By Stephen Smoot
“It’s the little details that are vital. Little things make big things happen.”
John Wooden, perhaps the greatest coach in the history of college basketball, once made this point that the “little things” are not quite so little at all.
Additionally, ancient Greek philosophers mused over the intellectual question of the sorites paradox, debating whether when individual grains are added together, if they are able to form a “heap.”
When Chase Owens, junior guard for the Pendleton County Wildcats, takes the floor, like all of his teammates, he makes those “little things” happen. Those might include diving on the floor after a loose ball, driving into the basket to draw a hard foul, battling that extra bit for a key rebound, or finding a way to get rebounds, points, and defensive stops in key situations.
All of those add up to a heap of wins for the team, a heap of points for Owens, and a heaping mountain of a growing reputation for toughness, discipline, and leadership in basketball, baseball, and football in Pendleton County and throughout the region.
In a recent victory on the road at Notre Dame, that heap of points moved over the 1,000 mark.
Owens credits his success to “a lot of hard work, putting in many hours of practice” and “having a good relationship with my team, playing as a family.”
The theme of family runs deep with Owens, as he over and over compares teammates to family. Of course, this year, his brother, Travis, also became his teammate. Just as Chase did in his ninth-grade year, Travis Owens contributed right away in both football and basketball to those team’s success.
Pendleton County head basketball coach, Jeremy Bodkin, said that one could not drive through the Brandywine area without seeing the brothers shooting hoops, passing a football, or playing some kind of sport together.
Bodkin said of Owens that it might sound funny, but part of reaching the 1,000 point plateau “is being unselfish.” He went on to explain that “you can be selfish and it’s not going to come to you.”
He also expressed pride in Owens for being his first 1,000 point player and repeatedly praised his work ethic.
Owens’ words reflect an understanding that time as a high school varsity athlete is fleeting, saying his advice to younger players is “cherish it. It goes by fast.”
Cherishing the time spent with teammates involves giving it one’s all. Owens shared that players should “make sure you give it your all every single game. Don’t let up.”
Bobby Knight once shared an observation that “mental toughness is to physical toughness as four is to one.” Physical toughness can get a player through demanding situations, but it takes mental toughness to win. Owens, along with his teammates, has shown that much of this season as they took on a schedule with almost every team capable of giving the Wildcats a challenge.
That requires two kinds of toughness, the first to do one’s best in each game and the second being maintaining that high level of play for the entire season.
Owens leads the team with an average of 20.3 points per game. Although he serves as a major threat to hit the three-point shot, hitting 35 percent of the time, many of his points come close to the basket off of physically aggressive dribble drives or offensive rebounds. This has given him an incredible 51 percent shooting percentage.
Battling on the boards has put him second on the team in rebounds per game with 4.7. Interestingly, one of the few stats in which he is not one of the team leaders is in blocks per game. His brother owns the distinction of leading in that category.
Owens never mentioned statistics or personal accomplishments, but kept coming back to the same point, that success as an individual player comes from hard work and also “playing as a team, as a family.”
(PHOTO TO COME)
