Figuring Out New Role, Kamczyc Leads CSU to Victory

CLEVELAND – Tim Kamczyc wasn’t going to let Monday night’s game get away.

With UIC having cut the score to 46-36 with 7:30 to play on Monday night, Kamczyc (pronounced Kam-check) drilled a 3-pointer from the right wing to stifle a Flames rally. Two and a half minutes later, Cleveland State’s lone senior put the Vikings back up 11 with a layup.

 CSU went on to win its Horizon League home opener 60-50 over UIC, breaking a two-game losing streak to improve to 1-1 in conference play and 9-7 overall. For Kamzcyc, his 13-point second-half performance broke a three-period scoreless streak that started when the Vikings were blown out at Valparaiso last Friday night.

As it has for his team, it’s been an up-and-down season for Kamczyc. The 6-7 guard from Strongsville, Ohio, is in his fifth season with Cleveland State, where he has gone from a walk-on reserve to a 35-minutes-per-game starter. With the loss of Second-Team All-Horizon League guard Anton Grady to a knee injury, Kamczyc has even more pressure to perform.

“We need a certain amount of points [and] a certain amount of rebounds from Tim Kamzcyc in order for us to be effective,” CSU head coach Gary Waters said in a phone interview on Tuesday. “People have keyed on Tim because of the loss of Anton Grady. They would normally try to double Anton and … Anton’s ability to score out of double-teams was good, but he would also pass out of it. That would allow Tim to get a few open looks. Now, [teams] have made the decision that they are going to take Tim away, that they are going to have one person that stays just with Tim.”

In addition to facing more pressure from opposing defenses, the loss of Grady has also meant that Kamczyc was thrust fully into a leadership role, becoming the Vikings’ go-to guy.

“In the past, he could defer to other people. There’s no one to defer to anymore. Everyone else is looking up to him,” Waters said. “I don’t know that he relishes it, but I do think that he embraces it. One of the things that he did [last night] is he knew we needed a lift – it was a close game, eight or nine points – and he came through and he did what he needed to do to extend [the lead] for us.”

Kamczyc knew early on that his teammates would be looking to him for leadership – the role just became bigger once Grady was lost for the season.

“I think you have to be able to have a good balance between being a vocal leader and being able to lead with your actions,” Kamczyc said of leadership at the Horizon League’s media day. “If I’m going out there and I’m showing everybody that I want to outwork everyone as a senior, I think that’s something they can feed off of.”

This isn’t the first time Kamczyc has had to transition to a new role on the fly. He has already completed his undergraduate degree in business management and is now working on an MBA with a focus in international business. He started working on his graduate degree during the spring semester last year and now is fully immersed in the program – and a new routine.

“I think at first it’s more of an adjustment getting used to your night classes,” Kamczyc said of balancing basketball and grad school. “The thing that you have to deal with in grad school that you don’t have to in undergrad most of the time is going from practice and preparing yourself to go to class and learn new material. It’s something you’ve got to be mentally prepared for.”

That mental preparedness has no doubt made it easier for Kamczyc to start to transition into his new role on the basketball team, Waters noted.

“I think it all goes together – with graduate school, with leadership, with five years of experience, you get a calmness, a confidence,” Waters said. “I think it’s going to help him out on the basketball floor and it will make his final year of education a lot easier. And I think he can take that training into the business world.”

Kamczyc hopes to play professionally overseas once his Cleveland State career comes to an end, but he’s not getting his MBA just for show.

“I’d also like to use my master’s degree to work in international marketing and international advertising,” Kamczyc said. “When I was a little bit younger, my freshman and sophomore years of college, I just wanted to go different places and see the world, experience different cultures. I think it would be a fun and exciting experience.”

Waters said that no matter what career field Kamczyc ends up in, he has complete confidence that his forward has the tools and ability to find success.

“He’s going to have experience, he’s going to have discipline, he’s going to have all that stuff, but this year he has added another piece, a strong piece – and that’s leadership,” Waters said. “Even though he’s been somewhat of a leader in the past, now he’s got to be a full-fledged leader. There’s no backing away – and he’s really taking it on, and that’s what I’m excited about.”