Jamie Adams
Rodney Smith
SHAWNEE- On Thursday afternoon the NAIA released their selections for men's basketball All-Americans and St. Gregory's starting point gaurd, Rodney Smith (SR/Chicago, Ill.), was selected as an Honorable Mention All-American. This is the seventh year in a row that the Cavs have had a men's basketball player given the honor of All-American. This past season, Rodney Smith averaged 18.25 points per game and 4.08 assists per game. He finished tenth in the nation in free throw percentage (85.4%), twentieth in points per game (18.25), and twenty-ninth in assists per game (4.08). Smith scored a career high 40 points on November 25 against LSU-Shreveport, and he recorded a career high 8 assists against Oklahoma City University and also against Our Lady of the Lake University
Rayshaun McGrew
Stony Brook starter from Chicago dedicates success to late mother
David Haugh Chicago Tribune
When the Stony Brook basketball team gathered Sunday to learn it was playing Kentucky in the Seawolves' first-ever NCAA tournament game, players celebrated wildly like every Cinderella wannabe as their school's name appeared on the big screen.
And Rayshaun McGrew immediately thought of his mother, just as he did 24 hours earlier after Stony Brook beat Vermont to clinch the tournament's automatic berth that comes with the America East championship.
"She always wanted me to experience this,'' said McGrew, Stony Brook's starting forward from Chicago Vocational. "I know she's looking down on me.''
Ineater McGrew died Dec. 5 at 46 after losing a battle with breast cancer. She left behind five children, her youngest a 6-foot-7, 230-pound senior who missed the season opener last fall to be at his ailing mother's side. Rayshaun spent two weeks back home surrounding his mom and showering her with love. He finally returned to help his team, at his mom's urging, and was within an hour of tipoff against Princeton when he received the call he always dreaded.
After learning his mother had passed away, McGrew played anyway and scored 18 points in a Stony Brook victory he dedicated to her memory.
"It was a struggle to continue and keep that off my mind, but I have a great coaching staff that kept me focused because I wanted to play,'' said McGrew, Stony Brook's third-leading scorer at 10.8 points per game. "I had to show true toughness and character.''
With the NCAA field of 68 again including no teams from the state of Illinois, college basketball fans still can latch onto teams with players of local interest. Green Bay guard Khalil Small commuted every day for years from the South Side to Providence St. Mel. South Dakota State guard George Marshall starred at Brooks, transferred fromWisconsin and persevered on a scary SDSU team. Holy Cross coach Bill Carmody led his team to the tournament in his first season after all those years of futility at Northwestern. Notre Dame and Big Ten teams disrespected by the selection committee appeal to many Chicagoans because of geography.
Then there is McGrew, whose inspirational story began when he followed his mom's advice all the way to Long Island, N.Y. — with a short detour through Kansas. As long as McGrew's journey involved leaving the Chicago area, which Ineater instructed her son to do. Coming out of high school, the All-Chicago Public League performer considered offers from Bradley, Green Bay and Chicago State — but wound up at a junior college in Arkansas City, Kan.
"There were too many distractions here,'' McGrew recalled. "Too many wrong people around made it too easy to get in trouble. She didn't want me drawn back into the city. She wanted me to have a better life than she did. Getting out of that was what she always wanted.''
McGrew had seen enough violence growing up in Altgeld Gardens on the South Side to understand his mom's wishes. Chicago Vocational coach Chris Pickett knew enough people in coaching to intervene, so he called a friend on the staff at Cowley County Community College. A recommendation came easily: Pickett considered McGrew one of his most coachable players ever because of attitude and work ethic.
"We knew the juco route was good for him so he could get used to being a college student,'' Pickett said. "Sometimes staying home is that pacifier for a lot of guys. I encourage guys to go away and grow. Leaving can help you grow. Ray grew.''
At Stony Brook, McGrew immersed himself in campus life. The school nominated him for a community service award for his involvement with the local Special Olympics group and the Stony Brook University Children's Hospital. He emerged as a team captain and one of the Seawolves' toughest defenders who often draws the opponent's biggest threat. Respect for McGrew extended to opponents, such as when former rival Peter Hooley of Albany called to offer support because he also lost his mom last year. One Stony Brook official referred to McGrew as "the heart and soul of this team.''
"I feel like I've grown up a lot,'' who McGrew, who will try to play overseas after graduation. "I tell my nieces and nephews back in Chicago, there's so much more to the world you can see. Even though you come from a place with so much negativity, you can create positivity. Life's short. Enjoy every moment.''
That was the message on senior night last month when Rayshaun savored seeing his father, Michael Davis, travel from Chicago with a handful of relatives to watch him play at Stony Brook for the first time. There were smiles and tears and plenty of stories about the family member still in everybody's heart and on everybody's mind. Stony Brook's loss that night was easy to put in perspective by someone whose senior year was full of it.
"No matter what situation you're in, I've learned your destiny is in your hands,'' McGrew said. "My mom used to tell me all the time just to go do what you love to do. So that's what I did every game and will do this week … for her.''
Michael Dowdy
Chicago's Michael Dowdy made NCAA tournament-bound Seton Hall as a walk-on.
View Full Caption Seton Hall Athletics
Said Smyth: "Mike has worked really hard the last three years to accomplish his dream and it was a privilege to be able to tell him that we wanted to bring him aboard."
Dowdy has played sparingly this season for the sixth-seeded Pirates (25-8), who face 11th seed Gonzaga (26-7) Thursday in the NCAA tournament.
But seeing time on the court was never the point for Dowdy, who has always wanted to be part of a Division I roster — in any capacity.
"It's all for the love of the game," he said. "I decided to never stop until I got what I wanted."
That's why for the last three summers, Dowdy endured rigorous workouts with his older cousin, Jonathan Dowdy, at Concordia University's athletic complex. One hundred-plus times a day, Dowdy would run up the school's 30-step bleachers and sprint on the track. Jonathan Dowdy said he also stressed a "holistic" approach to this summer's workouts.
"This included mentally having positive dialect, using language that empowered him to compete," said Jonathan Dowdy, a former basketball player and graduate of Providence St. Mel and Bates College. "I'm more impressed with how he continually responded to the adversity of not making the team with a greater sense of self awareness and passion for the game. I think it's a story of having tremendous faith and executing that faith in spite of obstacles that may exist."
Dowdy is scheduled to graduate next year with a degree in chemistry. Before basketball, he was taking as many as 18 credit hours a semester. Since he's joined the team, he's reduced those hours to 14. His class schedule includes organic chemistry, analytic chemistry, calculus and U.S. history.
Dowdy, who's minoring in criminal justice, plans to work as a forensic or arson investigator. Lab Schools athletic director David Ribbens said Dowdy's ability to persevere through adversity "will suit him well in his pursuit of a career."
And Dowdy said he's proud to represent the West Side of Chicago on college basketball's biggest stage. "Guys like me from back home don't get these opportunities all the time," he said. "I'm just really blessed to be in this position. I'm just glad all the hard work I put in paid off."
Derrick Marks
Boise State men's basketball senior guard Derrick Marks is just about as certain a lock for the Mountain West Player of the Year award as one can get. The Broncos are in first place, and his 21.8 points per game in league play is fourth-best in Mountain West history.
Marks and four other seniors will play their last home game at 6 p.m. Saturday against Fresno State at Taco Bell Arena (ESPN3).
A key part of Marks' ascent from good player to great has been due in part to his outside shooting and his consistency. But those are a product of one thing — a more mature approach, spurred on by what could have been a hindrance, his offseason knee surgery.
"I had three years to mature, but I think it happened more this summer than all those years," Marks said. "I knew I had to get better somehow, had to do it differently."
While rehabbing, Marks worked on his jump shot constantly, trying to make 1,000 per day. He devoured game film, analyzing how opponents played him. He also took up a new hobby, reading.
"I hadn't read a whole book really until I got hurt," Marks said. "It helps me to calm my mind before a game … I like learning about success, the value of working hard and building good habits, breaking old ones."
Should he become the player of the year when the coaches announce their awards Tuesday, he will be the fourth player in school history to win a conference POY award, and the first since Roberto Bergersen in 1999.
"There isn’t a lot he can’t do," coach Leon Rice said. "… He has that killer mentality and that complete faith in himself to where he can go and get it done; he can go win the game.
Patrick Miller
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Tennessee State senior guard Patrick Miller was named First Team All-Ohio Valley Conference as announced by the league office on Tuesday.
Miller led the OVC in scoring, averaging 23.7 points per game and 26.1 in OVC contests; that ranked him fourth nationally while he also ranked sixth in the nation in minutes played at 37:44 per game.
The Chicago native scored 20-plus points 22 times and had 30 or more points in six games. He scored a career-high 38 points in the next-to-last game of the season at Morehead State, a contest that saw him hit the game-winning 3-pointer with two second remaining.
Miller capped his stellar four-year career with 1,900 points and 196 career steals (both most among active OVC players) as well as 520 career assists (second most among active OVC players).
His 1,900 points are sixth most in Tennessee State history.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Tennessee State guard Patrick Miller was named to the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) NABC Division I All-District teams for 2013‐14, recognizing the nation’s best men’s collegiate basketball student‐athletes.
Selected and voted on by member coaches of the NABC, these student-athletes represent the finest basketball players across America. The 252 student-athletes, from 25 districts, are eligible for the NABC Coaches’ Division I All-America teams.
Miller was chosen to the District 19 Team, a squad composed of players from the Ohio Valley Conference.
The Chicago, Ill. native led the league in scoring (23.7 points per game), was ninth in assists (4.1 per contest) and fifth in steals (1.6 per game).
In addition, Miller scored 30-plus points in seven of TSU’s contests.
Miller will graduate in May and will test the waters of the National Basketball Association.
Jamie Adams
BALTIMORE, Md. (March 3) – The Florida A&M University Men’s Basketball team moved one step closer to locking up the sixth seed in next week’s Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Tournament Monday night with a 78-73 win over fourth place Morgan State at Hill Fieldhouse.
FAMU (13-16, 8-7 in MEAC) can now finish no worse than sixth place with one game remaining, and are alive for the fifth seed depending on Thursday’s final slate of games.
Seniors Jamie Adams and Reggie Lewis were the big guns again for FAMU, heading a quartet of Rattlers scoring in double figures Monday night.
Adams finished with a game-high 23 points, along with eight assists, five rebounds and three steals, going four of eight from three-point range, while Lewis added 17 points, including a trio of three pointers in six tries.