Contributions from CSU's Creason and Air Force's Frye not measured in stats

Randy Holtz, Rocky Mountain News

Published March 5, 2007 at midnight

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They are warriors, the both of them, steaming and sweating and banging and bodying, debunking the antiquated notion that basketball is a noncontact sport.

Colorado State's Stuart Creason and Air Force's John Frye aren't the best players on their teams, not the most gifted or most heralded or most crucial. But they're the biggest. And they have enormous hearts to match.

The pair of relentless, hard-working big men will be among the role players trying to help their teams advance Thursday at the Mountain West Conference tournament in Las Vegas.

Creason's Rams face San Diego State in the tournament quarterfinals at the Thomas & Mack Center on Thursday night (9:30 MST, the mtn.).

Frye's Falcons, nationally ranked but recently struggling, hope to get their NCAA Tournament-bound season back on course that afternoon with a quarterfinal game against Wyoming (3:30 MST, the mtn.).

Creason is a 7-foot junior majoring in business. Frye is a 6-10 senior about to become an officer in the U.S. Air Force. Both are smart, classy, admirable.

They won't be the stars in their games Thursday in Vegas. But role players, guys like Creason and Frye, make college basketball sing like Sinatra this time of year.

They have the ultimate respect of their teammates, of their coaches, of their teams' fans. Their work doesn't appear on ESPN's Plays of the Day. But they impose their will. They carry lunch pails, and they carry them proudly.

Stuart Creason: The kid who wouldn't go home

It was a night Creason and CSU assistant coach Bill Peterson never will forget.

CSU was getting ready to play at the University of Denver three years ago, during Creason's redshirt season. Weary of all the work he was doing without the tangible result of playing in games, the overweight, out-of-shape freshman was going through the motions during early warm-ups.

Peterson, a noted big-man guru who helped NBA stars Dirk Nowitzki and Karl Malone hone their games, saw Creason lollygagging and threw him off the court.

"I was firing balls at him in the post and he just wasn't working hard," Peterson remembered. "I said, 'That's it! I ain't working with you anymore! Get out of here! Go home! I'll buy you the plane ticket!'

"So he went to the locker room and I just blitzed him. I called him a quitter, called him a jerk and a baby. I just kept hollering, and it was in front of the whole team. I'd just had it. I figured he was either going to have to quit or change. He decided to change, and he's been the perfect student ever since."

It was a watershed moment for coach and player. Three days later, after letting the situation simmer down, Creason walked into Peterson's office and told him he was willing to do whatever it took to improve his skills. Peterson wondered if he really meant it. Creason convinced him by spending that spring doing 300 push-ups and 300 sit-ups a day in Peterson's office as the coach worked at his desk.

"I made him do some pretty tough things," Peterson said. "I'd make him hold a medicine ball straight out in each hand for a minute, then work our way up in time. If he was going to become a better player, his body needed a lot of work. But Stu never complained once."

Creason, who refers to that span with Peterson as "The Torture Chamber," has improved in incremental steps each season since that redshirt year. While his contributions continue to be dwarfed by those of Jason Smith, CSU's far-more-heralded 7-foot junior, Creason has put together a nice junior season.

At a solid 240 pounds, he's far better than the player who arrived on campus a doughy 275-pound 18-year- old in summer 2003.

In his first year as a full-time starter, he's averaging 9.8 points and 5.4 rebounds and has blocked 62 shots. He isn't the most graceful of post men, but he has a commanding grasp of what he can and can't do and rarely takes a bad shot. He leads the Mountain West in field-goal shooting, at 66.7 percent.

"I started eating better, worked harder on my game, lost some weight and began to understand the kind of potential I had," Creason said. "For about a month there, coach Peterson was trying to get me to quit. It was tough, but it was the best thing for me. I'll always be grateful to 'Coach P' for that."

Creason never will have the athletic skills of Smith, his smooth-as-silk teammate who likely is headed for the NBA. But there's something to be said for a guy wringing every drop possible from his skills.

"People look at Stu and stereotype him as a big 7- foot lug, as an oaf," Peterson said. "But he's beyond that now, and I think he'll continue to get better because of his work ethic."

It's unlikely Creason has the skills to play in the NBA, but such annual improvement could land him in pro ball in Europe.

"I think that would be a cool thing to do," he said. "See the world, make a decent living. And then after a few years of that, I can get my MBA."

None of this would have been possible without Peterson. Or the impressive resolve of a scorned 18-year- old.

John Frye: The kid who took it in stride

Like Creason, Frye arrived in college as a basketball project. He was 6-10, but he was skinny, tentative. Frye scored a grand total of one point in his first two seasons at Air Force.

But when frontcourt star Nick Welch suffered a foot injury before the 2005-2006 season, Frye, ready or not, would have to become a regular contributor. The Virginia native did, starting every game last season and helping the Falcons to a 24-win season and the NCAA Tournament.

Then Welch, the MWC co-player of the year as a junior the previous season, came back for this season. And Frye grabbed a chair on the bench, becoming an important but downgraded reserve.

Such a comedown would have chafed at the psyche of many 20-year-olds. Not Frye.

"John and I are really close friends, and I don't know if I've ever seen a guy improve as much as a basketball player as he has," Welch said. "When he came here, he was kind of frail and soft. He got pushed around a lot in practice.

"But he was relentless every day, always trying to improve. And he's developed an inside presence we really needed. I'll tell you this: As good a basketball player as John has become, he's a 10-times-better person."

Frye comes off the bench now, but that's OK. This is a guy who has marched for his breakfast for four years now, a guy who has excelled athletically, academically and militarily. He believes he can handle most any situation.

"It really was a pretty smooth transition for me, because everybody knew Nick would be back," Frye said. "To me, the only difference was, I wouldn't be going up for the opening tip. I still knew I'd be in there."

Frye has been in there all but two games. And while no one will confuse him with Tim Duncan or Kevin Garnett, he gives the Falcons a tough inside presence.

"He's really improved his ability to defend, his ability to shoot the ball, his ability to do things around the basket," Air Force coach Jeff Bzdelik said. "I mean, this is a guy who didn't score a basket his first two years here. To have that kind of perseverance and positive attitude, it's just been amazing.

"Every player on this team respects John Frye. He's like a lot of our guys: He has a total understanding of what it takes to be successful in life. It's been a joy to coach John Frye."

The Air Force experience has been a joy for Frye, too. Later this month, he probably will play in his second straight NCAA Tournament, something he never thought would happen when he came to the academy's struggling basketball program four years ago.

"It's just been an incredible experience," he said. "The things we've accomplished as a program, the friends I've made here. I have friends on this team I'll have for the rest of my life."

He paused, smiled.

"I can't believe it's almost over. I'll miss this place."

Frye won't be forgotten at Air Force. Creason has one more college season.

They aren't superstars. But try to find college basketball players as accomplished, in their own way, as John Frye and Stuart Creason.

The big fellas: a closer look • Leading up to the Mountain West Conference tournament this week in Las Vegas, Colorado State junior Stuart Creason and Air Force senior John Frye have been solid contributors for their teams despite not being big scorers. Here's a closer look at the role-player centers:

	Stuart Creason	John Frye
Height, weight	7-foot, 240 pounds	6-foot-10, 215 pounds
Hometown	Coppell, Texas	Fredericksburg, Va.
2006-07 statistics	9.8 points, 5.4 rebounds, 62 blocks in 28 games (25 starts)	1.9 points, 1.9 rebounds, 14 blocks in 28 games (0 starts)
Career statistics	7.3 points, 4.2 rebounds, 120 blocks in 81 games (40 starts)	3.3 points, 2.1 rebounds, 46 blocks in 72 games (31 starts)
Single-game highs Points:	22 vs. Alabama State (1 2/06), North Dakota State (1 2/06) Rebounds: 11 vs. Arkansas Tech (1 2/05) Blocks: 7 vs. Wyoming (1/07)	Points: 26 vs. Navy (1 1/05) Rebounds: 13 vs. Lamar (1 1/05) Blocks: 4 vs. Wyoming (2/06)
Favorite movie	The Shawshank Redemption	Wedding Crashers
Favorite food	Pizza	"Anything I can put on my George Foreman grill."
Coach's quote	CSU assistant coach Bill Peterson: CSU assistan tcoach Bill Peterson: "Young big men take time to develop, and a lot o f people aren't patient enough for that learning curve. Stu really struggled when he first came here, and a lot of people would have given up, but Stu hung in there and made him self a player."	AFA coach Jeff Bzdelik: "As a coach, I totally admire and respect John's willingness to put the team first. It's pretty amazing what he's done these last two years when you considered he didn't score a basket his first two years here. John's always ready to work hard and do his job."
Mutual respect	Frye on Creason: "He's a big body, and the CSU big guys always have great fundamentals. Stu has good footwork and a nice touch around the basket. When you play against him, all you can do is try to keep the ball out of his hands."	Creason. on Frye: "He's a different feature for Air Force, because their centers are usually 6-7 or 6-8 guys. He brings a different element with his size and he makes shooting on the inside tougher for everybody."
The future	Will receive his bachelor's degree in business, with an emphasis on computer information systems, next school year. Plans to attend graduate school to earn an MBA. Not considered an NBA prospect but would like to play professional basketball in Europe.	Will be commissioned as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force. upon graduation in May. Will serve an operational tour in space and missiles at Vandenberg Air Force Base near Santa Barbara, Calif., then become an Air Force acquisitions specialist.