January 27, 2009
Lemons does it all
Some people advise making lemonade when life gives you lemons. Well, basketball coaches Phil Handy and Dave Ancrum have gone one step better and are enjoying the sweet elixir of ample point production and more from their Robbie Lemons. The 6-foot-3 junior guard excels both on the court and in the classroom.
Lemons succeeds on the court and in the classroom
Talk about it in the Message Boards Some people advise making lemonade when life gives you lemons. Well, basketball coaches Phil Handy and Dave Ancrum have gone one step better and are enjoying the sweet elixir of ample point production and more from their Robbie Lemons.
Handy coaches Team 94 and Ancrum the Sacramento Country Day School (Sacramento Metro League) varsity squad and the latter is currently enjoying 28.2 points per game from his 6-foot-3, 180-pound junior backcourter.
But both also relish that Lemons produces as well in the classroom as he does on the court -- say a 5.0 grade point average with a course load of advanced placement classes.
Lemons has the ability to create scoring opportunities for himself or his teammates
When asked the admittedly difficult at any age question of what makes him unique, Lemons thought for awhile and understatedly offered, "I guess I give my best in everything I do."
He is equally proficient at scoring and in creating for his teammates. Those abilities plus shooting to 20 feet and solid ballhandling were what he offered as his best basketball skills. Lemons has made 146 of 249 shot attempts.this season in abetting his close to 30 points per game scoring average. Plus, he’s currently grabbing 7.8 rebounds a game, passing for 3.5 assists a contest and nabbing 4.1 steals each time on the court.
But looking at his overall game critically, "working on my defense" was Lemons’ response when queried about the areas of his skills set needing improvement.
Although he is only mid-way through his junior year, Lemons responded with "being more aggressive, providing greater leadership and learning to let the game come to me" when asked what changes he has witnessed in himself as a basketballer since his freshman season.
Ancrum effusively praises Lemons. "We would have rings if I had 12 guys like him. He’s playing with and against guys like Jason Thompson, Quincy Douby, Donte Greene and DeMarcus Nelson here during the summer. We bang him around pretty good -- he’s learned to play with the bump -- but he’s not in awe."
Continuing on, Ancrum said, "He was hurt last year but every day he would come in at 7 a.m. and do his workout -- but with his left hand. Now he’s just as good lefthanded as he is righthanded."
Lemons was selected to the Double Pump camp all-star team this past summer, thereby elevating his profile. With the college recruitment process soon to be entering the critical spring and summer evaluation stages, Lemons has received correspondence from various Ivy League schools along with Stanford. He’s looking to major in the medical field and his eventual school of choice will need to offer a rock solid combination of academics and athletics.
Let’s leave it to Handy and Ancrum to summarize their protégé.
First is Handy: "Robbie Lemons defines ‘student-athlete’ because there are not many kids like him who truly put forth the same amount of energy into both hitting the books and working on their basketball skills as he does. He comes from a great family and any Ivy league school who can get him will have a model citizen in their program, a well-rounded kid who happens to know how to play basketball."
And Ancrum finished with: "If he didn’t play basketball, you would still want to hang out with him. That’s the kind of person he is."