February 23, 2007

Sticking to his role
KU's Chalmers doesn't have to be "the man." He'd rather pick his spots and see where he can be most useful.

By J. BRADY McCOLLOUGH
The Kansas City Star

LAWRENCE | Mario Chalmers' mother wishes he would come home more often and, if nothing else, at least let her do his laundry.

But Mario won't budge.

"I don't want to overstay my welcome," Chalmers says, as if Mom would actually prefer he stay on campus.

Mario Chalmers' father couldn't care less who does his son's laundry. He does, however, wish that Mario, a Kansas sophomore guard, would be more assertive on the court. Both parents' wishes point to the same quality in their son: Mario's passivity. It's a surprising quality, given Chalmers' status as a McDonald's All-American and the No. 1 point guard in the country coming out of high school.

"One thing about Mario, he sort of lets the game come to him," says Ronnie Chalmers, Mario's father and the KU director of basketball operations. "Sometimes, that sort of disturbs me."

But maybe the Jayhawks, loaded with potential scorers, are a better team with Chalmers playing the waiting game. Mario says he lets each game play out and then decides where he can be most useful. In doing so, Chalmers has become the glue that keeps KU together. He can play a different role for the Jayhawks every game.

"I've been doing that since I was in high school," Chalmers says. "I just try to pick and choose my spots where I can best help the team. I don't try to force anything. I think I do a pretty good job of that."

Most of the time, KU hasn't needed him to take the lead in scoring. But when Brandon Rush missed four open threes starting the game against K-State on Monday, Chalmers decided it was his time. Chalmers delivered with 12 points and kept KU close at halftime.

The Mario Chalmers of today isn't much different from his high school days in Anchorage, Alaska, when Ronnie Chalmers would constantly bark at his son, "Why didn't you shoot that?"

"He'd say, 'Well, I wanted so-and-so to score some points,' " Ronnie says.

As this year has gone on, Chalmers has been more content to let everyone else play the role of "so-and-so." In nonconference play, he scored in double digits in 10 of 15 games and averaged 18.8 points per game in the four games leading up to league play. His performance prompted KU coach Bill Self to say that, if he had to choose one player to shoot the big shot down the stretch, it would be Chalmers.

But in Big 12 play, Chalmers is averaging only 9.8 points per game.

As Self said, it's not as if Chalmers is playing poorly. He's shot 43 percent from the field in conference play and leads the league in steals.

"Last year, he was our leading scorer the last 10 games, and this year, he's taken a backseat for a little bit," Rush said. "He's being passive, trying to look for other people who have the hot hand at the time."

Chalmers finished with 17 points in KU's victory on Monday, his highest output since scoring 21 against Colorado on Jan. 27.

"I don't know why he doesn't do it every game," Rush said.

A theory circulated during Chalmers' drought that his confidence was down. He certainly didn't give much credence to that idea against K-State. Chalmers attacked the lane harder than in previous games and attempted nine threes.

"I still have that confidence," Chalmers says.

It seems the book on Chalmers may have been wrong from the beginning. He was deemed a can't-miss scoring point guard, and now he's playing at the shooting guard and scoring only when he has to. Instead, Chalmers focuses on his defense. He's going for back-to-back Big 12 steals titles, which means a lot to him.

"I would think that if there is one crutch of his game right now," Ronnie Chalmers says, "it would be the steals."

Ronnie remembers when he and Mario went to the Final Four in 2004. Ronnie caught Mario looking down at the court, almost in a daze. Ronnie asked him what he was thinking about.

"One day," Mario said, "I'm going to be down there playing."

Making that dream come true, more than anything else, is what Chalmers cares about today.

"He's beginning to realize how much Kansas basketball really means to the city of Lawrence," Ronnie says. "If he could make the last steal in the game for Kansas to win the national championship, I think he would be satisfied."

J. Brady McCollough - jbrady@coveringsports.com (email) - 816-868-2621 (cell)