A day after the Academy Awards and actors “thanking all the little
people,” it was learned Michael Washington should thank all the beaten people.
The beaten people, Arkansas coach John Pelphrey explained during Monday’s SEC
teleconference, account in Washington taking more charges than any Razorback.
The senior forward from McGhee has taken 29 charges, and the rest of his Arkansas
teammates a combined 31 going into Arkansas’ SEC Tournament game against Georgia
Thursday night in Nashville, Tenn.
Of course Pelphrey’s first response to the question of Washington taking charges
was his senior’s courage in sacrificing his body and Washington’s knack for
anticipating a drive and planting ahead of it. Then the coach cited the unintended
help of the beaten people.
“Unfortunately,” Pelphrey said, “or fortunately for him, he’s playing with a few
guys who get beat on the perimeter. You can’t take charges unless there is some
guard getting beat. So he owes a lot to his teammates for getting blown by on the
dribble.”
Beaten players often find their opponents beating an obstructed path to the basket.
Unless he’s in foul trouble, Washington finds a way to get in their way. He drew
four Ole Miss charging fouls in last Saturday’s regular-season finale Arkansas lost,
68-66 at Walton Arena.
“Mike is the best I’ve ever been around,” Pelphrey said, “as a player and coach in
terms of taking charges. He understands the ability to make the middle of your
defense strong. He sacrifices his body. It doesn’t hurt him. He has a good
basketball IQ for figuring those things out.”
Washington has struggled through back and ankle problems this season but the
ailments don’t seem to stem from taking charges.
Foul problems have, though. Early in the year with the then disciplinary-suspension
depleted Hogs so dependent on Washington’s presence, Pelphrey was asked if he would
rather Washington risk taking less charges to stay out of foul trouble.
The answer was “no” then and it’s “no” now.
“I love seeing him take charges,” Pelphrey said Monday. “We have never once said,
‘Mike, you have gotten a few bad calls so maybe stop doing that.”
The integrity of a defense, Pelphrey said, back in November, is compromised if you
don’t have a Washington taking charge by taking a charge.
“It’s an essential to the defense,” Pelphrey reiterated Monday. “It’s the greatest
play in basketball that you can make by taking the ball away from the offense and
giving it to your team. Like I have said before, I have never been around anybody
who does it better than Mike Washington. I am very, very proud of him.”
NO MO’ MO
