61 to 59 read the scoreboard, as players and coaches celebrated Champaign-Centennials first ever-state championship. Centennial legend, Rayvonte Rice, walked off the court smiling, he had just scored 21 points, in the biggest game of his life. Rice was named the tournament’s MVP, and wanted to repeat this title run next year as a senior.
Although Rice, a highly acclaimed Illinois high school player, fell short of repeating his Junior year’s magical state championship run. He was still a first team all-stater, the runner up in the 2010 Mr. Basketball contest, the leading scorer in Centennial history, and a highly ranked recruit within the state.
A legendary Champaign kid, heading off to his state school, Illinois, seemed to fit perfectly, but that was not the case.
“I was never really recruited by Illinois until the end of my recruitment which stung, but I was already committed to Drake. I wasn’t going to back out of that commitment,“ said Rice.
So Drake it was. 358 miles, a couple of states away, and five hours from home, was where Rice was heading.
The former Drake basketball manager, Trygve Jensen, was excited to see what Rice could bring to Drake.
“I’d seen Tre (that was the name he went by) play in high school and he was a very strong guy,” Jensen said. “He could body up and get himself places, he also wasn’t afraid to chuck up a shot.”
But initially, something did not seem right about Rice and Drake.
“Rice didn’t fully fit in. I don’t think it was a race thing, but Drake is predominately white and upper-middle class kids from the suburbs,” Jensen Said. “Tre was from middle-America and had a different upbringing than most.”
Maybe Rice had mad a mistake when deciding where to go to college. Maybe he should...
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“This is his fourth year in college basketball, he is absolutely a leader on this team. He understands how things go,” Egwu said. “We look forward to have him teach us new things. He is a huge part of the team.”
Though college basketball consumes Rice’s life now, he cannot help but look ahead down the road.
“I am not really sure where I’ll be in a few years from now, I hope I am playing somewhere professionally, but we will see,” Rice said.
Though Rice has the skill set to make it professionally, there are those who view Rice differently.
“I don’t think Rice could play in the NBA. He’s at an awkward size where he lacks quickness and ball handling of a 2 and athletic ability of a 3,” Jensen said. “I didn’t think he worked hard enough on his own, but coach Groce seems to be really pushing him, so it’ll be interesting to see what type of profession he has.”
Earl Lloyd was probably the most courageous player of all time. Some people know him as “The Big Cat” others know him as the first African-American to play in an NBA basketball game with the whites; he changed the way people think and look at basketball and black players and coaches. Earl Lloyd loved basketball from a very young age. Earl had two brothers older than him which was Earnest and Theodore. Earl was very dedicated from a very young age. With his high school team he took them to a state championship and won. After high school Earl went off and took his talents to West Virginia State College. While Earl was there his sophomore year they went 33-0 which is a perfect season. Earl’s team won back to back CIAA conference championships and tournament championships.
It was the middle of November, 7 p.m. and very chilly outside. The team was walking into the court. “The basketball court looked and felt brand new. It smelled like it was just built and ready to be played on,” Rashim excitedly explained. It was Rashim’s first game of the regular season against Wissahickon High School. Usually Rashim doesn't care about the regular season, but he found out that this could be the most important game of his life. 76ers recruiter, Matthew McLane, came to watch the game to find an incoming star to bring to the NBA. Rashim knew it was his chance to show how he is good enough for the NBA, but he was very nervous. The game
Your dreams of being someone may not turn out the way you think they will. The documentary Hoop Dreams is a story about two boys from the ghetto that want to play in the NBA. Arthur ¨Man”Agee goes to Marshalls and William Gates goes to St. Joseph’s which are both situated in Illinois, where their dreams of becoming a pro basketball player vanished. Both of the boys face obstacles that are outside of themselves. Arthur´s family struggled with money, education, and pressure from others hurts him. Also, William struggled with balancing his family with basketball, the pressure from others, and education.
In the spring of 1991, the University of Michigan signed what was arguably the best recruiting class in the history of college basketball. Coach Steve Fisher signed five of the nation's top prospects - Chris Webber, Jalen Rose, Juwan Howard, Jimmy King and Ray Jackson. Webber and Rose were childhood friends from Detroit who turned into McDonald's All Americans. The 6'9" power forward, Webber, was regarded as the number one player in the nation. Rose was a tall guard standing 6'7", who played like a young Magic Johnson.
Although many youngsters fail in the NBA, there are a few high school players who have had, or do have a successful career in the NBA. Some of these are, Moses Malone, Kobe Bryant, Tracey McGrady, and this year’s most valu...
Robinson, Mark D. Ph. D. “Every Black Kid Should Strive to Be a Professional Athlete”.
Arthur Agee and William Gates, two high school basketball players, dream of playing basketball in the NBA. Arthur controlled the basketball court as point guard at local playgrounds in Chicago. He competed against boys three years older and still dominated. One day, Big Earl Smith, the legendary playground basketball scout, approached Arthur to discuss his future playing basketball. Big Earl delivered to Arthur a tuition paid scholarship offer to attend St. Joseph. This presented Arthur the opportunity to play for Gene Pingatore, the coach of St. Joseph, considered the greatest high school coach in the suburbs and city. With the scholarship, Arthur attended St Joseph and met William Gates, another basketball prodigy and recruit at St. Joseph. Unfortunately for Arthur, William developed into the more proficient and touted player. Due to William’s success and notoriety, St Joseph passed Arthur’s scholarship money onto William. Arthur’s impoverished family situation, coupled with losing his scholarship money, forced him to drop out of St. Joseph and attend Marshall, the local public school. Throughout Arthur and William’s high school experience, they
In the end, goal of everyone should be to help players make the right choice for this important decision. Unfortunately, the NCAA puts these college athletes in a difficult position. Beginning this year, players must decide wether they want to turn pro or not by early April. This basically forces the player "to test the NBA waters" rule which gave them the opportunity to gain valuable information on where they stood in the NBA draft.
As a 5’ 9’’ sophomore at Laney High, Jordan tried out for the varsity basketball team. However, he was not good enough to make the team and was passed over for another sophomore, 6’ 8’’ Leroy Smith. Jordan was heartbroken and quoted:
Although Danny is only four-eight, he overcomes great odds by leading a team who rejected him for being small. Since Mike Lupica made the protagonist a short elementary height, it creates a dramatic effect when his father asks him to coach, and then beats his old travel team. Danny Walker was used as a symbol to represent a great basketball mind behind a small middle schooler. The dedication and work ethic Danny has for basketball before and after he coaches the Warriors prove John Wooden’s quote, as he succeeds in being an on-court coach and star
Micah Harris was a man who was no stranger to success. A 2001 Poland graduate who was a gifted athlete and a brilliant student, Harris did not let his accomplishments go to his head. He remained humble and used his talents to uplift others. Harris’s philosophy has certainly impacted my life in my strive for success. I myself have also always believed that it is important to remain true to oneself once you have achieved success. I have done my best to conduct myself with humility and remain respectful and compassionate towards others when I achieved success both on the field and in the classroom.
“The odds of a high school basketball player making it to the “next level” to play college basketball (DI, II, or III) is slim. In fact, only 3.4% of high school players go on to play college basketball. Taking it even further, only 1.2% of college basketball players go on to get drafted in the NBA” (Winters, 2016). There are two types of players in the game. There are the kids who play basketball because they are athletic, and all they are seeking to gain is the recognition and awards. They want to be known. Those players are self-centered, they do not play for the team, and generally don’t play because they love the game. These are the types of players who don’t usually go on to play at the next level. On the other hand, there are the players that absolutely dedicate their life to the game of basketball just because they love the game. That is what coaches are looking for in a player, and that is the kind of player I am striving to be.
Michael excelled at sports all throughout middle school. He made it to high school and played basketball his freshman year, when tryouts for varsity came around for Michael’s sophomore year he had confidence that he could make the team. He ended up not making the team but, he says that it was a good thing because it just gave all the more motivation to be the best basketball player he could be.(NBA.com 1)
very good, but he had lost some of his focus. Later, in his high school career,
He stated, “There are a lot of guys who have the ability to run and throw, but they probably can’t process and pick up the information.” “I don’t think it’s going to be based on your athletic ability. It’s going to be based on your ability to process and diagnose information,” (Cardale Jones: An Urban Legend, 5). This proves that through his time and training at the university, he has gained a level of respect and understanding for the relevance of education in athletics. He fully believes that his chance being drafted into the NFL will be focused more on his ability to process information than his ability to throw or run the ball. This supports my claim that athletics and academics are not in competition with one another, but are, in fact, nearly one in the same. Through information gathered from research online and in scholarly articles, along with an interview with an expert in both fields, a coach and teacher, one may begin to see a synthesis between these two fields that was not as apparent