July 2, 2009

To some UTEP fans, Christian Polk was the mystery man on the bench during the 2008-09 season. To the more hardcore followers, he was the transfer from Arizona State who will have two years of eligibility with the Miners beginning this winter.

Others have characterized Polk as being Stefon Jackson's replacement.

"I've heard that a couple of times now," Polk said. "I don't take it as any pressure or any burden because Stefon is Stefon and Christian is Christian. We both can score, but we score in different kinds of ways. I'm more of a point guard/shooting guard. He's more of a slasher, a straight wing player.

"Filling Stefon's shoes isn't my motivation. My motivation is to help the team."

Nobody expects Polk to average 24 points per game this winter. He won't need to. The Miners should have plenty of scoring options.

But whether he's contributing eight points or 12 points or 20 points, Polk should be a significant addition for the 2009-10 Miners.

He averaged 12 points as a freshman at ASU, going up against some of the top players in the country in the Pac-10 Conference. He made 64 three-pointers and shot 79 percent from the line his rookie year. Polk scored in double figures 21 times that season and hit his share of big shots. His three-pointer lifted the Sun Devils to a 67-64 win over Iowa, and another trifecta sent the California game into overtime.

While Polk flourished his freshman campaign, he was playing for a coach (Herb Sendek) who didn't recruit him. So when Sendek brought in his own group of players the following year, Polk got caught up in a numbers game.

His minutes per game dropped from 29.4 to 12.5, and his scoring average dipped to 3.5 ppg. After starting 26 of 30 games as a freshman, Polk came off the bench for 22 contests in 2007-08.

"I wasn't playing as much as I wanted to, and I didn't think it was a good situation for me, so I decided to get my release," Polk said. "The coaches and I left on good terms, and I still work out [at Arizona State] when I go home. So there were no hard feelings."

"Having a good relationship with the coaches is important to me, and I really liked coach [Tony] Barbee and what he had to say," Polk said. "When I came to El Paso on my visit, everyone was cool and I got the feeling that there was good team chemistry here. I thought UTEP gave me the best chance to win because this was going to be a good team with or without me."

Polk's Miner career got off to a little bit of a rocky start when he injured his knee in a pick-up game about a month prior to the start of practice.

"I went up for a layup and landed on it wrong," he said. "I tried to take a couple of days off and played on it, but it was still giving me problems. Everyone thought it was a meniscus tear, but it turned out to be a microfracture."

Polk had surgery in November and is getting his game back.

"That was the first time I've been injured in my career," he said. "It was definitely the toughest thing I've had to deal with as far as sports are concerned. The coaches were really positive, and my teammates helped me through it. My real concern was being able to come back at full strength, and everything feels really good right now.

"I haven't played in any pick-up games yet, but I feel like I'm 100 percent in the workouts I've been doing. I haven't had any problems running or jumping or anything like that."

He took advantage of his year away from basketball.

"I watched a lot of college and pro games," he said. "That's one thing my dad told me, to sit back and watch as much as I could and learn from the great guards."

Polk believes that UTEP is getting an all-around player who will do whatever it takes to win.

"My role at Arizona State was scoring, and I got labeled as one-dimensional, but that's not my game," he said. "I feel I've matured a lot as a player from my two years at Arizona State and sitting out at UTEP. I think I'm a smart player who can help the team offensively or defensively."

Polk comes from a basketball family. His father, Willie, was drafted by the Detroit Pistons before playing overseas. His brother, Will, played at Grand Canyon University in Phoenix.

"My dad put the ball in my hands, so I credit him for a lot of things I can do on the basketball court," Polk said. "He taught me the fundamentals of the game. I worked with him a lot as far as going through surgery and getting back into the swing of things.

"He coached me in middle school, and I started beating him in horse when I left there. My brother is four years older than me, and I didn't beat him until my sophomore or junior year of high school."

While Polk is best known for his exploits on the hardwood, he also claims to be world-class in another sport.

"I'm an amazing ping pong player and my record is very good," he said. "A couple of my teammates, Arnett Moultrie and Blaise Ffrench, have tried to challenge me and failed miserably. I think Julyan Stone tried too, and got embarrassed pretty badly. They're more recreational ping pong players. I'm a little more advanced.

"We have a ping pong table back home, and we have tournaments at family barbecues where I take on everyone from my uncle to my cousins. I take it pretty seriously."