Strange: Woolridge alters game for better

Renaldo Woolridge might not have been especially mature as a freshman college basketball player last winter. He would be the first to tell you that.

He was and is, however, mature enough to see the big picture.

That's why he's still at Tennessee, looking forward to his sophomore season - and beyond.

That's why he was at Bearden High School on Monday night, working up a good sweat in the Rocky Top Summer League.

Woolridge, a 6-foot-8 Californian, had an unusual rookie year for the Vols. Most times, a freshman starts out on the bench and gradually earns his way into the rotation. By late season, he's hitting on all cylinders.

Woolridge got it backwards. He started six of his first seven games, played double-digit minutes in 10 of UT's first 11 games.

Then he virtually disappeared. By mid-January he was a cameo player, usually a couple of minutes at the end of the first half.

He scored his last field goal of the season Feb. 18. He attempted only two shots in the subsequent nine games.

"It got real tough,'' he said Monday night. "But in the end, just the joy from the guys when we get wins ... or pumping everybody up in practice.

"It's a team thing. I've always been that way.''

A highly rated recruit and son of successful NBA player Orlando Woolridge, he seemed a likely candidate to grow disenchanted with languishing on the bench. A common by-product of disenchantment is transferring. Especially when you're languishing three time zones from home.

But Woolridge has a gift of perspective that's unusual for a blue-chip recruit with blue-chip lineage.

"In my high school career,'' he said, "my freshman year I didn't make the varsity team. As a sophomore I played two minutes.

"My junior year, I really started blossoming.''

He also heard what his dad was saying in his ear.

Orlando wasn't exactly a sensational freshman at Notre Dame. He scored a grand total of 98 points, not much more than Renaldo's 84 points at UT. As a senior, though, Orlando was the sixth overall pick of the NBA draft.

With all that in mind, Woolridge never seriously considered looking for greener pastures elsewhere. Instant gratification wasn't his thing.

"When I make a decision, it's well thought-out,'' he said. "I just go with my heart and my heart was here.

"I felt this was definitely a place where I could see myself in the future. I still believe the system is right for me.''

So he's set about making himself right for the system. You can see evidence in his arms and shoulders. The weight room? He gets it.

You could see evidence in his game Monday night.

The freshman Woolridge floated around the 3-point line. Of the 90 shots he attempted, 69 were treys. His game was one-dimensional and that dimension was on the soft side.

Monday night, only one of his six baskets was a three. Two were offensive rebounds, two alley-oop dunks and another a baseline fade-away.

"I just have to have more of an attacking mind-set,'' Woolridge said. "I'm coming into my own, trying to play with more physicality, trying to be more of a beast.''

Wayne Chism, his teammate at UT and in the Rocky Top League, vouches for it.

"He's changed a lot,'' Chism said. "He's growing up. He's being more physical.

"He rebounds now.''

Still, it's not a given that Woolridge breaks out as a sophomore. Everybody's back from last year. As of last week, that includes Tyler Smith, who opted to return for his senior year rather than turn pro.

Coach Bruce Pearl said one upshot of Smith's return would be delaying the maturation of Woolridge and classmate Emmanuel Negedu. I asked Woolridge if a part of him was pulling for Smith to go pro, which would free up 30 or so minutes a game.

Woolridge laughed, but said no.

"It makes me a better player,'' he said, contradicting Pearl. "He's going to push me to a level where if he wasn't here, I wouldn't be at.''

Remember, this is a guy who sees the big picture.

Mike Strange may be reached at 865-342-6276 or strangem@knoxnews.com.