Guards handle the ball more than any other player, and one who consistently makes bone-headed decisions is going to give his team a lot of wasted possessions. While classmate Tu Holloway was learning on the fly as a freshman, Musketeers guard Mark Lyons was sitting out his first season on the Xavier campus. When he finally got onto the floor the next year, "Cheekz" distinguished himself as a player with incredible athleticism and an unflinching estimation of his own abilities. He also frustrated the Xavier faithful with forced shot attempts, questionable decisions, and a general inability or unwillingness to recognize the difference between a game when he's on and one when he isn't. If players learn through mistakes, the lessons were coming in bunches early.
