October 2, 2000

Charlottesville, Virginia -- Cabin Creek, West Virginia is an unassuming mining town surrounded by gray, towering mountains, in rural Appalachia.  Like many such towns along Interstate 77, it is a composite cluster of churches, trailer parks, schools, and factories.  Yet unlike these other towns, Cabin Creek holds a place of special significance for Basketball players and fans everywhere.  It is the birthplace of Los Angeles Lakers legend Jerry West.

West’s story is one blue-collar Americans everywhere love to hear retold.  It is the tale of a small town boy who, after hours practicing his jump shot on a gravel court behind the barn, makes it big in glitzy Hollywood.  His seems to be the antithesis of the kind of basketball story we here so often.  Of the boy from urban Chicago, New York, Oakland or Columbus, who honed his skills on the playground, transferring his undisciplined, yet athletically astonishing, one-on-one moves to the hardwood floors.  Dominating the game above the rim, rather than from the court, this newer tale is one of the modern showmen, not the once revered, somewhat outdated, basketball craftsman. 

West’s legacy as a craftsman lives on despite the trend toward one-on-one play in professional and collegiate ball.  Notwithstanding the phrase, Magic Johnson’s “Showtime” had as much to do with his highly developed sense of team play as it did individual heroics.  Larry Bird, who never put up the eye-popping statistics Michael Jordan did, was great because he grasped the flow of the game like Mozart did an opera.  With all of its interweaving characters, each night Bird stepped on the court he seemed to be scripting his own Don Giovanni from inside the walls of the famed Boston Garden.  Both Johnson and Bird were reared on a healthy diet of Jerry West, and much of their understanding of the game reflects the way West played it. 

Now the torch must be passed to a new generation.

In the intervening years, basketball purists have had to subsist on John Stockton’s pick-‘n-rolls, Tim Duncan’s classic post-move highlights, and Reggie Miller’s streaky jump shooting.  Michael Jordan’s above the rim magnificence all but wiped out the old, blue collar, skill driven playmaking that made Jerry West and Larry Bird great.  

Reprieve may come from a very unlikely source.  At the University of Virginia, a small town star may be on the rise.  Keith Friel, a Senior transfer from the University of Notre Dame, where he led the Irish in three-point field goal percentage, and holds the record for most three-point field goals in a game (8 in a dominant performance against no less than Syracuse), has developed himself into a Jeff Hornacek-like shooter over the past four years.

Friel, who hails from Durham, New Hampshire, is the son of Gerry Friel, 20 years the Head Men’s Basketball Coach for the University of New Hampshire.  He is a classic shooter, with a graceful release, and ice-cold nerves -- and he understands the game the way an MIT Honors math student understands multi-variable calculus.

In one game last year, Friel scored 11 pts in less than four minutes (which begs the question, why is he only playing four minutes?), and immediately became the crowd favorite in Charlottesville.  

This summer, Friel has been lighting it up abroad.  Closing out a tour of Europe in Paris, France, Friel hit six three-pointers and went on to score 23 points in a 116-72 triumph over Sceaux.  Undoubtedly, the Cavaliers top-30 preseason ranking is in part due to his shooting heroics.

So, as long as Pete Gillen continues to give this New Hampshire anomaly substantive playing time, the possibility exists that Jerry West’s legacy will remain alive.  Please Pete, don't be blinded by the dunks.  You already play too many slash ‘n dashers.  Give the ball to the pale looking guy hanging around the arc.  West’s spirit is alive within him and he won't let you down.

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