|
Nixon Completes Round Trip
by Tim May, Columbus Dispatch
March 15, 2007
Aaron Nixon's long trip from college basketball obscurity had one more
connection to make at a Chicago airport yesterday. But by
midafternoon, the playmaking guard for Long Beach State had come full
circle.
The last time he was on a court in Columbus was the winter of 2003-04
when he played in front of hundreds at Columbus State Community
College. On Friday afternoon, in front of thousands in Nationwide
Arena, he will lead the 49ers, seeded 12th in the South regional,
against fifth-seeded Tennessee in the first round of the NCAA
Tournament.
"But I'm trying to keep it cool," Nixon said yesterday. "I
don't want
to be thinking I've got to do something extra just because I'm back in
Ohio where it all started. I just want us to play our game."
Long Beach State's game is, in large measure, Nixon's game. He was the
Big West's player of the year, averaging 18.6 points, and league
tournament MVP after leading the 49ers to the title.
That's no surprise to Anthony Gholson.
"What I always tell everybody is Aaron is an NBA-caliber basketball
player," Gholson said.
It was under Gholson, then the coach at Columbus State, where Nixon
started to emerge.
Out of Cleveland Heights High School, Nixon, 6 feet 2, went part-time
to Columbus State his first year to improve his academics. The next
year he hit the hoops, averaging 23.3 points in a 29-2 season that
included the Ohio Community College Athletic Conference title and
ended with a loss in a regional final. He was the league player of the
year and newcomer of the year.
"He was by far the most aggressive, driven, wanting-to-win kid that
we
had," Gholson said.
If anything, he said, Nixon was too intense, a trait that was mellowed
in part by Gholson making Nixon and other players interact with kids
at a local elementary school.
"His game hasn't changed much at all; he was always very good,"
said
Gholson, who still talks to Nixon almost daily by phone. "The
difference is he changed emotionally and socially. When things don't
always go his way now, he's a lot better about it."
Gholson is at Ohio Northern as a basketball assistant and golf coach.
Despite that fabulous season at Columbus State, his contract was not
renewed.
Upset with Columbus State's action, Nixon moved, too. He went to San
Bernardino Valley College in California for a year, where he was a
junior-college All-American. Attracted west by learning that former
Columbus State assistant Anthony Stewart had landed an assistant's job
at Long Beach State, Nixon transferred to the 49ers the following
year. He stayed even though Stewart's contract was not renewed this
season.
It's been quite a journey, Nixon said, but the payoff was worth it.
"If I had gone to, let's say, Duke right out of high school, I would
have been known as a success just because I went to Duke," he said.
"Taking the juco route was tough, but I really feel like I have earned
what I've gotten, and that makes you feel good."
|
