Brooks: 'XJ' Learning The Talk Means Nothing Minus The Walk
November 10, 2016 | Men's Basketball, B.G. Brooks
Senior wing primed for Friday night's opener vs. Sacramento State
BOULDER – Talking the talk has never been a problem for Xavier Johnson. He stays wound up, jaws possibly motoring when his feet touch the floor every morning.
What's more, 'XJ' freely admits it. Compared to his teammates in Colorado men's basketball, Johnson concedes with a laugh, "I talk the most – but then I've always talked the most."
But this might be the bigger question as the Buffaloes prepare to open their 2016-17 season on Friday (7 p.m., Coors Events Center, Pac-12 Mountain) against Sacramento State: Are his teammates listening?
"I think so," Johnson said the other morning. "They might as well. I talk so much they probably don't have a choice."
Oh, but they do. Johnson's lip service can be – and has been – tuned out. Earlier in his CU career it got old, mainly because he was sound backed by very little fury.
But as he enters his fifth year, with his comeback from a season-ending Achilles injury now a day away, Johnson's approach is different. The talk hasn't stopped but it's being backed up by performance.
And that's part of what coach Tad Boyle is expecting from Johnson and several other upperclassmen. Sometimes leadership comes naturally but more often it is developed – and that's what Boyle is dealing with now as the Buffs begin prepping for Pac-12 Conference competition and begin chasing a fifth NCAA Tournament appearance under Boyle.
Leadership on his seventh CU team is a "work in progress," he said. "We've been tested a couple of times and we've got some challenges in that area. I met with the guys (Tuesday) morning and we're working on that. I'm trying to help them with that."
Actually, the helping hand Boyle is referring to is a figurative foot in the rear. Early in the season, until experienced guys like 'XJ', Wesley Gordon, Josh Fortune or George King acquire the necessary "call-out" skills, Boyle says, "With this team I'm going to have to be the bad guy – the one calling guys out, the one kind of policing the situation, if you will. Hopefully we get to the point where they're doing amongst themselves and I don't have to do that as much."
Arriving at that point before Christmas (or sooner) would be ideal – and that's where strong input from a fifth-year senior like Johnson could be of tremendous help. Johnson believes he's "doing a good job of bringing positive reinforcement and trying to learn and get better every day."
And Boyle says among this team's potential leaders Johnson "is probably the most consistent. He's the most vocal, which we need. He's always been vocal, but the thing about 'XJ' is he hasn't always been consistent. To be a leader you have to walk the walk and you have to talk the talk.
"Sometimes they get that backwards; they think they can talk the talk and don't have to walk the walk. Well, I think 'XJ's at the point in his career where he understands that. When he doesn't do what he's supposed to do he probably needs to keep his mouth closed. But when he is doing what he's supposed to do he needs to step up and demand that same thing from his teammates. Be consistent about it.
"But I would say that Xavier has done a very good job to this point of trying to do the right things. And I also think he's realizing it's not easy because he's friends with a lot of these guys and doesn't always want to be the bad guy. But everybody needs to do it."
The 6-7, 225-pound Johnson likely will be in a starting lineup on Friday night against a Sacramento State team that routed Pacific Union 84-53 last week in an exhibition game. The Hornets finished 14-17 last season (6-12 Big Sky), but they opened with a 66-63 win at Arizona State – a score that Boyle says should command his players' attention.
"They've got a lot of kids who want to prove they can take on a top program," Boyle said.
After defeating the Pac-12 Sun Devils, the Hornets won their next three and six of their first nine games before being decimated by injuries. Over the next dozen games, a starter was missing in 11 of those contests. Once healthy, Sac State won three of its final four games, including a Big Sky Tournament quarterfinal win against Montana State.
Returning four starters (nine players overall and a redshirt) with four of last season's top five scorers, the Hornets were predicted to finish eighth in the Big Sky preseason media poll and ninth in the coaches' poll.
The Buffs – pegged to finish fifth in the Pac-12 preseason media poll behind Oregon, Arizona, UCLA and Cal – are focused as much on handling themselves efficiently in the opener as whatever the Hornets present.
"We've still got some things to do," Boyle said. "I just don't know if we can hang our hat on any one thing yet. So we have to try and make strides in every area."
Johnson, who needs 10 point to become the 33rd player in CU history reach the 1,000-point career mark, calls this Buffs team's camaraderie "wonderful . . . we all love each other. We're all fifth-year veterans and juniors. We've been together for a while so that's going to pay dividends."
This is also among Boyle's deepest teams, which offers him options if any player isn't meeting nightly on-court expectations. That fact isn't lost on Johnson, whose three-year average is 10.4 points and 5.5 rebounds.
"We'll definitely play hard because if we don't we'll get subbed out. We're deep this year," he said.
The Buffs finished 22-12 last season, their fifth 20-plus win effort under Boyle, and advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the fourth time in Boyle's tenure. The bar, said Johnson, has been raised:
"We're expected to do well now, to win more games than in the past. I mean, coach wants the best for us and the best for him is never good enough. We can always do better so that's what we have to do."
REDSHIRT UPDATE: Boyle said freshmen Dallas Walton (7-0, Arvada West) and Alex Strating (6-7, American School of The Hague, Netherlands) will not play Friday and are scheduled to redshirt. Boyle spoke with both players on Tuesday about that plan, which he said could change early in the season if needed but not later. With Walton and Strating schedule to sit out, CU's available freshmen include Deleon Brown (6-4, Christian/Brewster Academy, N.H.), Bryce Peters (6-4, Damien High School, LaPuente, Calif.), and Lucas Siewert (6-10, Cathedral High School, Los Angeles).
2017 PARADISE JAM: While the 2016-17 season is just underway, a piece to the 2017-18 season is already in place. Colorado will be one of eight teams participating in the Paradise Jam, Nov. 17-20, 2017, in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands. The Buffaloes will play three games in four days against a field that includes Drake, Drexel, Houston, Liberty, Mercer, Quinnipiac, and Wake Forest.
Contact: BG.Brooks@Colorado.EDU
What's more, 'XJ' freely admits it. Compared to his teammates in Colorado men's basketball, Johnson concedes with a laugh, "I talk the most – but then I've always talked the most."
But this might be the bigger question as the Buffaloes prepare to open their 2016-17 season on Friday (7 p.m., Coors Events Center, Pac-12 Mountain) against Sacramento State: Are his teammates listening?
"I think so," Johnson said the other morning. "They might as well. I talk so much they probably don't have a choice."
Oh, but they do. Johnson's lip service can be – and has been – tuned out. Earlier in his CU career it got old, mainly because he was sound backed by very little fury.
But as he enters his fifth year, with his comeback from a season-ending Achilles injury now a day away, Johnson's approach is different. The talk hasn't stopped but it's being backed up by performance.
And that's part of what coach Tad Boyle is expecting from Johnson and several other upperclassmen. Sometimes leadership comes naturally but more often it is developed – and that's what Boyle is dealing with now as the Buffs begin prepping for Pac-12 Conference competition and begin chasing a fifth NCAA Tournament appearance under Boyle.
Leadership on his seventh CU team is a "work in progress," he said. "We've been tested a couple of times and we've got some challenges in that area. I met with the guys (Tuesday) morning and we're working on that. I'm trying to help them with that."
Actually, the helping hand Boyle is referring to is a figurative foot in the rear. Early in the season, until experienced guys like 'XJ', Wesley Gordon, Josh Fortune or George King acquire the necessary "call-out" skills, Boyle says, "With this team I'm going to have to be the bad guy – the one calling guys out, the one kind of policing the situation, if you will. Hopefully we get to the point where they're doing amongst themselves and I don't have to do that as much."
Arriving at that point before Christmas (or sooner) would be ideal – and that's where strong input from a fifth-year senior like Johnson could be of tremendous help. Johnson believes he's "doing a good job of bringing positive reinforcement and trying to learn and get better every day."
And Boyle says among this team's potential leaders Johnson "is probably the most consistent. He's the most vocal, which we need. He's always been vocal, but the thing about 'XJ' is he hasn't always been consistent. To be a leader you have to walk the walk and you have to talk the talk.
"Sometimes they get that backwards; they think they can talk the talk and don't have to walk the walk. Well, I think 'XJ's at the point in his career where he understands that. When he doesn't do what he's supposed to do he probably needs to keep his mouth closed. But when he is doing what he's supposed to do he needs to step up and demand that same thing from his teammates. Be consistent about it.
"But I would say that Xavier has done a very good job to this point of trying to do the right things. And I also think he's realizing it's not easy because he's friends with a lot of these guys and doesn't always want to be the bad guy. But everybody needs to do it."
The 6-7, 225-pound Johnson likely will be in a starting lineup on Friday night against a Sacramento State team that routed Pacific Union 84-53 last week in an exhibition game. The Hornets finished 14-17 last season (6-12 Big Sky), but they opened with a 66-63 win at Arizona State – a score that Boyle says should command his players' attention.
"They've got a lot of kids who want to prove they can take on a top program," Boyle said.
After defeating the Pac-12 Sun Devils, the Hornets won their next three and six of their first nine games before being decimated by injuries. Over the next dozen games, a starter was missing in 11 of those contests. Once healthy, Sac State won three of its final four games, including a Big Sky Tournament quarterfinal win against Montana State.
Returning four starters (nine players overall and a redshirt) with four of last season's top five scorers, the Hornets were predicted to finish eighth in the Big Sky preseason media poll and ninth in the coaches' poll.
The Buffs – pegged to finish fifth in the Pac-12 preseason media poll behind Oregon, Arizona, UCLA and Cal – are focused as much on handling themselves efficiently in the opener as whatever the Hornets present.
"We've still got some things to do," Boyle said. "I just don't know if we can hang our hat on any one thing yet. So we have to try and make strides in every area."
Johnson, who needs 10 point to become the 33rd player in CU history reach the 1,000-point career mark, calls this Buffs team's camaraderie "wonderful . . . we all love each other. We're all fifth-year veterans and juniors. We've been together for a while so that's going to pay dividends."
This is also among Boyle's deepest teams, which offers him options if any player isn't meeting nightly on-court expectations. That fact isn't lost on Johnson, whose three-year average is 10.4 points and 5.5 rebounds.
"We'll definitely play hard because if we don't we'll get subbed out. We're deep this year," he said.
The Buffs finished 22-12 last season, their fifth 20-plus win effort under Boyle, and advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the fourth time in Boyle's tenure. The bar, said Johnson, has been raised:
"We're expected to do well now, to win more games than in the past. I mean, coach wants the best for us and the best for him is never good enough. We can always do better so that's what we have to do."
REDSHIRT UPDATE: Boyle said freshmen Dallas Walton (7-0, Arvada West) and Alex Strating (6-7, American School of The Hague, Netherlands) will not play Friday and are scheduled to redshirt. Boyle spoke with both players on Tuesday about that plan, which he said could change early in the season if needed but not later. With Walton and Strating schedule to sit out, CU's available freshmen include Deleon Brown (6-4, Christian/Brewster Academy, N.H.), Bryce Peters (6-4, Damien High School, LaPuente, Calif.), and Lucas Siewert (6-10, Cathedral High School, Los Angeles).
2017 PARADISE JAM: While the 2016-17 season is just underway, a piece to the 2017-18 season is already in place. Colorado will be one of eight teams participating in the Paradise Jam, Nov. 17-20, 2017, in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands. The Buffaloes will play three games in four days against a field that includes Drake, Drexel, Houston, Liberty, Mercer, Quinnipiac, and Wake Forest.
Contact: BG.Brooks@Colorado.EDU
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