Excellent Athlete from our Community December 27, 2002 7-foot center delivers for Utes on West Coast Cameron Koford has proven that, when given a chance to play, he can be a productive performer for the University of Utah men's basketball team. That's the key - getting a chance to play - for the former Fremont High School star. Koford got 20 minutes of court time in Monday night's game against San Diego, and he responded with a season-high 12 points along with six rebounds and a blocked shot in the Utes' 64-58 road victory. Randy Hollis Utah Notes That came on the. heels of a solid performance at Pepperdine last Friday, when he scored 10 points, grabbed seven rebounds and blocked a career-best six shots in 21 minutes as Utah, despite the loss of leading scorer and rebounder Britton Johnsen with a thumb injury, rolled over the Waves 77-61. "He's bringing some energy and enthusiasm to it," hard-to-please Utah coach Rick Majerus told the Salt Lake Tribune regarding Koford's recent efforts. "He's excited to be playing basketball. He's kind of found himself, and the guys are really happy for him." "He's had two great games, and we're all happy for Cameron," teammate Nick Jacobson told the Deseret News. "We need him, and with Britton's injury it's really allowed him to shine." Of course, playing time and performance are intertwined together, somewhat like that old question about the chicken and the egg. You know, which one comes first - playing time or performance? Generally if an athlete plays well, he'll likely get more playing time. But if he plays poorly, he'll probably find himself buried on the end of the bench. For Koford, though, it hasn't always worked that way. Last January in a road game against Air Force, the 7-foot senior center from Plain City turned in his best performance since transferring to Utah from Weber State prior to the 2000-01 season. It was his first start as a member of the Utes' team, and he responded by scoring a collegiate career-high 15 points, pulling down a Utah career-best eight rebounds and blocking two shots in 32 minutes as Utah pulled out a narrow 63-57 overtime victory. Without Koford's superb performance, it's pretty safe to say the Utes would've lost to the Falcons. Two days later, however, he played just 12 minutes and had just two points and three rebounds in Utah's 81-51 road rout over New Mexico. That's the way Koford's collegiate career has gone at Utah. When he's gotten plenty of playing time, he has almost always produced: Last February he had 10 points, eight rebounds and four blocked shots in 27 minutes vs. UNLV, and scored 10 points in just 14 minutes Koford against BYU. But his opportunities to shine have been few and far between, spread out each time by three or four games when his contributions were barely noticeable in the box score. In a four-game stretch prior to the Utes' West Coast trip, he played no more than nine minutes and had totals of just seven points, nine rebounds and two blocks combined. He was scoreless in two of those games. Majerus' use of Koford has been a mystery at times, and his opinion of the former Fremont standout seems to vary almost as much as Koford's playing time does. Majerus, who is generally about as generous at handing out compliments as he might be in sharing a chocolate eclair with a stranger, sized up Koford's potential this way in Utah's media guide: "If he's willing to throw his body in there and give his body to the game, he should have a very fine senior year for us. He has touch and is a very bright player. His only limits are if he doesn't come to play with energy and enthusiasm." Apparently Koford took those two intangibles on the Utes' trip to California. Hopefully he packed 'em up in his bag and brought 'em back home with him, too. 139