Playing in the spotlight
With NCAA title, Bailey faces high expectations from media,
himself
By
Melissa Anderson
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
As many celebrities will attest, living in the spotlight has its
downside. Lack of privacy, a constant barrage of fans asking for
autographs and photos become a part of everyday life when you are
in the public eye. After all, that’s what stardom is all about.
But Toby Bailey is not a star, at least not by popular
definition. He doesn’t act in movies or record platinum albums.
He’s not a multi-millionaire – in fact, he doesn’t earn a penny for
what he does. Yet the sophomore guard for the UCLA men’s basketball
team knows all too well the pressures of success.
Bailey earned national recognition at the end of his freshman
season when he scored 26 points in the championship game against
Arkansas, and helped the Bruins to their first NCAA title in 20
years. As a result, he was named to the Wooden Award and Naismith
top 25 lists while gracing the cover of nearly every collegiate
basketball publication in the country.
Such widespread media coverage led many to label Bailey as
selfish and self-centered, too caught up in his publicity to play
strong basketball. But if anything, the limelight caused him to
work even harder.
"I don’t know if everybody knows Toby Bailey," UCLA head coach
Jim Harrick said. "He’s a very serious guy. He brings his game
everyday. He practices hard, plays hard, he’s a guy that I’ve never
had to say a word to academically. He takes care of his books, his
parking, his classes, everything.
"When I don’t have to get involved in everything that you do, I
call you a man."
Harrick may consider him a man, but in reality the 20-year-old
out of Loyola High School is still a kid who is trying to develop
his game so that one day he can be competitive at the NBA level.
And that has meant trying to live up the the expectations set not
only by the media, but also by himself.
"Ever since I was little, I’ve always been my worst critic,"
Bailey said. "I’d come off the court always disappointed in the way
I played. People would be saying ‘You played so great today’ and
I’d be mad that I threw the ball away once or twice.
"When I got so many accolades, and I was put in the spotlight
like that, it just made it harder on myself because I would just
get extra down on myself if I played a bad game, like I had let
people down. I love the fans and all the support, but I have
learned that I always have to play for me. The spotlight, being a
celebrity, it can come and go so fast that you can’t get caught up
in it."
So this year, Bailey has focused on catching up to those
expectations in order to fend off any critics and please the many
fans who line up for autographs after every practice.
However, after moving from the off-guard spot to the point guard
position in place of an injured Cameron Dollar last December,
Bailey was faced with a new challenge. Unaccustomed to running the
point, he seemed to lose some of his confidence in the middle of
the conference season, and his shooting percentage, which fell
below 40 percent, showed it.
"I kind of tried to change my game in the middle of the season,"
Bailey said. "I felt like in the beginning I was real successful
playing the two spot and then in the middle of the season I had to
change and go to the point guard spot and it changed my game. I
became a little more tentative, less aggressive."
With Dollar’s recent return to the starting lineup, Bailey has
been able to move back to the spot where he is most comfortable and
is starting to get his game back up to the aggressive level he is
capable of playing at.
"I think that seven, eight years down the road, Toby Bailey
could be a point guard," Harrick said. "The more he is involved in
the game, the better player he is. When he’s in the flow and has
his hands on the ball, he’s a much better player, and that’s why I
chose him to run the point. I thought he did an outstanding
job."
Whether Bailey agrees or not, his ability to run the point
should increase his stock when it comes time to enter the NBA,
where the more versatility a player has, the better his chances are
to excel.
"If he’s fortunate enough to go into the NBA, or I should say
when he does, it’s going to be a better asset that he can handle
the ball real well, as well as shoot and play the two guard,"
teammate Charles O’Bannon said.
Due in large part to his ability to handle pressure in big
games, Harrick left Bailey on the floor when he was struggling in
several close contests because of his tendency to hit a big shot
down the stretch. He did it in overtime against Washington State
earlier this year and again last weekend at Oregon following an
abysmal outing against Oregon State.
With March Madness and the NCAA tournament quickly approaching,
both Bailey and his teammates – not to mention the ever-present
media – are waiting for him to step up and respond to the pressure
the way he has in so many big games over the past two seasons. And
it is one role Bailey doesn’t mind starring in.
"I’ve always stepped up in the big games and done some positive
things, even when I was younger," Bailey said. "I’m always willing
to shoot that last-second shot that nobody else wants to take
because it’s too much pressure. My instincts take over and I always
seem to be there.
"I like big crowds and a lot of pressure when the game is real
intense. In March, it’s always like that. Every game is do or die.
If you lose, you go home, so I think I’m a better player in
March."
Should Bailey begin to perform consistently the way he has under
pressure, many have speculated that he will leave UCLA before
finishing his four years of eligibility in order to enter the NBA
draft. Though Bailey contends that he has every intention of
hanging around Westwood for four years, he has already begun to
prepare himself for an early departure.
"I would love to stay all four years, but mentally I am trying
to get prepared to leave after my junior year," he said. "I’m not
saying that I’m leaving, but if I set my goals on leaving after my
junior year, that’ll just make me work extra hard and make me that
much of a better player."
His coach is a little more optimistic about the sophomore’s
future in the program.
"I think Toby will be around for four years, I really do,"
Harrick said. "Because guys play two or three games in the
limelight like he did last year, people say ‘Oh my lads, he’s a
pro.’ But God gave him a lot of terrific talent. That was God’s
gift to Toby, but Toby’s gift to God is what he turns that into and
what type of player he becomes.
"Why would you want to subject yourself to all of the things
that could go wrong (by leaving school early), where on the other
hand you could be a first-team All-American, maybe a Wooden Award
winner? I think Toby has the potential to do all that, but I think
to do it he has to stay four years. There’s nothing wrong with
that."
FRED HE/Daily Bruin
Toby Bailey feels ready to lead the Bruins into the upcoming
NCAA tournament.
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