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Men’s Basketball: A Long wayTim Buckley, The Advertiser, January 16, 2012 Shawn Long was asked the other night if he’d rather shoot a 3-pointer or dunk on someone’s face.
Easy call. "Dunk on his face," Long said. Yet with roots as a shooting guard who didn’t move inside until a growth spurt late in his short career at Morgan City High, it’s easy to understand why Long — UL’s starting center, and the Sun Belt Conference’s Player of the Week after scoring a combined 31 points and pulling down 30 points in two games last week — likes to pop away for separation and even jack one or two or three up from behind the long-distance line when he can. Long — who transferred from Mississippi State in time for the start of the January 2012 semester at UL — said he didn’t even play basketball as a freshman in high school, opting instead for pickup play. Back then, the now young father didn’t ponder much beyond who’s got next. "I never even thought I could play in college," Long said. His first season at Morgan City High, as a sophomore, was limited by injuries to two games. And he played mostly on the perimeter as a 6-foot-7 junior, which is where that penchant for outside shooting — from fadeaways in the paint to an average of 3.4 trey tries per game — stems. "I never really played much with my back to the basket," he said. Such was the case even after a growth spurt — he jumped two inches, to 6-9 — that pushed him inside for AAU ball in the summer after his junior season. It was the same during a senior season in which the now 243-pounder averaged 21.4 points, 15.2 rebounds and 9.1 blocks per game while earning district MVP honors for a 26-5 Morgan City team coached Jeremy Whittington. "I’ve mostly always been face-up," said Long, who is coming off a 17-point, 16-rebound double-double in UL’s win last Saturday over Arkansas State. But now he’s working on developing a legit post-up game, so that he can take his game — of which he has plenty already for a redshirt freshman — to the next level. Not only within the Sun Belt Conference, that is, but also perhaps the real ‘next level.’ With improved play down low, Ragin’ Cajuns coach Bob Marlin said, Long "certainly can score more points and get to the free-throw line more." "That’s why I want him to offensive-rebound more, because if he does that he can have a chance to lead the country in rebounding," Marlin said. "But he certainly can score more if he offensive rebounds and posts up." Long already averages a team-high 15.7 points per game, which heading into this week’s games — 7-12 UL plays Thursday night at Western Kentucky and Saturday night at Middle Tennessee — ranks third in the Sun Belt behind only the 22.4 of Florida Atlantic guard Greg Gantt and the 19.3 of South Alabama power forward Augustine Rubit. He already has 10 double-doubles, which after last week was tied for fourth-most in the nation, one behind the three tri-leaders. He already is the nation’s top rebounding freshman, and the Sun Belt’s No. 2 overall rebounder behind Rubit’s 10.9, with an average of 9.8 boards per game. And he already is the Sun Belt’s top defensive rebounder, with an average of 7.1 per game. Which is why Marlin really wants to see Long crash the offensive boards more and more. "He’s learning," the Cajun coach said. "He’s not a back-to-the-basket player, and never has been. Just because he’s the biggest guy on the court, it doesn’t mean that he’s a low-post guy by nature. "In high school he played like he plays for us. But I don’t want to hold him, or limit him, to playing in a box. I want him to expand his game," Marlin added. "We talked about it (Monday). We’re gonna work with him the summer and in the spring, and get him better on the perimeter as well as in the post." Long, more of a power forward who is playing center only because ex-Cajun Kadeem Coleby transferred to Wichita State last offseason, came out firing 3-pointers in UL’s lone exhibition game of the season. But his post game really has improved rapidly in barely more than two months. So has his rebounding and defense, evidenced in part by how he helped deny leader Sun Belt Player of the Year cotender Rubit the rebounds needed for a double-double even in a double-overtime loss to South Alabama last Thursday. "When that clicks and he can really be a force inside, and step out," Marlin said, "then he’s just gonna be that much better of a player." By all accounts, Long — who largely credits Cajuns assistant coach Kevin Johnson for his quick Sun Belt success — is a willing worker who’ll be quite open to the offseason tutoring. "His confidence is probably the most important thing," said teammate Kasey Shepherd, a freshman teammate. "He goes into games knowing that he’s best player on the court, no matter who we play — whether it’s SUNO or Lamar or a Michigan State (which barely beat UL earlier this season). "He goes in the game with a chip on his shoulder, and it allows him to make big plays and to play to the level that he knows he can. "Honestly," Shepherd added, "if Shawn keeps working as hard as he works now, then he’s gonna be a great player." Marlin seemingly concurs. "The main thing that’s helped him is he’s worked," he said. "He’s in the best shape of his life, and he’s accepted coaching and learned some things that have helped him. And his teammates have helped him." Yet after transferring from Mississippi State, where he never did play a game, Long — whose fit body appears more big and brutish than agile and athletic — didn’t exactly have high expectations for his first season at UL. "I didn’t play in a year," he said, "so I didn’t know what I was gonna be able to do." Marlin, however, had a hunch as to what he could. Much of it was based on what he saw in practice in the second half of last season, when according to the Cajun coach Long almost always out-rebounded shot-block specialist Coleby. Part of it, too, was based on his gym-rat nature. "He’s in the gym anytime there’s a pickup game," Marlin said. "He loves to play. "Sitting out a year, he was ready to get back into action. And we’re fortunate we got him back early." Long received a hardship transfer waiver from the NCAA that allowed him to play at the start of this season, rather than sit a full year — which would have meant missing games in the first semester of 2012-13.
He based the hardship appeal in part on the fact he has a son in Morgan City. The young boy just recently turned one year old, and Long remembers talking to Marlin about coming to UL while being in the hospital for the birth. Long also recalls saying shortly after he first arrived in Lafayette that he left Starkville because it was "too country." And while he said he still can’t get over how many cows he saw in his old college town, the truth is that being in Mississippi meant being much too far from family. "I just wanted to be closer to home," Long said. Now that he is, the question is how long he’ll remain. If his game keeps blossoming as rapidly as it has to date, some wonder if he’ll last all four years at UL — or if there’s a chance the lure of that next level will tug. Long suggests that’s not even a possibility for now, and seems to know he must add plenty to his game before that’s a bona fide consideration. "I want to stay as long as I can," he said. "I want to get my degree." Yet Marlin, who feels Long has "a bright future," haltingly acknowledges the reality. "You know, we just take it year by year. I hope that he’s gonna have a chance one day to move on, at some level," the Cajun coach said. "And that’s on him right now. But he can be a very good college player if he’ll get more consistent in his game."
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