Tourney proving small guards have big game

OhiopointguardD.J.CooperhelpedmakehisteamthefirstNo.13seedtoreachtheSweet16since2006,butthe5-foot-11junior'semergenceonthenationalsceneactuallyhasaccomplishedmuchmorethanthat.

Cooperalsoisprovidinghopeforalltheundersizedpoint-guardrecruitswhosomedayhopetoperformonasimilarstage.

"It'ssortofaninspiration,"saidCharlesTucker,a5-11juniorthree-starprospectfromLansing(Mich.)Eastern.

ThreeteamsadvancedtotheregionalsemifinalsoftheNCAAtournamentwithstartingguardswhoareunder6feet:Cooper,Baylor'sPierreJackson(5-10)andFlorida'sErvingWalker(5-8).Noneofthethreeweretop-100prospects,thoughWalkerwasranked102ndinhisclass.

Xavier'sTuHolloway,Indiana'sJordanHulls,Louisville'sPeytonSivaandCincinnati'sCashmereWrightare6feeteven.Louisville'sRussSmithisa6-footerwhogenerallycomesoffthebench,butheheadedintotheregionalsemifinalsastheCardinals'second-leadingscorer.

ThepresenceofsomanyrelativelysmallguardsinthesecondweekofthetournamentlendscredencetothenotionthatheightisanoverratedattributeforaDivisionIpointguard.

"Ireallydon'tthinkheighthasanythingtodowithit,"saidJackson,whowillfaceoffwithHollowayinaSouthRegionalsemifinalFridayattheGeorgiaDome."Ithinkifyouknowhowtoplaybasketballandaregoodatit,itshouldn'tmatter.Youcan'tmeasureheart,andIthinkwe'veallgotthat.We'reprovingittoeverybodynow."

Andplentyofundersizedrecruitsaretakingnotice.

"NoweverythingishappeningwellforthelittleguardbecauseofguyslikeD.J.CooperandTuHolloway,"saidJ.J.Frazier,a5-10juniorguardatLudowici(Ga.)FaithBaptistChristianAcademy."Thoseguysarehelping.''

Frazier,athree-starprospect,endedhisrecruitmentlastmonthbycommittingtoGeorgia.Butthereareplentyofotherjuniorsalsounder6feetwhoarestilltryingtoraisetheirstockandcatchtheattentionofamid-majororhigh-majorprogram.

Tucker'sonthatlist.

HewatchedOhio'sNCAAtournamentupsetofMichiganlastweekwithkeeninterest.TuckerplaysonthesameAll-OhioRedAAUorganizationthatproducedMichiganguardTreyBurke.HealsohasoffersfromthreeofOhio'sMid-AmericanConferencerivals:KentState,ToledoandWesternMichigan.

Hecouldn'thelpbutgetcaughtupinCooper'sperformance.Nowhe'shopingCooper'sstarmakingperformancecanhelpshowcollegerecruitersthatyoudon'thavetobeatleast6feettalltosucceedatthehighestlevel.

"Withhimplayingwellinthetournament,Ithinkthathelpsusalot,"saidTucker,whoalsohasanofferfromJacksonville.

Alookattheclassof2012Rivals150showstherealreadyisplentyofroomforshorterguards.

Kevin"Yogi"Ferrell,a5-11guardfromIndianapolis(Ind.)ParkTudorwhohassignedwithIndiana,isthenation'sNo.17overallrecruitandoneoffiveseniorsunder6feetinthe2012Rivals150.Baltimore(Md.)Patterson'sAquilleCarr,a5-9juniorwhohascommittedtoSetonHall,headlinesalistoffourguysshorterthan6feetinthe2013Rivals150.

Ofcourse,asrankedprospects,mostoftheseguysalreadyhavecaughttheattentionofcollegeprogramsacrossthecountry.ButthebigtournamentperformancesbyCooper,HollowayandCo.couldprovidehopetosomeoftheshorterguardswhoareoutsidetheRivals150.

"Ialwayswanttobelikearolemodelorbeaninspirationtoahighschoolguy,"saidHolloway,whoindicateshebenefitsfroma6-foot-6wingspan."IftheycanseeusdoingitinahighlevelintheNCAA,Iknowtheyfeelliketheycanmakeithappen."

TuckerisoneofthosesmallerjuniorguardsrankedoutsidetheRivals150.ThemostnotableexamplemightbeStevieClark,a5-10guardfromOklahomaCity(Okla.)Douglasswhoalreadyhasearnedsomehigh-majoroffersandhasboostedhisstocktremendouslyonthestrengthofaspectacularjuniorseason.Thistournamentalsocouldbenefitamoreunder-the-radarprospectsuchasRichmond(Calif.)Salesian'sMarioDunn,a5-10juniorwhoseonlycurrentofferisfromUCIrvine.

"Eventhoughhe'sunder6feet,heplaysbiggerthan6feet,"SalesiancoachBillMellissaid."Hecandefinitelyplayabovetheriminadditiontoattackingthebasketoutofouroffense."

Ofcourse,thesetypesofguardscanonlysucceediftheyhaveenoughotherstrengthstocompensatefortheirlackofheight.Quicknessobviouslyisamust.Soareacoupleofothertraits,accordingtoRivals.comnationalrecruitinganalystJerryMeyer.

"Thekeyforasmallerpointguardishereallyneedstobeabletoscoretheball,"Meyersaid."Ithinkthat'swhatwe'reseeingwiththeseguys.Ifyoucanputuppointsandalsoknowhowtodirectateamandhavegreatleadershipabilities,itdoesn'tmatterifyou'rethreeinchesshorter."

Indeed,Cooper,JacksonandHollowayallleadtheirteamsinscoring,whileWalkeristheSEC'ssecond-leadingactivescorer.It'salsoworthnotingthatallfouractiveDivisionIplayerswithatleast1,700careerpointsand500assistsare6feetorshorter:Holloway,Walker,5-11ReggieHamiltonofOaklandand5-10CasperWareofLongBeachState.

ClickHeretoviewthisLink.Andwhat'stheotheressentialqualityforanyundersizedguard?

"Certainplayerscanmakeclutchshots,evenunderpressure,"Meyersaid."That'sprobablytheNo.1determiningfactor.Heightgetsthrownoutwhenyoudeterminethat....Really,whatitcomesdowntois,howclutchareyou?Canyouperformunderpressure?Ifyoucan,youcanovercomedeficiencieslikethemeasurables."

That'sonetraittheshorterguardsinthistournamenthaveinabundance.

CooperproveditSundaywhenhemadeanoff-balancejumperastheshotclockwasexpiringtogivehisteamaseven-pointleadoverUSFwith1:34remainingintheBobcats'62-56victory.HollowaydeliveredoneofthebestclutchshotsofthistournamentFridaywhenhebankedinago-aheadshotover6-9forwardJackCooleywith21.3secondsleftinXavier's67-63triumphoverNotreDame.

"Whenyou'resmaller,Ijustfeellikeyouhavetohavethebiggestheart,"Hollowaysaid.

Holloway'sbigplayfurthersthenotionthataDivisionIpointguarddoesn'tnecessarilyneedgreatheighttohelphisteamreachgreatheights.

"Allotherthingsbeingequal,thetaller,bigger,strongerandfasterplayer'sthebetterplayer,"Meyersaid."Butveryrarelyisitallequal.Sometimesinscoutingandrecruiting,wemakethemistakeinthinkingthatit'sallequal,sowegowiththeguywhohasallthemeasurables.

"Alotoftimeswhenyouscoutandrecruit,it'stoughtomeasurehowclutchaplayeris.That'swhytherewillalwaysbeplayerswhoslipthroughthecracks."

Ifoneoftheseundersizedguardscanleadhisteamtoanationaltitle,perhapsnotsomanyoftheseshorterguardswillslipthroughthecracksinthefuture.

SteveMegargeeisthenationalcollegecolumnistforRivals.com.Hecanbereachedatsmegargee@rivals.com,andyoucanclickheretofollowhimonTwitter.

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