On the basketball court, Ball State University point guard Kelsey Corbin is the last person you want to go one-on-one with. The senior has let her deft ball handling and deadly mid-range game lead the way to her finest season with averages of 11.7 points and a team-high 4.5 assists per game. Corbin also serves as the co-captain and has started every game this year for the Cardinals. Though there's considerable concern for your ankles when you guard Corbin on the basketball court, it's a completely different story when the basketball is replaced by a tape recorder. The Daily News recently caught up with Ball State's leader to recap her four years in the program and look toward her future.
Who is Kelsey Corbin the person?
"Sometimes I'm laid back. Other times I'm very serious. I think focus is one thing that people would say is one of my characteristics. I just want to have fun. I'm a very big family person. My sisters are my best friends. My parents are by far the two most important people in my life. They always have and always will be. I owe them a lot and I don't think they get the amount of 'thank you's' that they deserve. I'm very family oriented."
How much have you grown since your freshman year?
"I don't even want to try to remember my maturity level when I got to college. I was very easily angered. I was quick to open my mouth and say something. I didn't always think things through. Now, I think, especially being a psychology major, I've learned how to deal with people with different personalities better. Also, being under coach Roller, she's really stressed that basketball teaches you a lot of life lessons. Our team composition is kind of a microcosm of what the real world is. We have all types of personalities and all types of people who come from different backgrounds. You learn how to work with people and be a leader. I am so glad I'm here, because I think that being a part of this team has shaped me into the kind of person that I am."
What have you learned since your freshman year?
"The biggest thing is that when you speak there's a whole lot more that's coming out of you than just your words. I think that, especially being a leader, you have to understand that your actions and the way you say things and your demeanor has a lot to do with the way people perceive you and how much they respect you. I can say the nicest thing in the world, but if I don't say it in the right way it's not going to mean a whole lot."
How has your senior year been different compared to the past three years?
"You're forced to cherish every single moment whether they be good or whether they be bad. It makes you step up and you really have to look within yourself to make sure you're doing everything possible to get to that goal you've set. It's hard to explain without being there. I think that I've tried to explain it to some of the underclassmen before, but I'm not real sure that anyone can get it until you're there. There's a sense of urgency. I want to leave here with accomplishments and feeling like we made the achievements we should've made and played to our potential. It's a heightened sense of focus."
What times off the court stand out to you?
"I would say a big impact last year was when my grandfather passed away in January. Everyone talks about when death happens and what not, but it kind of refocuses you and makes you appreciate things a little bit more. You see things a little bit differently. You see the important things. It's so hard to look back on four years. There's been so many times. I would say road trips when a couple of us have gotten in a car and just drove down to Indy and gone shopping. We took Coach Roller shopping one time in Fort Wayne and tried to alter her wardrobe slightly [laughs]. That was fun. There are a wide variety of experiences that will always and forever stay with me and probably make me laugh until I'm 90."
What are you going to do after college?
"I'm going to stay and get my master's. I'm not really ready to go into the real world yet. I figure a lot of times people go out, get a job, then say, 'Oh, I wish I would've gotten my master's.' Then it's too hard to do it. You get out of high school and you're always saying, 'God, I got four more years of school.' But I tell you, when you're a senior you're going, 'God, I only have two more months left of school.'-áI'll stay in college for as long as I can."
What has BSU given you personally?
"It's given me a sense of identity. When somebody asks me to describe myself, it's going to be my name and where I'm from. Then I'm going to say, 'I played women's basketball at Ball State University.' It's given me more than I ever, ever could've imagined it giving me. It made me grow up and mature. It's made me look inside myself and figure out what I want to do. It's shown me what's important. I think at the end of the day, when I'm 90 I'll look at this and it will probably be the best four years of my life."
What do you want to give back to the program?
"We've talked about this several times as a team, but I want to leave and make sure that the program has that sense of tradition and has the name that it deserves. I want Ball State to be a team that I'm proud to say I was a part of. And I think that's exactly how it will be. I want to make sure that everybody underneath me has gotten to know me and see my true colors. I've taught the underclassmen as much as I could while I was here and kind of passed on some of the experiences and some of the memories that I had. Because it's not just about the four years you were here. There are a lot of other teams that have been involved in the legacy."
Bowling Green has received a lot of national attention lately. How far is this program from getting similar attention?
"I think that we are right on the brink of that. We got this season under our belts and established a strong base of good basketball, hardcore intensity and the personality that our team has. I think with that you bring in better talent. You bring in bigger recruits, and it builds from there. I think we are right there. We're on the edge of it, and it's up to those who are here right now and who will be here in the future to make that continue. If we finish this year out like we're supposed to, there's no reason why next year we aren't the Bowling Green."
What would be the perfect capper on this season?
"We start the tournament in Cleveland, we get the bye in the first round, we make it to that championship game and we meet [Bowling Green], and we beat them. I think that being our best game of the year to the point where we feel like we've hit our potential, we've played as a team and we played with all our hearts. I don't want to go to the tournament and have BG get upset by anybody else. I want to be the team that upsets them - if you want to call it an upset - in the tournament. I want to get that 64-[team NCAA] field bid, have a little showing on ESPN and get some satellite out here. We can have us all out at coach's house and celebrate getting into the bracket. Honestly, winning and getting to the 64 is the only thing that is going to top the season off the right way."
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