SZVETITZ COLUMN: Waller taking it to another level

Tay Waller woke up last Saturday morning in The Zone, and has lived in it for the past seven days.

The weather’s nice there — 72 and balmy with a breath-taking view and an easy breeze.

Oh, and the basket is as wide as the ocean, to where you can just kick it in.

And Waller’s got beach-front property.

It looks kind of like one of those Corona commercials. Not that I’d know. You’ve got to actually be able to bounce a basketball without losing it just to have a chance at finding that place.

Tay With A Trey, however, knows the way pretty well. And he doesn’t plan on leaving anytime soon.

Over the last three games, Waller has made 159 3-pointers. OK, it’s more like 21 of his last 31. Which is still pretty ridiculous.

That’s 68 percent. 68 PERCENT!!

Tay Waller has a better chance at making a 3-pointer than my car does at starting in the morning — with jumper cables.

“I feel like I’m in the zone. I feel like I can’t miss,” Waller said after his unconscious, 6-of-10, 26-point performance Saturday night in a win over LSU.

Umm, you think? And did you know that snow is cold? No, really, it is.

Ahh, The Zone.

A place where Michael Jordan is mayor, and guys like Larry Bird, LeBron James and Kobe Bryant have streets and buildings named after them.

The place where Waller has visited many times, just not recently.

Not until last Saturday’s win over Arkansas, where he dropped 29 points, hitting 7-of-10 3-balls. Then again on Wednesday, at Ole Miss, Waller scored 29 again, hitting 8-of-11 from farther away than I can punt it.

Then, there’s what he did a day ago.

Waller became the first player to score 25 or more in three consecutive SEC games since Wesley Person in 1994.

With that performance, Waller was also presented with his “Zone Rewards Card” — good for discounts on meals, flights and car rentals.

“He’s been just on fire the last few games,” Auburn head coach Jeff Lebo said. “It’s just been unbelievable.”

That’s the way The Zone works, after all. It’s unexplainable. Rules of logic and sanity don’t really exist.

“When the ball leaves my hand, I always feel like it’s going in,” Waller said. “I’ve always been told that when you miss, there’s something wrong with the goal. There’s nothing wrong with the shot, there’s something wrong with the goal.”

That’s how you have to think to even have a chance at finding The Zone. Even when you’re not even close.

“He’s always been one that he thinks he’s in the zone all the time,” Lebo said. “You can’t count on that every night … It’s just insane how he’s playing, but we’re not going to complain.”

Especially not with a 5-9 conference record.

MIKE SZVETITZ is sports editor of the Opelika-Auburn News. He may be reached at mszvetitz@oanow.com or 737-2513.