Checking The Resume: Aged Josh Scott, Neat

Growing up, we’re all raised on certain platitudes, like beauty being in the optical orifice of a subjective observer, whiskey being at its best when served neat, or that this game has always been, and will always be, about buckets.

There’s a certain truth to all of them, but also enough room for exceptions that we happen upon throughout our lives. Sometimes, defense wins championships, not buckets. Sometimes, a glass of Scotch needs an ice cube or two. Sometimes, beauty is objective.

That kind of beauty is a perfectly hedged screen on the perimeter, an offensive rebound kept above a big man’s head, or the satin touch of a left hook over a defender’s outstretched arm. It is, essentially, the floor game of Colorado senior Josh Scott.

Over the course of the past three and a half seasons, Scott has given a voice to those searching for a reason to find basketball beautiful again, for those who missed the days when players could actually score in the half-court and big men could do more than run, dunk, and pick up idiotic fouls 49 feet from the rim.

His introduction to Buffaloes fans and the Pac-12 was not unlike one’s introduction to bourbon, his 10.2 points and 5.7 rebounds per game as a freshman showing promise, but the finish–after February 10, he failed to score in double digits for the remainder of the season–left those both inside and outside of the program wondering what else could be accomplished. Essentially, he was Buffalo Trace.

A year later, Scott matured into the Michter’s of college basketball, scoring 15 or more points in 17 of the Buffs’ contests and bumping his season averages to 14.1 points and 8.4 rebounds a game en route to an All Pac-12 nod. He had officially taken the next step in his development, adding in a honied midrange jumper, barrel strength defense, and a 91.4-proof weight lifting regimen to the arsenal.

The relationship between time, maturity, and quality does not always come without the occasional disappointment. Scott’s junior season was that bump in the road, injury after injury, setback after setback. It was a year where he missed eight conference games, then struggled to find his groove for six more. High expectations derailed, much like Stranahan’s Diamond Peak Colorado Whiskey.

But where there is darkness, a bleak outlook for Colorado’s homegrown savior of old-man-game, there must eventually be light–like the 19.9 points per game he averaged over the team’s final seven competitions. Thus was born the Hero of Hook Shots, the Revival of Retroactive Rebounding Margin. Scott was released back into the wild as a senior, pillaging the likes of Lee County, Alabama and Fort Collins, Colorado before calmly, collectively, and roguishly asking if they wanted more. They, as a matter of fact, did not.

Fans of his and of the team in which he proudly bears the burden of nativity, both domestically and internationally (Jelly), have clamored his recent stretch of dominance the way that I hailed A.D. Laws Four Grain Bourbon upon my first taste. Two Colorado icons together in one column, you knew it was coming.

Unlike master distiller Jake Norris’ Denver-based whiskey operation, the chances to enjoy Scott’s mastery is coming to an end, at least in its current form. Tad Boyle’s most highly regarded signee has just 18 regular season games left as an amateur.

It’s hard for me to believe that the Corner Creek-thin high school senior from Lewis-Palmer, who wore tape over his earrings on the court, is now beginning his final conference stretch as an All Pac-12 performer. From laggy internet feeds of his summer performances on CU’s European tour, to concussion-gate against Arizona State, to fans wondering why he doesn’t dunk it more and him not giving a single damn… it’s about that time to start wondering exactly where the son of Alton and Theresa Scott falls in the hierarchy of Colorado basketball lore.

If there is a single New Year’s resolution that deserves to be held onto — let’s be honest, gym memberships are more about being able to post your workout on Facebook anyway — it is to appreciate what we all have a chance to watch.

In an age where every high school big man compares his game to Kevin Durant, Scott has been, unapologetically, himself through his entire career in Boulder. He has matured, sure, but the foundation built by long hours in high school gymnasiums and, ultimately, the still fresh hardwood of Colorado’s practice facility, remained.

While he doesn’t have the NBA stock or All-American honors like the Buffaloes’ other noteworthy in-state star, Chauncey Billups, it could be argued that his accomplishments under the Flatirons deserve as much, or more, praise as Billups from the fanbase.

Wherever you feel he fits, wherever you were when he put Isaiah Austin through the spin-cycle in Charleston, chances are that Josh Scott has renewed some sense of love that you have for the game of basketball.

I know he did for me. Cheers, Jelly.