Vega comes of age
Memorial sharpshooter emerges as team leader
A year ago, the stage was set for the most talented all-around Memorial basketball player in ages, namely David Vega, to step forward and accept the accolades that were so expected and richly deserved. After all, it’s not everyday that a 6-foot-6 multi-talented performer strolls through the halls of Memorial, which has had its fair share of undersized players since the days of the peach basket.
Everyone just naturally expected Vega to emerge as a prime-time performer. It never really materialized.
"David wasn’t a leader," Memorial head coach Wilson Rodriguez said. "He was a little bit immature and wasn’t ready. He was definitely our best athlete, but he took a step back instead of taking a step forward."
"I don’t know what happened," Vega said. "Everyone expected me to step up and score more, but I didn’t do it. It was like a wasted year for me. I really think confidence had a lot to do with it. Something was holding me back, but I really didn’t know what it was."
Vega didn’t exactly have a horrendous season. He averaged close to 15 points per game for a team that finished with a 22-7 record. But when you’re expected to be a superstar, you’re supposed to play like a superstar, not an average run-of-the-mill player.
But Vega knew that he wasn’t about to have a repeat performance in 2000-2001.
"I’m a senior now and I knew it was do or die for me," Vega said. "I couldn’t say that I could step it up next year, because there was no next year. I had to produce this year. I had no other choice."
To prepare for the season, Vega played as much as basketball as possible. He went to several summer camps and played AAU summer ball with the St. Michael’s AAU team that won the state championship and played in the national championships in Florida.
"During the summer, while playing AAU, the coaches made me feel comfortable and they kept giving me the ball," Vega said. "We had some very talented players on our team [like Mawel Soler of North Bergen and John Blackgrove of Pascack Valley], but I averaged like 25 points a game down there. Right there, I knew I could play, if I did that against the best players in the country."
The summer experience gave Vega the boost of confidence that he seemed to desperately.
"I talked to him and told him what he needed to improve on," Rodriguez said. "And he made the conscious effort to play as much as possible. After the summer, he came back to us and realized that this was his team. He came back and took the bull by the horns. He became the leader we knew he could be."
Since the 2000-2001 season began, Vega has been a constant force for the Tigers, who own a 10-5 record thus far. Vega is averaging 22 points per game, along with eight rebounds and seven assists.
And Vega is so versatile that Rodriguez does not hesitate to use him as a point guard in some instances, then move him down to bang bodies down in the low post as the center.
"He really can play all five positions on the floor," said Rodriguez, who planned to use the lanky Vega at point guard in the Tigers’ matchup against state-ranked power St. Anthony. "His ball handling skills have really improved and he’s been great for us all season."
Vega had not been better than a three-game stretch he enjoyed last week. He scored 27 points in a victory over High Tech, had a triple-double (20 points, 11 rebounds and 10 steals) in a win over St. Mary’s of Jersey City and had 17 points in the Tigers’ big win over North Bergen.
In the game against St. Mary’s, Vega just missed the unthinkable quadruple double, collecting only eight assists.
"I thought I had it," Vega said.
For his efforts, Vega has been selected as The Hudson Reporter Athlete of the Week for the past week.
Before the season, Vega received some solid advice as well from close friend Jonathan Robinson, last year’s Hudson Reporter Athlete of the Year, who is currently playing football at the University of Pennsylvania.
"Jonathan is a good friend and I always listen to him," Vega said. "He told me that this would happen, that I would do things that I should normally be doing. He told me that I should concentrate on being myself. He really helped me."
Whatever it was, Rodriguez is grateful that Vega has finally found his place with the Tigers.
"I guess he’s just a late bloomer," Rodriguez said. "We all knew he had the talent and the ability. He just needed a bit more maturity. His skills have really blossomed, once he realized he had to become more aggressive on the court. He was just a little too laid back. Now, he’s taken charge and stepped it up, the way we all thought he would."
Vega has become so much of an all-around force that Division I colleges have come calling. Fordham, Fairleigh Dickinson, Stony Brook and Providence have all expressed interest in securing Vega’s talents for their program.
"It feels good to know that other people think that I can play," Vega said. "Everything is starting to fall into place for me. Everything I wanted to happen is happening. I knew that I needed to be more consistent and that’s what I’ve concentrated on. I feel 10 times better than I did last year."
Rodriguez believes his player has finally arrived.
"I think he’s better than anyone else in the league," Rodriguez said. "His dribbling ability and ability to get his shot off is amazing. He can beat people off the dribble and he’s 6-6. He’s finally doing everything I expected him to do."
And that’s a relief.