University of Tennessee Athletics
Watson Leading By Example on the Hardwood
January 21, 2004 | Men's Basketball
Jan. 21, 2004
Cathy Watson tried to tell Tennessee coach Buzz Peterson he would have no luck with her son, C.J.
"You're not going to change my boy," she told Peterson more than a year ago when her son came from Las Vegas to Knoxville to become a Volunteer. "I've had him for 17 years, and he's not changed."
"Boy, she's right," Peterson said.
If you want to know anything about C.J. Watson, you've got to ask somebody else.
The "Quiet Storm" tattoo on his right arm tells you he's not one to talk trash. Or talk, period. He's not you're average point guard in today's pump-up-the-crowd, shiver-your-shoulders, I'm-better-than-you basketball world. But he's not afraid of running the show, either.
"He doesn't get very flustered out there," Kentucky coach Tubby Smith said last year. Watson had 15 points versus the Wildcats at Thompson-Boling Arena as a freshman.
At the conclusion of his rookie year, Watson was two dishes shy of leading the conference in assists and did lead the league in minutes played at 35.8. When the season was over, he tried out and made the USA Junior World Championship Team that took gold at the Global Games in Dallas and finished fifth at the FIBA World Junior Championships in Thessaloniki, Greece.
Now he's a sophomore.
"Now I know how to play and what to do," Watson said. "I know how to play other teams. I know the little things that help get me through games."
Heading into the Vols' game with Louisville, Watson was one of three UT players to start every game. He ranked third in scoring with 11.4 average. His assist-to-turnover ratio was nearly 3-to-1. Percentage-wise, he's Tennessee's best 3-point shooter among the consistent gunslingers. He's been the complete package all season.
"We had problems guarding C.J. Watson," said Wofford coach Mike Young after Tennessee beat his Terriers 81-70 in this year's season opener. "We won't see anybody in our league (Southern Conference) with his size and strength this year."
He's got the finesse and flashy style of NBA players, just not the mouth.
Like against UNC-Asheville, when Tennessee players lined up in the wrong positions on in-bounds plays. "I just wish he would have jerked them by the shirt collar and put them in the right spot," Peterson said. "But that's not C.J. He's probably just going to stand there and quietly tell them to move somewhere else."
Or like against an out-manned Citadel squad, when Watson drove the lane, looked and moved right, but dished left with one flick of his wrist for an assist and easy jam in the lane. It forced onlookers to gasp as if Magic himself had dished to Kareem for an elevating dunk. (There's a reason Watson wears No. 32, you know.) Still, no emotion.
"I thought I could change him, but he's just a quiet person," Peterson said.
It's not that he's quiet. He just speaks better with a basketball in hand.
Josh Pate
