Day 75 (3/17): My favorite player

My brother can attest to this as I was talking up this guy last year when he was a redshirt freshman: Jamar Samuels is the best KSU player ever.  We usually don't make it to the games early enough to see them warming up so I was extremely excited when we actually made it early enough and we could see them dunk the ball!

He is so focused during the game.  He works hard and is always passionate about plays.  He is aggressive on the court and is always fighting to make the plays.  I have a friend that calls him a dirty player but I'm of the opinion that if you're a player on the inside you have to get a little dirty.  You have to fight to get the rebounds and baskets and if that means a little elbowing then so be it.

From what I see at the games, he is not only a great player but he's a great team mate as well.  He's always the first person over to help someone up off the ground.  He's got your back if a fight breaks out.  I think it was Dominique who got in a bit of a problem with another team pushing and shoving and Jamar went over to back him up but also pull him away.  He's the one greeting the players with a high 5 as they come out of warming up. 

And not only does he help his teammates, but he helps the refs.  He's pulled down nets that are stuck.  He even got a broom and got a ball that was stuck above the backboard in one game.  He also tries to get the fans to rally when he's on the bench and he sees the team needs the encouragement.  He'll stand up and goad the crowd to stand up also and cheer. 

As much as I gush about what a great player he is; he is human and not perfect after all.  There are things that he can improve upon and I think that what makes him such a threat to the future competition that KSU will see.  The one thing that I hope he works on for next year is consistency. Some games he is on FIRE and others he seems to foul out quickly. His free throw percentage has improved these last couple of games I'm sure from the beginning of the season and hopefully he will still continue to work on that.

I have about 500 more pictures of Jamar I could post and I could talk about him for a while longer but I would like to keep people still reading. He's an incredible player and I know he will just continue to get even better.  I'm so glad he is a Wildcat and can't wait to see him at every game.  Go Cats!