Questions with JB - TW 2/13

[MrsSmith]

Questions with Jonathan Bluitt

By MIKE BROWN World Sports Writer

2/13/2006

Team: Oral Roberts

Position: Guard

Grade: Senior

Height: 5-9

Weight: 160

You seem to have a ton of confidence. Have you always been that way? I grew up playing against (older players) and learned to compete at a young age.

Coaches and teammates say you do spot-on impressions of almost everybody on the team. When did you start to develop that talent? Whenever I see somebody do something funny, I'm going to imitate it. It's something I've been doing my whole life. I'm a good observer. When you observe people, you learn a lot about their characteristics, their tendencies and the like. Give me five or 10 minutes, and I can do almost anybody. A lot of it came from playing basketball. You don't just wake up one day with a new move. You have to see somebody else do it and then you imitate it and put your own little spin on it. Growing up watching Michael Jordan play, trying to do finger-rolls and reverse layups, or watching my father play basketball, it all carried over into making jokes, finding ways to entertain.

Are you nervous about imitating head coach Scott Sutton? I did coach Sutton one time and he laughed because he thought it was funny, but he told me not to ever do it again because he'd have me running until I dropped.

You were on pace to break Luke Spencer-Gardner's school record of 534 career assists until missing three games with injuries. You're fifth in school history with 477. Would it be disappointing not to break the record? It's not really a big deal. Don't get me wrong. It would be nice to get it. The possibility is probably still out there. But the most important thing right now is putting my teammates in position to win the Mid-Con tournament and go on to the NCAA Tournament. As long as we're doing that, I can live with it.

How has this been different from the previous two years when you led the league in assists? It's been different in a lot of ways. I was hurt for a little bit of the season and then I missed a few games. As I was starting to get back into the groove, I lost the guy (injured guard Ken Tutt) who gave me most of my assists. That's been a big adjustment for my game.