Former Baler basketball player competes in Montana
When Kyle Sharp stepped on to the floor at Duke’s Cameron Indoor
Stadium, he said he didn’t even need to warm-up. He was ready, as
is.
”
It was amazing,
”
said Sharp, the 6-foot-7, 220-pound forward-turned-center at the
University of Montana.
”
That intensity, I didn’t even need to warm-up. I was ready to
go.
”
As soon as I got onto the floor, I felt like I could jump over
the rim.
”
Former Baler basketball player competes in Montana
When Kyle Sharp stepped on to the floor at Duke’s Cameron Indoor Stadium, he said he didn’t even need to warm-up. He was ready, as is.
“It was amazing,” said Sharp, the 6-foot-7, 220-pound forward-turned-center at the University of Montana. “That intensity, I didn’t even need to warm-up. I was ready to go.
“As soon as I got onto the floor, I felt like I could jump over the rim.”
Playing in front of the “Cameron Crazies” – which is what Duke’s student body section is affectionately known as – can do that to a player. The intense atmosphere, despite the calendar reading Nov. 23, can make a basketball player feel like he’s playing in March.
“And that’s exactly how I felt,” said the senior Sharp, whose Grizzly basketball team earned the chance to play in the NCAAs postseason his freshman year.
“It’s that excited-nervous feeling that you have, which I get every game,” Sharp said. “But this was to the extreme.”
Sharp, who graduated from San Benito High School in 2005, played 15 minutes off the bench for the Grizz, scoring six points and pulling down three rebounds in a 78-58 loss to the Blue Devils.
Of course, it was Duke’s NCAA-best 63rd straight non-conference victory at Cameron Indoor Stadium, and although Montana held a small six- or seven point lead in the first half in what turned out to be a 20-point loss, the overall point to playing Duke wasn’t lost on Sharp.
“I definitely felt like we could compete with them on any given day,” Sharp said. “And that’s why we play these upper-echelon teams, so when we get into the regular season, we don’t feel the pressure – you’re more ready for that type of atmosphere.
“It’s not everyday we’ll play at Duke or Washington, but what we got out of it is that readiness for league.”
At the very least, playing in Duke’s famous arena, considered the loudest in NCAA basketball as well as one of the more difficult places to play, will make playing road games in the Big Sky Conference look like a piece of cake.
Although that hasn’t been the case just yet – the Grizz are 8-1 at home this season, but 1-6 on the road – Montana has only played one league game on the road, a 75-42 loss at Portland State.
“We all felt a little relaxed,” said Sharp, whose Grizzly team boasted a 3-1 record in the Big Sky at The Pinnacle’s press time. “We didn’t play very well, but I don’t think the atmosphere affected us at all.”
Having rifled off three straight, though, Montana may have found the common denominator. Sharp has started the last three games for the Grizz, with his best performance perhaps coming last Saturday in an 80-63 win against Sacramento State.
Playing at center, and in a shortened 15 minutes of playing time, Sharp scored nine points on 4 of 6 shooting.
“We have a lot of new guys, and more than anything, I’ve been trying to step up as a leader,” Sharp said. “The games we lose, we’re not losing because they’re a better team than us, but just that we’re not playing to our ability.”
The Grizz are youthful, to say the least, with seven players on the 14-man roster still in their freshman or sophomore years. Sharp, along with teammate and senior Jordan Hasquet, are actually the two most experienced players on the team.
Noticing that leadership role, Sharp is helping mentor Brian Qvale, the 6-foot-11 sophomore center who usually substitutes in for Sharp off the bench, while Sharp himself feels Montana has a legitimate chance of toppling Portland State and Weber State for Big Sky supremacy.
Sharp is also weighing his post-grad options. A business finance major, he expects to graduate later this year in the fall – he maintains a 3.36 GPA. He could very well become a financial advisor, he says, or he could very well continue playing basketball overseas.
It’s all on the table.
“It’s definitely something I’d consider,” Sharp said about playing basketball outside of the country. “It’s more about if the right offer comes along. But I would love to play overseas.”
And what about the financial advisor?
“I was looking into maybe banking,” he said. “Working with money, basically. But not my money, other people’s money.”
While his college basketball eligibility will be up after this season, Sharp will take one more semester of classes in the fall to complete his degree at Montana. At that time, Sharp will perhaps be competing against the gaping void basketball left.
At least for a semester.
“In the end,” Sharp said, “I think I’ll be kind of bored.”
