Hoops 2015

IOWA STATE BASKETBALL

DECEMBER 2015

THE IOWA STATE WAY THE IOWA STATE WAY

IOWA STATE BASKETBALL

DECEMBER 2015

THE IOWA STATE WAY THE IOWA STATE WAY

IOWA STATE BASKETBALL

DECEMBER 2015

THE IOWA STATE WAY THE IOWA STATE WAY

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WELCOME TO THE SECOND ANNUAL EDITION OF THE IOWA STATE WAY. These pages are a testament to the faces of Iowa State basketball and their stories.

These pages are a testament to the sweat, to the work, to the humanity that comprise a program rising.

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THE IOWA STATE WAY Makayla Tendall MANAGING EDITOR

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CONTENTS 6 10 16 21 27 38 43 48 57 61 66 70 75

THE BABB BROTHERS T H R O W N T O T H E W O LV E S MONTE AND MOM A PA I G E F R O M T H E FA M I LY P L AY B O O K T H E LO N G WAY H O M E FRESE FRAME HELPING HALLICE O U R WAY O F L I F E A BREAK IN THE ACTION OVER AND BACK REMEMBER ME, COACH COOL AS THE OTHER SIDE OF THE BORDER THE HEART OF A COMPETITOR

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I

NICK WEILER-BABB SHOOTS DURING THE DUNK CONTEST AT HILTON MADNESS ON OCT. 16, 2015.

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t’s late July in Ames and the summer school sessions are coming to a close — except at the Sukup Basketball Complex, where class is still in session.

The professor is Chris Babb, a former Cyclone and fan favorite who earned a reputation as one of the fiercest defenders in the Big 12 Conference before going onto an NBA career.

The student is Nick Weiler-Babb, Chris’ little brother and a current Cyclone, who spent his freshman season at Arkansas before transferring to his older brother’s alma mater.

THE WORDS BY CHRIS WOLFF

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The subject – basketball – is one in which both are well versed. The two, professor and student, took to the practice court. Today wouldn’t be a lecture. It would be a test, a one-onone competition. Iowa State players crowded the sidelines to watch.

Older brother vs. younger brother.

NBA vs. college.

Professor vs. student.

The Babb brothers rarely played competitive games of one-on-one growing up. Chris is six years older than Nick, which made for some unfair matchups.

However, the skill gap has narrowed.

“ The toughest

thing to do

is sit out.”

ISU HEAD COACH STEVE PROHM

While Chris continues to pursue an NBA career, the two have spent the last couple of summers working out together.

“It’s been some competitive workouts, too,” Chris said. “As an older brother, that’s a great feeling, and I know he enjoys it, too.”

After dropping game one at Sukup, Chris recovered, winning the next two games of the series.

“I think that might have been the first time he really beat me,” Chris said of game one. “He didn’t miss a shot.”

Chris might have won the series, but Nick had passed the test.

A few days later, Chris was traded from the Celtics to the reigning NBA champion Golden State Warriors.

Chris was recently cut from the team, but he is prepping to get back on an NBA roster.

Nick is prepping too, but not for court time this season. Per NCAA transfer rules, Nick will have to sit out the entire year.

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CHRIS BABB

Older brother vs. younger brother.

NBA vs. college.

Professor vs. student.

“The toughest thing to do is sit out,” said ISU coach Steve Prohm.

you’re Chris’ brother. Well, hopefully we’ll like you as much as him.’

But the delay will probably be advantageous to Nick and the Cyclones.

Iowa State welcomes back a stacked returning roster this season, and minutes might have been scarce for Nick.

“It’s kind of a hard spot to fill from the fan’s perspective, but I feel like [Chris] left me in a good place and [with] a good name.”

With four seniors graduating and junior Monte Morris likely flirting with the NBA after this season, Nick will have plenty of opportunities to make an impact when he becomes eligible next season.

It’ll be a wait-and-see game as to whether Nick matches his brother’s Iowa State stardom. But, if that oneon-one battle between the Babb brothers was any indication, Nick is quickly closing the gap between professor and student.

While Nick has followed in his brother’s footsteps to Ames, fans shouldn’t expect the same style of play from the two.

Chris will have to wait a year before he can watch his brother take the court at Hilton Coliseum, a place that houses fond memories for Chris.

“Any game at Hilton was a great experience,” Chris said.

“I can’t wait to get there and watch him play. I’ll definitely plan on being courtside when it’s his time to suit up.”

Nick is no stranger to Hilton’s magic and allure. He attended plenty of Chris’ games and got to know what Iowa State was all about.

CHRIS BABB

“There is a little sibling rivalry,” Nick said. “I don’t really feel any pressure to be as good as him or better than him. I feel like it’s just making a name for myself more than following in his footsteps.”

CHRIS BABB

“He’s a different player than I am,” Chris said. “He’s an athlete, man. I’m a hard-nosed, pit bull kind of guy. He’s got a lot of athleticism. He’s smooth.

He can shoot the ball. He can handle it. He sees the game really well. I love watching him play.”

The familiarity with the program and with guys like Georges Niang and Naz Mitrou-Long, who were freshmen during Chris’ final season with Iowa State, was a big reason why Nick chose to transfer into the program.

“It’s hard to describe in words just how lucky I am to be in this position,” Nick said. “Especially because [Chris] was successful here, all the fans loved him and now that I’m here, they’re kind of like, ‘Oh, NICK WEILER-BABB

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Thrown to the

Wolves: Bry Fernstrom moves to the head of the pack Words by Kevin Horner

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BRY FERNSTROM

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Fernstrom had met her next pack of

WOLVES B

ryanna Fernstrom never wanted to play basketball — until she did.

Growing up in Center City, Minnesota, near the Wisconsin border, Bry, as she’s called, was more interested in four-wheeling, camping and ice fishing than playing basketball.

Boating and spending time on the lake behind the Fernstrom house took priority for Bry despite pleas from her father, Kendall, and her brother, Joe, to give basketball a shot.

“I never really wanted to play basketball,” Fernstrom said. “I had no idea how to play at all, so I was like, ‘No, I don’t like basketball. I’m not trying out.’”

Fernstrom had the size to play basketball — reaching the 6-foot mark by sixth grade — but lacked the motivation.

Because Joe, who was three grade levels older than Bry, began playing traveling basketball in fifth grade, 7-year-old Bry would tag along for practice — dribbling and shooting haphazardly on the sidelines with her dad. Kendall and Joe recognized Fernstrom’s potential as a basketball player and insisted that she try out. If she didn’t like it, she didn’t have to stick with it, they said.

Their attempts at persuasion continued for a number of weeks, culminating in one final conversation just days before tryouts. They sat her down in her parents’ bedroom, giving Bry one final opportunity to say yes.

At that point, Bry was more annoyed with her family members than interested in playing basketball. Nevertheless, she knew only one way to make her current problems fade away.

“Shut up. I’ll do it.”

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Fernstrom was already behind the curve.

She had to learn faster than the other players. So she played with and against more advanced, more experienced players — being thrown to the wolves, so to speak.

The first proverbial wolf in Fernstrom’s basketball career had been alongside her all along — watching SpongeBob SquarePants through the night and playing with imaginary friends out in the yard. It was her brother, Joe. Having played a large role in persuading Bry to play basketball, Joe, in true, brotherly fashion, felt obligated to teach his sister how it was done. This manifested itself through countless games of one-on-one in the driveway.

Joe, then in ninth grade, took advantage of Bry’s inexperience.

He had several years and several inches on his younger sister, and he made sure she knew that. Joe would drive around her and dunk over her to the point where Bry called in her dad for reinforcement.

“Every summer, every day we would go out and play one-onone,” Fernstrom said. “He would dunk over me and do these crazy moves, and I would lose every time. I would have these rules [for Joe] where like, ‘You can’t play defense out of this box,’ and he would still block me.”

Even though Bry was losing most of those games, she was learning. Joe could challenge her in a way that traveling basketball couldn’t at the time. “[Joe] was a big help in getting me interested and making me a better player,” Fernstrom said. “Even though he was dunking over me, I was still getting better.”

SHUT UP.

When Bry began playing travel basketball in fifth grade, her height and strength alone made her the best player on the team.

“No one knew anything about basketball” on the team, she said. Even though this created a larger role for Bry — which helped her decide to stick with the sport — she still relied on Joe to push her and develop her skills.

Things changed for Bry during her seventh-grade year.

Her middle school coach’s daughter, Whitney Tinjum, was two years older than Fernstrom and played AAU basketball.

Through that connection, Fernstrom joined one of the top AAU programs in Minnesota. It was a place Fernstrom felt she didn’t belong.

Fernstrom had met her next pack of wolves.

“In her first year of AAU ball, that’s when things changed,” Kendall said.

“She had good coaches, and [she was] playing against girls that [were] the best in the state. Then she played against girls who were the best in the country.”

Bry had not faced competition even close to this level in her first two years

of basketball, but as in the driveway games with Joe, it was a challenge she took in stride.

Her teammates were much more skilled, but Bry’s game grew.

In her first year playing AAU ball, Bry’s team didn’t lose a single game in Minnesota, advancing to nationals, where her team finished seventh.

“I started to realize how fast I was getting better,” Bry said. “When I got on that team, I was really bad, but then [the coaches] started teaching me stuff, I started to get a lot better and saw that I could be good.”

Bry began to run with them.

At that point, Bry began individual workouts with coaches as she grew more serious about basketball.

During one of those workouts, a coach told her she could play Division I basketball for a mid-level program.

Bry was setting herself apart from the pack. She was running ahead of those wolves.

This trend continued into Bry’s career at Chisago Lakes High School. Bry could have tried out for the varsity team in middle school but fear inhibited her.

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However, after gaining experience with an elite AAU program and beginning to set herself apart, she tried out her freshman year.

“I was really nervous I wasn’t going to make a team at all for some reason,” Bry said. “But I ended up making varsity and starting.”

“We knew that Iowa State was losing a post player in Hallie,” Kendall said.

“We knew that they had gone to that post player in the past. If you watch the highlights, a lot of it was feeding the post player. That had a lot to do with the system that was run. It really worked out well with [Bry] and Iowa State.”

Fennelly and his staff agreed, and Fernstrom started in 24 of her first 25 games as a Cyclone — leading the ISU effort in the post.

The transition from high school to college was not easy for Fernstrom.

At Chisago Lakes, Fernstrom rarely matched up against post players who

Bry was the sole freshman on varsity that year. She became a four-year letter winner, a nominee for Minnesota’s Miss Basketball, Pioneer Press Player of the Year and a McDonald’s All-American nominee. She set Chisago Lakes season records in points, rebounds, field goals, field goals attempted and blocked shots.

Bry had survived and excelled in AAU and high school, but what waited down the road were wolves unlike any Bry had ever faced.

After the 2014 season came to a close, ISU head women’s basketball coach Bill Fennelly had a problem.

Hallie Christofferson, two-year AP Honorable Mention All-American and Fennelly’s main source of size, graduated in 2014. The 6-foot-3-inch forward started in 117 of the 128 games the Cyclones played from 2010 to 2014 — averaging 13.4 points and 6.2 rebounds per game on 30.9 minutes during her ISU career.

After Madison Baier, Iowa State’s only other player taller than 6 feet 2 inches, tore her ACL during the 2013-2014 season, Fennelly desperately needed some size to supplement the guard play of Jadda Buckley, Nikki Moody and Kidd Blaskowsky.

During recruiting, a certain 6-foot-5inch, left-handed center out of Chisago Lakes stood out to Fennelly and his staff.

With replacing Christofferson in mind, assistant coach Billy Fennelly contacted Bry via social media days before she was to leave on a trip to visit several colleges in the Southwest.

That message led to an official visit, which eventually led to Fernstrom playing in all 31 games for Iowa State last season.

14

“I started to realize how fast I was getting better.”

“It’s like telling a person to swim who’s never swum before.”

were her size, making post play an easier endeavor.

However, the wolves of the Big 12 matched and exceeded Fernstrom’s size and strength. Players such as Breanna Lewis of Kansas State and Imani McGeeStafford of Texas made life in the post tough.

This new, tougher style of play at a level Fernstrom was not yet accustomed to led to some inconsistencies in her play.

Her numbers fluctuated — 25 points in her first game as a Cyclone against USC Upstate, but only four in the next game against Drake.

Again, after scoring just three points against Arkansas-Pine Bluff on Dec. 14, Fernstrom rebounded to score 20 and 18 points against Fairfield and Howard, respectively, adding 17 rebounds to her

stat line, as well. “[Last year], she was like the stock market,” Fennelly said. “Really up and really down. There isn’t maybe a harder thing to do than to play in the post as a freshman.”

Nevertheless, with the post game historically being a large part of Fennelly’s game plan — with players such as Christofferson, Chelsea Poppens and Anna Prins — the Cyclones stuck with Fernstrom.

Almost immediately, she was put into a position she wasn’t completely prepared for at the time, but she learned and grew through experience.

The trend continued.

“We threw her to the wolves because we had no other post players,” ISU

LATOJA SHABEN

assistant coach Latoja Schaben said.

“She had to learn while she was going.

It’s like telling a person to swim who’s never swum before.”

Despite early inconsistencies, Fernstrom gained valuable experience matching up against the giants of the Big 12.

And as Fernstrom’s basketball history suggests, it should only be a matter of time before she is running alongside those wolves.

“Going into the Big 12 as a freshman and starting, [I wasn’t] very confident,” Bry said.

“I heard a lot about the big players [in the Big 12]. As a little freshman, [I didn’t] really know what it was like to play them. But going into this year, I’m a lot more confident, and I think that will carry over into my game.”

Don’t just watch the game.

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15

O

M

AND

NTÉ

WORDS BY CHRIS WOLFF

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Latonia Morris stood among the masses of Iowa State fans at the Sprint Center in Kansas City on March 12, 2015.

On the court, Monté Morris and his Cyclone teammates were warming up after emerging from the tunnel, fresh off a disappointing first half.

Down 36-25 in the first round of the Big 12 tournament and facing the Texas Longhorns, Iowa State needed a spark.

Latonia and her son locked eyes.

She lifted her hand, raised a finger and moved it in a circle.

To Monté, the signal was loud and clear.

“We’ve been doing that forever, since he’s been playing,” Latonia said. “We’ve always had our little signals.”

É Main: Monté Morris Middle: Morris and his mom Latonia Morris

Latonia knows Monté’s game.

She knows when he’s in the zone. She knows when he needs to be more aggressive.

She knows when he’s passing too much.

So she signaled.

“She just said turn it up a little bit more,” Monté said. “That’s not even scoring the ball; that’s defensively, whatever to get my team going and give them that boost. I was able to feed off my mom’s signal and get the job done.”

Monté, who said he plays better when his mom is at his games, went on to score 24 points, saving his best for last.

With five seconds remaining in the game and the teams tied at 67, he dribbled the inbounds pass the length of the court.

He drove toward the right side of the court and pulled up on the wing, near the Cyclones bench. He elevated for a midrange jumper.

The buzzer sounded. The scoreboard clicked. Iowa State 69, Texas 67.

“It was actually surreal a little bit,” Latonia said. “I saw him hit big shots before, just never on the D-I level. That was his first game-winning shot.”

Fans rushed toward Latonia to congratulate her. Monté turned and celebrated with teammates in front of the Iowa State bench.

Later on, as Latonia was leaving the Sprint Center, fans chanted, “MONTÉ! MONTÉ!

MONTÉ!”

The emotions overwhelmed her. The tears flowed.

“Every time somebody said ‘congratulations’ to me, tears would pour out of my eyes, because I knew it was a big moment for him, too,” Latonia said.

Monté Morris was smitten by basketball from an early age.

Latonia, who scored more than 1,000 points in her high school career, took Monté along to her basketball practices when she became a coach.

Monté absorbed everything.

He spent hours playing basketball, even if there was no opponent.

“He would always play basketball in the bedroom on a little rim, and I mean really play,” Latonia said. “He would play for the national championship.”

The national anthem was played, and then it was game time.

Monté and his imaginary teammates took the court against an imaginary opponent. He would duke it out in his room, putting a little Nerf basketball through a hung-up hoop.

After a hard-fought first half, Monté would emerge from his room and enter the kitchen, which acted as a locker room, for halftime.

“Momma, I got 20 points,” Monté would tell Latonia. “The last possession was crazy.”

“You do?” Latonia asked.

“Yeah. It’s halftime,” Monté would say, as he walked to the fridge and grabbed some Kool-Aid. Then it was back to his room, where the second half was about to get under way.

“I would just laugh, because I’m like, ‘He really loves basketball,’” Latonia said. “He always has.”

Eventually, Monté’s imaginary games gave way to real ones. That’s when Latonia got a glimpse of his talent. As a fourth-grader, Monté played against sixth-graders.

Morris didn’t just fit in with the older players. He stood out.

He saw the court better than most of them. He made passes that a fourth-grader should not have been able to make.

“I mean, it was ridiculous,” Latonia said. “The way he was threading that ball through the defense — I was like, ‘This little boy could play.’”

He would spend hours playing basketball, even if there was no opponent.

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As Monté progressed to high school in Flint, Mich., Latonia continued to mentor him, just as she had throughout middle school.

Latonia also remembers that night. She said Monté didn’t properly prepare for the game, so she let him know it. The next day, though, it was over.

Besides signaling during games, Latonia would talk to Monté post-game about what went right, what went wrong and what he could do better in the future. She wore the mom hat and also a coach hat.

“We have a thing, whether I play good or bad. After the night, when it hits 12 o’clock, we cancel out that game and move on to the next one,” Monté said. “We don’t talk about it anymore.”

“I love it,” Monté said. “It gives me another perspective on life, another perspective on basketball.

“She gives it to me straight.”

That means the good and the bad.

Top: Monté Morris Bottom: Morris and Latonia Morris

Monté and his Flint Beecher team squared off against cross-town rival Flint Northwestern at the Coca-Cola Classic his sophomore year.

It was the biggest game around. Monté estimated 2,000 to 3,000 people were in attendance.

“She never gave me what I wanted to hear; she always gave me what I needed to hear,” Monté said. “She never sugarcoated nothing.

A lot of kids get sugarcoated, get pushed through. She never pushed me through. She made me dig a hole and find my way out. I learned from that, and now I’m here today.”

Monté found plenty of success during high school.

Monté woke up with a stomach virus. He wasn’t supposed to play but refused to sit out.

As a freshman, he guaranteed his mom a state championship.

He didn’t play well, though.

Cyclone fans have come to know Morris as an ultra-safe ballhandler, after his recordsetting 4.79 assist-toturnover ratio his freshman season and best-in-the nation 4.63 assist-to-turnover ration last year, but on this night Monté struggled.

As a junior, he delivered on that promise and dedicated the title to his mom.

He racked up nine turnovers and had 10 points before fouling out. His team lost.

Monté and Latonia got into the car after the game. They didn’t say a word to each other. After a stop at the corner store, Latonia spoke.

“She let me have it,” Monté said with a laugh, although he certainly wasn’t laughing at the time.

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Monté likes having his mom tell it like it is. He said the straightforward input has made him a better player and a better person.

As a senior, he won a second state championship. The Flint Beecher star went on to be named Mr. Basketball for the state of Michigan.

On his birthday, June 27, Monté signed his official letter of intent to play college basketball at Iowa State. His mother was right by his side.

“That’s the day she gave birth to me,” Monté said.

“So for her to have me that day when she could hold me in her hand to now it’s the day where I am taking my talents to the next level … the timing of everything was just crazy.

“I won’t ever forget that day.”

Monté had pushed the right buttons for his mother.

“It was his special day, but he wanted to share his special day with me, so that made me emotional,” Latonia said. “He knows how to get me crying.”

More than a year later, Latonia watched Monté jog out of the tunnel at Hilton Coliseum for the first time.

Monté looked up and found his mom during warm-ups.

“I seen it in her eyes when I ran out,” Monté said. “I was looking up there during warmups. She got emotional, you know? It’s a big step in life.

A lot of kids from my hometown don’t experience that.”

It was more than basketball for Latonia. It was a sense of accomplishment. Her baby was playing Division I basketball.More than that, he was in college.

“A lot of people don’t understand that you have to be a student-athlete,” Latonia said. “In order for him to lace up the gym shoes, he had to be able to be productive in the classroom, so I just looked at him like, ‘Wow, he really did it.’ He got to where he wanted to go.”

Monté has long since settled in at college, but that doesn’t mean he gets a free pass from his mother.

They still talk after every game, and she still critiques his play when she thinks she needs to.

“He knows that if he has a bad game I’ll cut into him a little bit,” Latonia said.

During a tournament in Hawaii during Monté’s freshman

season, Latonia didn’t like his body language as he sat on the bench. After the game, she called him.

“I told him to get it together,” Latonia said. “I told him to figure out what he needed to do to get out on the court.

And he did.”

It’s not all about focusing on areas to improve, though. After a heart-breaking, seasonending loss to the University of Alabama-Birmingham last season, Latonia knew she had to take a different approach.

Usually, Monté calls his mom after a game; not after the UAB loss.

So Latonia called Monté instead. She knew he would be in a bad mood, so she carefully considered her tone.

“I needed to find the correct words to talk to him after that loss,” Latonia said. “I just told

him to use it for motivation next year and that you can never underestimate anybody on the court.”

stage is bright, he delivers.

After being coached by Fred Hoiberg for the first two years of his collegiate career, Monté now takes direction from firstyear ISU coach Steve Prohm.

Monté is tough. He grew up in Flint, Mich., and he did it without a father. It was Monté and Latonia, and that had to be enough. Latonia and Monte’s father had broken up while Latonia was still in college, before Monté was even born.

Prohm has developed a reputation as a point guard’s coach because of his success with Cameron Payne and Isaiah Canaan, former Murray State point guards who ended up in the NBA. Monté, who has already developed into one of the nation’s best point guards, is expected to be third in that line.

“They’re all different, but what Monté is — just like those guys — he’s great in the moment,” Prohm said. “When the moment is big and the

“He is a winner. Those kids from Flint are tough.”

“I never seen him,” Monté said. “I’ve seen him in a picture with my mom. But, other than that, I never said, ‘What’s up?’ never was within 10 feet of the guy.”

Her baby was playing Division I basketball.

More than that, he was in college.

Monté said it wasn’t always easy to see his friends with their fathers when he was younger, but he bears no ill will toward his father, who has since died.

Monté said he thinks he died of a heart attack, but Latonia said she is unsure of the cause.

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“It’s been me and Monté for so long.

He’s my rock.”

“I don’t trip about it no more,” Monté said. “It’s not really on my mind. Even when I see his relatives — his brothers, his sisters — I treat them like family. There’s no hard feelings. I know it’s life and things happen. I just take the good with the good and try to keep the bad out of my way. I don’t take it as bad or nothing.

“It’s a learning experience for me as a person, just so, whenever I’m in that position to raise my kid, whenever that may be, [I’ll] just try to be in my kid’s life no matter the situation, even if it’s rough.”

Perhaps it’s part of the reason why Monté and his mother are as close as they are.

“She keeps me going. If my mom wasn’t here, I don’t think I would be able to play ball.”

Latonia took him to games, she taught him basketball, she taught him to ride a bike, and she took care of the yard work.

It’s hard for Monté to condense their relationship into words.

She made sure Monté had money in his pocket, clothes on his back and a roof over his head. She provided for the family. She cooked.

She cleaned. She did everything.

As Monté has grown older and realized everything his mother has done for him, he has grown increasingly appreciative.

“She showed me the way of life just in stuff that dads are supposed to do,” Monté said. “My mom always did father things with me.”

Monté said his mother has always been his biggest inspiration, both on and off the court.

“She’s everything,” Monté said.

“We’re like each other’s best friends,” Monte said. “She knows everything about me; I know everything about her.

“That bond we have will never be broken.”

Latonia also struggles to put 20 years of togetherness into words.

“He’s my only child,” Latonia said.

“It’s just been me and him. It’s been me and Monté for so long. He’s my rock.

“When I need to talk, I’ll call him.

When he needs to talk, he’ll call me. We understand each other. He is a son, … but he’s a friend. We have a very special relationship; we really do.”

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TAKING A PAIGE FROM THE FAMILY PLAYBOOK Words by Kevin Horner

I

nside the practice gym at the University of Wisconsin, the Paige family was together again, playing the sport each member knew and loved.

Times like these were hard to come by, and they would become even more rare. It was the summer of 2012. Morgan — now a graduate assistant with the ISU women’s basketball team — was prepping for her junior year at Wisconsin, and Marcus was beginning his career at the University of North Carolina.

21

Ellis and Sherryl, former collegiate basketball players themselves, still lived in Marion, Iowa, where Morgan and Marcus had grown up.

It started with separate workouts and ended with a family game, as was usual. Everyone donned the Wisconsin cardinal and white for a family photo after the game — except, of course, Marcus, who boasted his Carolina blue.

Each individuals in the photograph played a vital role in shaping her into the player and person she had become, and they were all together in the same place once again, enjoying their shared love of the game that shaped them all.

Inside the YMCA gym minutes down the road from the Paige home, the two middle-schoolers battled.

Sweat dripped from Morgan and Marcus’ foreheads as they each burned with motivation — for Morgan, to continue to assert her dominance as the older sibling, and for Marcus, to

finally prove himself.

Morgan, at that point, still had a size advantage, and she knew how to use it against her little brother.

Morgan would push Marcus’ buttons until he could no longer bottle his frustration.

“I was always the feisty, angry one,” Marcus said. “So I would make it no fun by being mean, you know, like pushing and shoving. But I mean, that’s kind of what makes it fun.”

Only 15 months apart, they were almost inseparable from the beginning.

Whether it was playing catch in the back yard or assuming the identities of the Ninja Turtles, Morgan and Marcus shaped one another’s lives.

As they grew older and their individual basketball careers began to take off, the bond only grew.

To the outside observer, it was a friendly game of half-court one-onone. To the Paige kids, it might as well have been the Final Four.

“It would just get to the point where we’d have to stop,” Morgan said.

“That’s the part I can really remember is just getting so physical that we had to be done. We’d have to call it, and then we wouldn’t talk to each other until dinner. It was so serious to us at that time.”

Despite their rivalry on the court, the Paige siblings had a bond. With

Sherryl Paige coaching high school basketball for the majority of their childhoods, the two quickly became buddies on the sidelines — dribbling the ball around as Mom coached.

In December of his freshman season at North Carolina — just a month into his Division I basketball career —Marcus called his older sister in need of advice and encouragement. He was struggling with his confidence after being thrown in as point guard to replace Kendall Marshall, who had left for the NBA after his sophomore season. “[Marcus] is the type that doesn’t complain about anything,” Morgan said. “If he’s going through a rough time, you probably won’t know

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about it, but he called me [during his freshman season]. He just didn’t know why his shot wasn’t falling. He didn’t understand how to get guys to listen to him when he was that young and in that kind of leadership role. He just had no idea how to concept college basketball.”

Although this was a problem that any member of the Paige family could address, he chose Morgan, who he had grown up alongside. He knew she had been in his shoes just a couple of years before at Wisconsin.

“I was in a transition period, and [Morgan] had already been through that situation,” Marcus said. “She just tried to keep my confidence up, just being a good big sister like she was.

That actually helped me relax and realize that I could just play basketball.”

After she graduated from Wisconsin, Morgan became an even more consistent mentor in Marcus’s life. She was there when hype began surrounding Marcus and the Tar Heels’ potential before Marcus’ junior season, and she was there after they fell to rival Duke — twice.

MORGAN PAIGE

She was also there to keep him grounded. Marcus was receiving praise from various sports outlets, hyping his NBA chances, but he was still her little brother. He was still the kid who wouldn’t eat his broccoli at dinner, the kid who still didn’t know how to do laundry and the kid who had learned how to iron his clothes just a month before. Above all, he was still her brother — the Michelangelo to her Donatello.

“We still talk all the time,” Morgan said. “It’s just really nice to be so close to my sibling. He’s the only one I got.”

It was Ellis Paige who usually broke up the fighting between Morgan and Marcus during one-on-one games at the Y.

23

Given his laid-back, mellow personality, Ellis was usually able to cool things down fairly quickly when needed. At one point, the kids’ play became so intense physically that Ellis, along with Sherryl, banned one-on-one games.

Ellis used the break to develop other skills in his children.

“When we did [break up the oneon-one games], it kind of led to a great opportunity for all of us to be involved,” Ellis said.

“What we’d do is — since me and Ma we’re still kind of old school and we could still shoot the outside shot — it became a game of 3-point shooting or full court, who could beat the other person in the back yard. For a long time, Ellis Paige was the best shooter until the kids became sophomores and juniors, and then I had to retire.”

Ellis had played basketball for Mount Mercy University in Cedar Rapids, where he was inducted into the Mount Mercy Hall of Fame in 1997.

It’s also where he met Sherryl in the mid-1980s. Like Sherryl, Ellis had a background in coaching and he became the primary teacher of skill work in the Paige family.

During Morgan’s high school days at Marion, where Sherryl was the head girls’ basketball coach, Ellis would take Morgan to the gym after practice for skill work. Morgan appreciated having those lighter practices with her dad to balance out the intensity and focus of her mom.

“He’s the more chill [member] of our family, probably the most chill in regards to personality,” Morgan said.

“He’s not as intense; he’s more laidback. He rolls with the flow and easily adapts, but that’s because my mom is intense. They can’t both be intense; otherwise, we’d be having some problems.”

Ellis also played a significant role in Morgan getting the graduate assistant position at Iowa State — using the connections he’d developed through Marcus’ recruiting process to promote Morgan to the women’s basketball team.

And after ISU women’s basketball coach Bill Fennelly sat Morgan down

24

for an interview, Morgan became Iowa State’s newest graduate assistant.

Outside of basketball, Ellis was a fun-loving dad who meshed well with Morgan’s personality. The two discussed — and continue to discuss — the latest television shows, movies and whatever else came to mind.

“My dad and I are very, very close,” Morgan said. “He’s the funny one. We watch movies together all the time.

He’s great. He makes me laugh more in a day than anybody.”

Morgan and Sherryl locked eyes across the Marion High School gymnasium — player and coach, daughter and mother.

Morgan was still trying to navigate the intersection of those roles. In the gym, Sherryl was coach. At home after practice, Sherryl was Mom once again.

“We only butted heads about one time, and it was during my freshman year,” Morgan said. “She was talking about some type of offense, and I asked a question when I probably shouldn’t have asked a question.

She ran me for the rest of practice.

In my head, I was thinking from a flat basketball standpoint rather than, ‘oh, that’s my mom,’ but that’s what it came across as to other people. So I had to find out that line was there.”

Sherryl had a way of coaching her that helped them each know what the other was thinking.

Morgan respected her mother’s intensity and passion for basketball and chose to play for her mother even though she had other options.

Sherryl respected Morgan’s work to earn a spot on her team and her willingness to honor the coach-player relationship.

Wisconsin, she continued to call Sherryl each day either to pick her brain about college basketball or to just discuss life.

The regular communication continued when Morgan traveled overseas to play professional basketball in Romania, although the time difference made that difficult at times.

When two or three days would pass without conversation, Morgan would begin to get antsy.

“She’s my best friend,” Morgan said.

“We talk every day. She’s somebody I can talk and ask questions to whether it’s coaching advice now or just basketball in general like the grind of the season. Anything you can think of, I can talk to her about it because she’s been through it to an extent. She’s the first person I go to whenever I have questions or concerns. She gets me through a lot of things.”

Because Sherryl has been such a strong figure in Morgan’s life, Morgan has pursued a similar path to her mother’s. When Morgan returned home after her four months in Romania, she began substitute teaching at the local high schools, and, according to Ellis, “She was outstanding at it,” just like her mother.

“She’s the biggest role model that I have,” Morgan said. “She’s a testament to me, I think. I hope that I can be like her as I age. Already, people tell me I’m like my mother, which is a great sign.”

In July, the Paige family returned to the family’s half-court slab— complete with the UNC logo on the right side of the court and the UW-Madison symbol on the left — for another game of family basketball.

“I’ve heard people say, ‘I’d never want to coach my daughter,’ [but] it was one of the highlights of my coaching career,”Sherryl said.

Morgan doesn’t remember winning any games on that summer day, but it didn’t matter. She was surrounded by the people she loved, the people who had shaped her, playing the sport they all knew and loved on that court in Marion, Iowa.

The bond between Morgan and her mom was even stronger off the court.

When Morgan left home to play for

That’s just how it is for Morgan Paige and her family, how it always has been.

25

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Nazareth Mitrou-Long never cared much for solitude.

“People always wanted to be around Naz, and he always wanted to be around other people,” said his mother, Georgia Mitrou. “He could never be alone. He never wanted to be alone.”

And so it was surprising that as Naz stood amid the sensory overload of his first Iowa State house party — wiser smiles beckoning him to the unknown, the thump of the music stirring tremors beneath his feet — he felt a pull toward seclusion too powerful to ignore.

It was then — in the dark, youthful hours of a Sunday morning in the fall of 2011 — the ISU recruit on his first visit to Ames asked his friend and mentor, Melvin Ejim, to drop him off at church.

Or at least, a place a lot like it.

The clock climbed toward 3 a.m. as Ejim’s car rolled into the Sukup Basketball Complex, guided by the white fluorescent light of the parking lot street lamps.

“You can go, it’s late,” Naz said. “I just need you to unlock it for me.”

Ejim obliged, and Naz strolled purposefully inside. For the second time in two days, the gigantic mural stretching the entire length of the east wall of the gym flooded his vision with images depicting the glories of Cyclones who had gone before.

“I just wanted to kick it in here,” Naz recalled, staring out across the same court four years later. “I wanted to think a little bit on my whole career, everything that got me up to that point.”

He grabbed a basketball off the rack, voices from his past echoing in his mind with each bounce off the hardwood — the ones who told him he’d never make it here, and the ones who always knew he would.

Naz pulled up for a shot.

Swish.

27

“I’m going D-I,” a 15-year-old Naz boasted to his best friend Alan Anderson as the two walked home from Father Michael Goetz Secondary School in Mississauga, Ontario.

“Brother, you’re not going D-I,” Anderson laughed. “You’re staying in Canada, you shooter.”

“I promise you, I’m going D-I,” Naz insisted. “I promise you.”

“Yeah, sure. We’ll see,” Anderson said. “We’ll see.”

to create more opportunities for themselves,” said ISU assistant coach and recruiting coordinator T.J. Otzelberger.

“As some of those young men started coming over and having good experiences, that opened up the door for more guys to come over and look at this opportunity. That probably started about 10 years ago.”

Ejim and others — like Tristan Thompson and Cory Joseph, who both ended up Texas Longhorns — were among the first to take that chance, helping topple the initial dominoes in a chain reaction that would become a movement.

“Being somebody from Canada, the biggest goal you could have was to go to the NCAA and then go the NBA hopefully,” Ejim said. “For a lot of us that seemed kind of far-fetched, because it just hadn’t happened for a lot of people.”

Mitrou-Long and his childhood best friend Alan Anderson

In Canada circa 2008, playing NCAA basketball was little more than a dream.

“No one outside of Canada knew what was happening [on the basketball scene],” Naz explained. “There were no coaches recruiting, no one really going Division I.” Hockey dominated the sports scene north of the border, but after the turn of the millennium, interest in basketball began to grow among Canada’s diverse population. And with budding interest, budding talent blossomed.

Canada remained a relatively untapped, youth-basketball market until the early 2000s, when Canadian hopefuls realized they must begin pursuing the game in the United States well before college to maintain any hope of rising to the next level.

“What started happening was Canadians who were talented were looking at coming to high school in the U.S.

28

While the early success stories of players like Ejim — who Naz grew up watching and practicing with — hadn’t necessarily paved the road for the next wave of hopefuls, they had at least cut a path, leaving a map for future journeymen.

“Once they did that, they all got offers from [colleges],” Naz said, his voice swelling with respect. “That was like a dream come true for guys like myself, because we saw it was possible.”

The superhighways to stardom on American hard courts would be built

by Naz’s generation, creating the booming outflow of Canadian talent for which NCAA coaches now scramble and on which NBA front offices focus a keen eye.

But as Naz closed in on the midway point of high school — his basketball elders already subtly eroding the aura of impossibility surrounding American hoop dreams — he encountered other obstacles of a more personal and specific nature.

The attitude with which he approached life outside the lines during his youth presented itself more problematically as it clashed harshly with his aspirations.

The same story emerges from everyone who knew Naz growing up. He was confident and mature beyond his years, at least socially. Anderson was two grades ahead of Naz and three years older, yet the two were best friends and remain so to this day.

But like many 15-year-olds, Naz lacked an understanding of the bigger picture.

“Naz lived legit 30 seconds from school, but he never came to school on time — ever,” Anderson explained. “I used to tell him, ‘You’ve got to at least come to first period.’”

Naz’s grades were mostly Ds and Fs, with the occasional C mixed in. As a 10th grader, Anderson said Naz was already probably the best player on the team — second perhaps only to Anderson himself.

Hanging out with the older crowd emboldened Naz, and the man who has proven through three years in Ames that he’ll never shy away from a shot took plenty of them on and off the court growing up in a Toronto suburb.

On one occasion Anderson recalled, a fire alarm went off at school, prompting students to pour out of the building. A group of them approached Naz and Anderson’s clique and started talking trash.

“Out of everyone, Naz picked the biggest guy,” Anderson said, “and clocked him in the face in front of the whole school.”

The principal and administrators held Naz back, pulled him into the office and explained what he was risking.

But their words fell on mostly deaf ears. It wasn’t until Naz ended up the following year at Montrose Christian, a prep school in Rockville, Md., that he finally began to comprehend the man he must become.

“That Montrose year really molded me and shaped me into understanding what real life was about,” Naz said. “My grades went from Ds and Fs to As and Bs like that, because they told me, ‘This is the clearinghouse.

You say you want to play D-I ball. If your grades stay like this, you might as well leave after this year, because

A mural in the east gym of the Sukup Basketball Complex grabbed Mitrou-Long’s attention as he contemplated his basketball future.

you’re not going to do it.’”

A stringent schedule, daily practice and conditioning, lights out at 10:30 — Montrose wasn’t a boot camp, but for an individualistic Naz, it may as well have been.

Jewelry was as forbidden as facial hair, and an untucked shirt or an unmade bed got players one thing — in better shape, because they’d run all day for such transgressions.

“It taught me a lot that I can’t just be the free-spirited kid. I had to be a well-structured man,” Naz said. “At the time, I hated it. I felt like what they were doing was wrong, but it made me a better person. Living in the houses with [my teammates], hearing their stories and where they came from, it made me appreciate that family is everything.”

Naz put up a few more shots inside Sukup as the clock struck 3 a.m., then

made his way over to the padded foldout chairs emblazoned with the Iowa State logo that line the west side of Sukup’s east gym.

head as he sat alone, an inclination building in his mind. He picked up his phone and dialed his mother, Georgia.

He gazed back across the width of the court and up at the wall.

It was 4 a.m. outside Toronto, and rousing her from slumber required several calls. As the phone rang over and over in his ear, Naz recalled the first time he’d phoned his mom from the United States.

“I wanted to be up on that wall,” Naz said. “I wanted to leave my mark at a place I had mistaken for Ohio State.

I didn’t even know there was a state of Iowa. I hadn’t known, but [at that moment] I wanted to know. I was so eager to know more.”

Earlier in the day, Naz experienced his first college football game. It was a spectacle unlike any north of the border save for professional hockey and baseball.

“I’d never seen anything like that,” Naz said. “The athletics out here, you can’t compare to Canada, so when I saw Jack Trice and the football game, I fell in love with that.”

Thoughts of glory danced in Naz’s

More than 50 people gathered at the Mitrou-Long household to wish a 16-year-old Naz well on the day he departed for Maryland.

It’s not an uncommon occurrence now nor was it then for dozens of people to flock to the home whenever Naz was around. Any time he’s in Mississauga, his mother leaves the door unlocked. It’s just easier that way.

“On a given day when Naz is home, there’s always 20 or 30 people around,” Georgia said. “I always say I

29

could become a millionaire by selling the shoes piled in front of our door.”

On this day in 2009, the crowd was even larger. Georgia stood at the top of the stairs and watched her eldest son share hugs and loving words amid a slew of emotional goodbyes.

“As we were backing out, he was in the back seat. Everybody was waving at him, kind of walking with us as the car backed up,” Georgia recalled.

“I could see him choked up. He was watching them out the window, but as we started driving away, he looked down.

voice, bridging a gulf spanning two countries and hundreds of miles.

“He didn’t want to cry.”

A 13-year-old Naz shot baskets at the YMCA as his father looked on. Playing on the kids’ side of the court, Jersey Long watched as three men in their early 20s, who had just lost a pick-up game on the adult side, approached his son.

But by the time the family reached the airport, the tears wouldn’t stay dammed any longer. They started flowing before the gate, and, for Naz, they didn’t stop until he arrived at Montrose.

“It’s such a tough dynamic to think about,” Otzelberger said. “You’re talking about kids who are 15, 16-years-old leaving the stability of their household and the school that they’re at.”

The first night was the hardest. Never in his life had Naz appreciated Alexander Graham Bell’s crowning invention more.

“It was kind of surreal, because I wasn’t really ready. I wasn’t mentally ready. I was terrified,” Naz said.

“There were nights when my mom would literally stay on the phone with me all night.”

His first evening in Maryland was one such occasion.

TOP: Naz with family members outside of Madison Square Garden.

BOTTOM: Alan Anderson visits Ames and falls under the spell of Hilton Magic, posing with a cut out of his friend Naz Mitrou-Long’s head.

More than 50 people gathered at the Mitrou-Long household to wish a 16-year-old Naz well.

30

Naz and Georgia spoke for hours before Georgia heard heavy breathing on the other end of the line. Believing her son to be asleep, she hung up.

But just as she would roughly two years later, she received a late-night call from Naz. “Why’d you hang up?” he asked frantically. “I wasn’t sleeping. Just stay on the phone.”

So that’s what she did. Naz would snore, Georgia would doze off, and then one of them would wake up.

“Hey, are you there?”

And the conversation would begin again. What they were talking about didn’t matter. It was therapy for both of them. It was home’s comfort wrapped in the sound of a familiar

“It was like two teen-aged friends on the phone all night,” Georgia laughed. “That’s what it felt like.”

The conversation quickly turned into a challenge from Naz to one of the men — a game of one-on-one. Jersey took in the interaction intently. The man smirked to his friends.

“This little kid is going to play a game with me?” the man asked his buddies derisively.

Jersey, a practitioner and teacher of both kickboxing and Tae Kwon Do, valued toughness. He thought perhaps he should allow the situation to play out, let his boy learn something.

“Are you ready?” Naz asked.

His opponent was, and promptly built a 7-0 lead over the youthful challenger.

This would be a valuable teaching moment, Jersey thought.

The older man missed a shot, and Naz woke up, netting his first bucket.

7-1. Swish. 7-2. Nothing but net. 7-3.

All day. 7-4.

The game ended 11-7 in favor of the 13-year-old. It had been a teaching moment, only not for Naz. “He taught me something that day,” Jersey admitted. “Since then, I started looking at him differently.

I’ve watched him train endless hours in the gym by himself with so much focus.”

Whether the 11-0 run on a man almost 10 years his senior was the birth of that focus is impossible even for Naz to know. But not long after, he wrote a wish list — one Georgia still keeps in her home nine years later.

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“It doesn’t matter how big the crowd is now, I’m not nervous anymore. I never will be.”

Naz celebrates after Iowa State made a comeback during the game against No. 15 Oklahoma on March 2 at Hilton Coliesum.

The No. 17 Cyclones defeated the Sooners 77-70 after a rocky first half.

At the top of that list, a young Naz wrote that he wanted to attend a prep school in the United States and eventually move on to a Division-I program.

The journey had begun.

Yet as Naz’s junior year approached, the opportunities to come to the United States remained elusive, and the possibility grew more precarious with each passing day.

As the end of August gave way to early September, no schools had yet come knocking on Naz’s door.

Naz’s time arrived with a phone call

“I’m scared, mom,” Naz confided.

“I’m worried.”

“You don’t have to worry,” she assured him. “Your time will come.”

from Stu Vetter, the head coach at Montrose Christian at the time — a school that wasn’t even on Naz’s radar

32

until suddenly, it was.

time for his visit.

Mike George — who coached Naz as part of the Canadian AAU team CIA Bounce, and who is now an agent for Canadian NBA players Anthony Bennett and Tyler Ennis — told Naz and Georgia of Montrose’s interest in acquiring a point guard.

McCutcheon’s role proved crucial, as Naz’s one day at Montrose was enough to leave an impression on Vetter. Other players were competing for the same roster spot, but Naz’s personality in the flesh was enough to win over a man who would later drive Naz near crazy with his constant and clichéd motto:

A few calls were placed back and forth before George approached Georgia with a proposition that demanded haste.

“Can you get Naz to Montrose to check it out and see if they like him?”

George asked one day.

“Well, when?” Georgia inquired.

“He can go tomorrow morning,” George replied.

Georgia wasn’t sure she could make an international trip happen on such short notice with three other children in the house.

But as luck would have it, her friend, Melissa McCutcheon, had just begun working for Air Canada. McCutcheon arranged a flight that evening, flew with Naz to Maryland, rented a car and delivered him to Montrose in

“My way or the highway.”

Through the year Naz spent under Vetter’s tutelage, he grew into a better basketball player and a better man.

“All the lessons they were trying to teach me came down to, ‘It’s not about you. It’s about the culture of the team and the program, and doing things for the guy next to you,’” Naz said.

“I’ll never forget that year.”

Naz would also never forget his first game at Montrose, when he squared off against future North Carolina star Kendall Marshall.

“He whupped my tail,” Naz said.

“After we lost that game, and he did

what he did to me, I knew I had to stay because I had to get better. That’s kind of what got me over the hump.”

It wasn’t just Marshall who woke Naz up and toughened him up simultaneously, helping him to put homesickness behind him in favor of aspiration.

Several ventures into one of the toughest cities in the United States served the same purpose.

“I played against some serious point guards — I’m talking about from the slums of Baltimore — in hostile environments. It looked like there was a crack house on every other corner,” said Naz, remembering his view as the team bus rolled through the projects of West Baltimore.

“Goons were in the crowd swearing and cussing at me. I responded well in some, and some I didn’t.”

Those small but raucous gyms prepared Naz for the crowds he’d see once he joined the Big 12.

“It doesn’t matter how big the crowd is now, I’m not nervous anymore,”

Naz said. “I never will be.”

After averaging 8 points and 5 assists per game at Montrose, Naz played his next season for legendary Findlay Prep in Henderson, Nev. He didn’t see much of the court that year, as he found himself slotted behind a roster full of future Division-I and NBA talent that included Bennett, Myck Kabongo, Nick Johnson and current Jayhawk Landen Lucas.

Yet Naz still credits that season as by far the most important in his on-thecourt development.

son is the Nike Peach Jam, featuring the best players from across North America.

Naz’s team, CIA Bounce, earned a spot in the tournament, which was held that summer in Virginia. Embarking on the final campaign of his AAU career, Naz was still without any offers to play D-I basketball.

But then he took the court against the Boston-based BABC team that featured a standout recruit by the name of Georges Niang — and everything changed.

“That year was the year that I took the jump of becoming a way better player than I had been in the past,” Long said. “These guys were 6-feet-7 or 6-feet-this, 6-feet-that. I’m looking around like, ‘Wow, this is the size of people in the NBA and in college.

This is going to get me prepared.’”

Naz scored 16 points and dished out 7 assists in that game, hitting a floater over current Philadelphia 76er Nerlens Noel to send the contest to overtime. CIA Bounce lost in double overtime, but, in front of a packed house, several prominent coaches witnessed what the young point guard could offer a team.

And when it came time for Naz to make his mark the next summer, the preparation paid off. The culminating tournament of the summer AAU sea-

Naz caught the eye of one such coach who was there to watch Niang play — second-year head man at Iowa State, Fred Hoiberg.

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“Naz’s teams always seemed to win,” Otzelberger said. “He was a big part of it. He wasn’t the go-to guy but was always doing important things. All the coaches he played for remarked about his intangibles, telling us he’s a winner and a great teammate.”

In the wake of the Peach Jam, Naz received about 10 offers — including one from Ames.

the buddy who had teased him about his improbable D-I dreams.

“I told you so,” Naz said with a smile.

It was 4 a.m. when Georgia groggily answered her phone.

“Hello?”

“Naz was close to 6-foot-4, and he could play some point guard,” Otzelberger said. “[Along with the intangibles] that’s what made him intriguing.”

It was Naz. He was still at Sukup — still sitting on a foldout chair, basketball in hand — still staring up at the mural on the wall.

Naz’s maturation was complete, his worth proven. He’d pried open the doors to his dreams, and they were plenty. Now all that remained for Naz was the decision.

“Is Dad next to you?” Naz asked.

“Put him on speaker.”

Where would he go?

The first place he decided to visit was one with which he was quite familiar.

Two years after saying tearful goodbyes in his front yard to dozens of loved ones, Naz finally felt secure enough in his basketball future to return home to Mississauga.

He had seen his family sparsely over that span — only a handful of visits throughout his two years in the United States. It was time.

Reclassified when he got to Montrose, Naz had one season of eligibility left despite having been in high school in one country or another for four years.

He chose to use that eligibility at St. Martin’s Secondary School and finish his academic requirements in Canada before moving on to college.

“After I got those offers, I was like, ‘Yeah, I’m good,’” Naz said. “The main reason I went home for my senior year was so I could play every game back home, and my parents could be at every one of them.”

Of course, Naz’s best friend Anderson was there too. And the soon-tobe-Cyclone had only four words for

34

Georgia obliged, and that’s when the Mitrou-Long heard the news for the first time.

“Mom, Dad, this is where I want to be,” Naz said emphatically.

“Are you sure?” Jersey asked.

“Maybe come back and take a couple of days and think about it.”

“No, no. This just feels right,” Naz insisted. “When I’m in the gym, I don’t want to leave.”

“OK. If you truly feel that way, then commit,” Jersey said.

Georgia agreed, and Naz committed to Iowa State the next day.

Four years after that phone call, Naz is entering his senior season at Iowa State. He’s not on the east wall of Sukup, because that part of ISU history has already been written. But during his three years as a Cyclone, Naz has helped write some history of his own.

He averaged 10.1 points, 2.9 rebounds and 2 assists per game during his junior campaign. He was also a 40 percent 3-point shooter at high volume as a starter at the offguard position.

Naz helped lead the Cyclones to their fourth consecutive NCAA tournament appearance and second straight Big 12 tournament title in 2014-15, after the team finished alone in second place during the conference’s regular season.

Naz has one more season to play, and 17 wins are all that stand between him and Niang from becoming the winningest players in ISU history.

And as Iowa State’s tradition of excellence grows, so does its art collection. Naz and his teammates now have a few murals of their own.

“We have two pictures on the wall of our first team that won [the Big 12 tournament], and in the locker room over at Hilton there’s a picture of me with my arms open. As soon as you walk in you see it,” Naz said proudly.

“I remember when that wasn’t there.

Now I’m up on the wall, and I’ll be there for years to come.

He could finally leave the gym. He knew he’d be back a whole lot over the course of the next handful of years.

“It’s humbling. It truly is humbling.

And it’s a dream come true.”

Ejim knew it too.

Despite all his accomplishments, the perception of Naz today is strikingly similar to that in Canada when he was 15-years-old. There are still people who don’t believe, people who think Naz’s career — or at least the last part of it that matters — will end with this season.

“That night he kept saying, ‘I just have to get in the gym, I’ve got to get in the gym,’” Ejim recalled.

“That’s when I knew he was someone we wanted on the team. He wasn’t worried about playing time or who was coming in at his position. He just wanted to get better.

“It showed how dedicated he was.”

The notion is compounded by the exit of Hoiberg to the NBA and Naz’s return from dual hip surgery in the offseason.

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35

The people who know Naz believe his best is yet to come.

crucial presence inside the locker room.

“He’s got everybody’s ear. Everybody respects him,” Prohm said. “Naz brings a different level to this team.

He just brings a leadership and a toughness to this team — a mindset that every great team has.”

As for the community, it has embraced Naz fully and created for him a home similar to the one he left seven years ago at his journey’s outset.

“Just to be a part of this place man, it’s special,” Naz said. “I came here because of the fans — the love and support they showed me on my visit, and when I was a freshman and didn’t even play. They’ve really welcomed me as part of the culture and as a family member. This place will always be a second home to me.”

The Cyclone faithful gather in droves to watch Naz inside Hilton Coliseum, just waiting for him to inevitably catch fire — much as his first family in his first home gathers in dozens to watch his games any time they can find them on television.

“When his games are on TV out here, all his friends go by his house, and we watch it all together,” Anderson said.

“The whole city supports Naz. Only a few out here made it.”

Anderson added that the fame Naz has achieved in central Iowa is crazy to witness first hand, but Naz is always patient, always amiable.

Naz Long holds up a championship poster after Iowa State defeated Kansas 70-66 in the 2015 championship final on March 14 at the Sprint Center in Kansas City, Mo.

But Naz said his health is of no concern, and over the course of the last seven years, he has shown nothing if not a proclivity to adapt to change.

The people who know Naz believe his best is yet to come.

“I believe that he hasn’t even shown his real skills yet. Naz isn’t just a shooter,” said Anderson, who used to tease Naz by calling him exactly that.

“He could always shoot, but he had more to his game. I feel like he’s going to break out and show the world

36

what he can really do.

“He always tells me, ‘Just wait. Just watch. This is the year.’”

Naz has developed into more than just a legitimate starter in the Big 12 and a fan favorite in Ames.

He has become an ambassador for Iowa State, hailed both by Hoiberg and new ISU coach Steve Prohm as a leader of men and a

He’s always more than happy to stop and sign an autograph or smile for a picture with a mother and her children, all clad in cardinal and gold.

Whether he’s in Mississauga or Ames, his first home or his second, Naz is a celebrity.

He’s a magnet for those who love and adore him, be they family, old friends or new friends he simply hasn’t met yet.

And that’s how he likes it.

Nazareth Mitrou-Long never cared much for solitude, anyway.

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FRESE FRAME A SNAPSHOT OF

THE TEAM THAT SET THE ISU STANDARD Words by Luke Manderfeld

ISU women’s basketball legend Stacy Frese walked out into the surrounding expanse of Hilton Coliseum during the 1995-96 basketball season.

Frese played basketball for the University of Iowa at the time, but she came to watch her sister, Brenda, who was an assistant coach with the ISU women's basketball team.

Frese sat right behind "Wyld Bill," an ISU women's basketball fan known for his crazy antics at each game — home or away.

"Out of every seat in the arena, I had to pick this one," Frese thought.

She took her eyes off the enthusiastic fan, attempting to block out his voice. She looked around.

Frese noticed just how many seats she could have chosen.

“There was nobody in the gym,” Frese said.

Only about 300 people filled the 14,020 cardinal-colored seats that spread across Hilton.

The small clusters of fans in the arena that day probably didn't anticipate how quickly that would change. In Bill Fennelly’s first year as head coach, nobody, including Frese, knew how much the ISU women’s basketball team would grow in just four years.

She remembers the driveway where she used to hone her 3-point shooting skill. Her dad flattened the gradual slope but only in one spot — right at the top of the key.

Frese stood at that spot forever during her childhood. She

38

Stacy Frese

Frese's dad must have known that she was destined to shoot the long ball.

would dribble the ball a few times, her eyes fixed on the basket straight in front of her, then she would jump and put the ball through the net over and over and over.

The position on the court was her sweet spot — and she wore out the net with that same shot until she left for college.

It was how she became one of the best 3-point shooters in ISU history.

Besides taking advantage of that spot, Frese had a more important method to her madness.

She recognized at an early age that she wasn’t the strongest player on the court, nor the fastest, nor the tallest.

But she excelled at one aspect of basketball. “[Shooting] was something that I could control,” Frese said. ”You can’t control how fast you are or how strong. You can to a point, but you’re born with that or you’re not.”

Frese's 3-point shooting practice would pay off, eventually making her an essential cog in Fennelly’s offense at Iowa State.

While Fennelly explains his beginning at Iowa State in 1995, he still points to the original box score from his first game as head coach.

The ragged edges of the paper rest in a frame hanging just to the right of Fennelly’s desk.

The outcome: an 82-55 victory against Idaho State. The attendance: 310 people.

When Fennelly arrived at Iowa State in 1995, fresh off a successful tenure at Toledo, the ISU women’s basketball program struggled to find success.

“I guess that’s why the job was open,” Fennelly said.

Fennelly and his wife, Deb, marketed and changed the culture around the team.

He reached out to spread his vision for the future of the program.

Fennelly spoke to groups as small as five and as large as 1,000 — to anyone who was willing to listen.

After his first season in which he won 17 of 27 games — one less win than his predecessor in the three previous seasons combined — people were willing to do just that.

“We had some success early,” Fennelly said. “I think that our kids started to understand, ‘Hey, OK. This is something that we can do.’”

Part of that message was stressing to his players that he wasn’t creating a five-year plan. He wanted success right away.

Fennelly preached to recruits they could be a part of developing something special, taking part in the first generation of successful ISU women’s basketball.

“We had to find people who believed in people who had a vision,” Fennelly said. “We didn’t have a history to show them, so we had to sell vision and talk about the possibility. And luckily we found a few kids that could do that.”

But there was one player he and his coaching staff kept their eyes on while recruiting. She was a freshman from Cedar Falls, Iowa, who could shoot the 3-pointer as well as anybody for the University of Iowa.

There wasn’t any doubt in Frese’s mind about where she wanted to transfer to when head coach Vivian Stringer left the Iowa women’s basketball program for Rutgers in 1996.

Stringer was the reason Frese had chosen the Hawkeyes over other teams in the first place.

Frese’s sister was an assistant coach at Iowa State.

Fennelly, just starting to recruit the building blocks for a team that could hold a future, ran an offense that was almost tailor-made for Frese’s skill set.

Fennelly constructed his offense around speed and shooting, especially the 3-point shot — Frese’s strong suit.

Stacy Frese and Bill Fennelly

Frese meshed with Fennelly right away.

“I think he was just easier to talk to,” Frese said. “We had a lot in common.

We just hit it off.”

Frese was one of the first dominoes, as Fennelly calls them, to fall and create an atmosphere that would lead to the program’s success. She was the perfect storm.

“It’s one of those things where certain people come along in your life and really change things,” Fennelly said.

“And Stacy changed this program probably forever.”

Frese walked back onto the court at Hilton Coliseum where she watched her sister coach just a year before.

But, once again, it wasn’t in an ISU uniform. She was in her street clothes.

Because of NCAA transfer rules, Frese had to sit out the entire 1996-1997 season.

“The games were not fun because you want to be on the court and be a part of all that,” Frese said.

In the year off, Frese was able to improve her game in ways that were not possible before. Just like when she was growing up, Frese wasn’t the

39

biggest or fastest player on the team.

That year allowed her to grow — physically and mentally.

Frese also participated on the scout team, taking on the role of the opponent’s best player.

“I just practiced, played hard and did my thing,” Frese said. “I never had a bad game that whole year.”

When Fennelly thinks back to the teams he built in the 1998-2000 seasons, one thing comes to his mind first.

“The fit of players and the fit of personalities was maybe unlike any other group that we’ve had here,” Fennelly said.

Fennelly clamored about how his whole team was a perfectly cogged machine that ran on trust and dedication.

Along with Frese came Monica Huelman. Then came Megan Taylor the next year and Angie Welle the next.

What separated this influx of talent

from others in the nation was the exceptional chemistry that came with it.

Fennelly remembers two things from March 20, 1999.

“We’ve never had a team — and we’ll never have a team — that was this close off the court and continues to be,” Fennelly said. “And I think that connection where they truly, truly cared about one another made them a better team, and I think that’s very unique.”

The Cyclones were set to play No. 1 Connecticut in Iowa State’s first-ever Sweet 16 appearance. Only five teams faced the Huskies that season and left with a win.

The chemistry carried onto the hardwood. “[Chemistry matters] in a team sport especially, when you know your teammate is going to work their butt off and do everything they can to have your back,” Frese said. “Just playing hard for each other. That makes a huge difference.”

The teams lived up to the test time and time again, making NCAA tournament appearances in each season from 1996 to 1998.

It was put to a bigger test during a Sweet 16 matchup in 1999.

THE WIN

But this day was special.

The game was set for the early morning in Cincinnati, Ohio. Fennelly walked out of the locker room and was stopped by a security guard.

“He said, ‘Coach, if loose is good, I think you are in good shape,’” Fennelly said. “I don’t know why, but that stuck with me forever.“ The team certainly played loose, and not in a good way.

“We actually didn’t play that great,” Fennelly said. “But we hung around.”

Iowa State stayed within six points with just less than 5 minutes remaining in the game.

Huelman shot a high-arching 3-point-

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er that sailed through the net flawlessly. Then Tracy Gahan netted one.

Frese hit one.

As quickly as the scoreboard ticked off seconds, the Cyclones came roaring back.

Two more successful 3-point shots later, and the Cyclones found themselves in the lead during the fleeting minutes of the game.

That’s when Fennelly’s second memory enters.

Connecticut had narrowly made the Sweet 16. In its previous game, against Xavier, the Huskies had trailed most of the way, but they had charged back and moved on to the next round. “[Xavier] could have knocked them out, but they didn’t,” Fennelly said.

“Not even saying a word, the players were like, ‘We’re going to finish this.

We’re going to finish this.’”

Not only did the Cyclones hold on for one of the biggest wins in program history, it also marked the beginning

of the program as a national powerhouse.

Fennelly’s hard work to build the program from the ground up, combined with Frese and her teammates playing their hearts out, paid off.

“A lot of people who followed our program say that’s the signature win,” Fennelly said. “I don’t really buy into that a whole lot, but that would be it.”

Although the Cyclones would fall in the Sweet 16 in 2000, below its expectations, the Cyclones still notched a Big 12 Championship — their first.

Players came and went during Fennelly’s next 15 years as head coach, but that team with Frese at the helm has remained etched in his mind.

“I remember telling my wife when those guys were done, ‘I should just quit,’ because that would never get any better,” Fennelly said. “It’s been good, but it’s not been better.”

Frese stepped out of the locker room near the end of the 1999-2000 season as a senior. Her time was drawing to an end at Iowa State.

Fennelly won 111 games and led the team to four straight NCAA tournament appearances during his first five seasons.

Just five years before, the Hilton Coliseum crowd numbered in the 300s. Now, more than 10,000 people flooded the stadium.

But there isn’t any way that Fennelly would take credit for all that success.

If anything, he barely had a hand in it.

Frese was already cemented in ISU women’s basketball history. She finished her career with two All-American awards and four tournament appearances, including the famous 1999 tournament run.

“When [the team] says, ‘That was my coach ...,’” Fennelly paused, his voice wavering. “I’m very, very proud of that.

That’s something that I’ll take to my grave and really be honored to say that in some, very, very small way, I had a piece of the success they had.

41

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42

HELPING HALLICE the mentors who molded the man

B

asketball has always been Hallice Cooke's number one priority.

His dad, Robert Cooke, used to think Hallice would get burned out by the time he was 14 years old because putting up 1,000 shots a day is physically and mentally grueling.

For Hallice Cooke the game of basketball has always been his number one priority. His dad used to think he'd get burned out by the time he was 14 years old because putting up 1,000 shots a day is physically and mentally grueling.

WORDS BY BEN VISSER

He thought Hallice would discover girls and that would be the end of basketball.

That didn't happen. Hallice elected to miss his girlfriend’s sweet 16 party because he had a game the next day.

"He had no time for the party," Robert Cooke said. "He was like, ‘I have to go home, I have to get up in the morning, I have a game. Case closed.’ That was the end of that girlfriend. The game was always bigger.”

Hallice has relied on that work ethic and dedication to get to where he is today. And mentors helped along the way.

43

ROBERT COOKE “At 58 he still gets up and works,” Hallice said. “He hasn’t changed a bit.”

His father is an accountant for the fashion company Alexander Wang and works almost 24/7 to provide for his family.

“I’ll get to the computer and start working before I go to the bathroom in the morning,” Robert said.

Robert has instilled that work ethic in his son.

Hallice would persuade his dad to rebound for him and as punishment for making him rebound, Robert would

demand that he make 20 shots in a row, all-net. If the ball touched the rim, it was considered a miss, and he had to start all over.

There were times Hallice was out there for hours. He loved it.

“I think that’s why I’m such a good shooter,” Hallice said.

Robert wasn’t so thrilled that his son enjoyed his punishment.

“He would miss on purpose,” Robert said. “He would purposefully try some ridiculously off-balance shot so he could start all over again. He would get to 17 or 18 and he would

miss. He would turn around and say, ‘C’mon Dad, snap it, snap it; your passes need to be harder.’”

But Hallice is one of those guys you have to turn off the lights to get them to leave the gym.

“I think [Hallice] has a greater passion [for basketball] than I do [for my work]," Robert said. "I’ve told him several times to just give it up.”

The first time Robert told Hallice to hang up his sneakers was when Hallice was a freshman in high school and he played for all three teams at basketball powerhouse St. Anthony’s in Jersey City, N.J.

COACH BOB HURLEY “Going to St. Anthony’s you can’t have [a hot-head] kind of mentality.

You won’t make it there,” Hallice said.

“Coach Hurley is a demanding coach.

Discipline-wise, he ran it like a college program. If you’re doing anything body-language-wise, he’s kicking you out of the gym.”

44

Hallice would let his passion for basketball reign over his emotions, and he wore his emotions on his sleeve.

He was asked to leave the gym a few times.

Hurley said he doesn’t remember any of these instances specifically because he’s kicked so many kids out of

the gym. The worst thing he can do in the eyes of the players is take away their privilege of playing.

“When you do go out the door, it’s to get you to really look at what’s going on, whether it’s not being able to control your emotions or not being a good teammate," Hurley said.

“With Hallice, he wanted to be successful so bad he was an emotional wreck at times," he said.

"You could just see how things were going by the way he was carrying himself. And he’s grown. I think now, when he plays, he’s very composed and has good control of his emotions.”

Hurley is unquestionably one of the top basketball coaches in the nation.

His teams have won 27 New Jersey State championships, four national championships and he’s sent a multitude of players to Division-I basketball.

But none of those proved the key reason that Hallice ended up at St.

Anthony’s.

It was all about getting his emotions in check.

“With Coach Hurley, it’s his way or the highway.

There are no other options,” Robert said.

Hallice bought in.

KYLE ANDERSON It was his “big bro,” Kyle Anderson, who helped him between the lines.

"Kyle’s not a guy who shows his emotions when he’s out there playing," Hallice said.

Anderson, a first-round draft pick by the San Antonio Spurs in 2014, plays with a lot of composure.

He doesn’t let things rattle him, but sometimes he needs what Hallice has — that extra motivation.

The fire that fueled Hallice helped Kyle get that extra edge, and the poise and patience that Kyle possessed was helpful to Hallice in learning how to control his passion.

While they were emotional opposites on the court, they both had the drive to be great.

When they both are back in Union City, N.J., they will get together with their old group of friends and go to the gym to play basketball.

However, when their other friends are playing pick-up games, they are in the gym to work and get better.

“They’re pretty much inseparable when they’re both home,” Robert said.

“It’s kind of annoying some days, because I always will tell him, ‘What do you come here for? You didn’t come home to see your parents, you’ve

been with Kyle the whole time.’”

The best part about Anderson, Hallice said, is that he hasn't changed even though he left college early and was a first-round pick.

“This is the same kid that’s been coming back and forth all these years," Robert said. "You cannot tell this kid plays in the NBA.” Anderson isn’t Hallice's only NBA influence.

There was one more.

45

DARRYL DAWKINS “I came out of the game for something, and I looked mad or angry,” Hallice said. “He came over and said, ‘Hey man,’ [and] put his arm around me, ‘You’re gonna be all right, man.

Stay patient and calm down; you gotta keep your cool.’

ning of the influence the gentle giant had on the kids he was around.

surgery. He was still the same guy. We just picked up right where we left off.

Dawkins was probably the best thing to happen to Hallice, not so much mentoring him as calmING him down, Robert said.

“That’s one thing that stuck with me, as well,” Hallice said. “He [was] always ready to help somebody.”

The second time Robert told Hallice to hang up his shoes was when he got the hip surgeries.

“I’m happy I got to share that last moment with him. That was the last time I got to see him and spend time with him, but I’m glad I got that to look back on — another moment when I was down, and he just picked me right up and made me laugh.”

Darryl “Chocolate Thunder” Dawkins died Aug. 27, 2015.

The medical setback may have been a blessing in disguise, though, because Hallice was back in New Jersey rehabbing when he went to a high school basketball game.

The NBA great served Sports U, Hallice’s AAU program, as an ambassador, coach, mentor and anything else the program needed.

Dawkins saw that Hallice had a love and desire for basketball, but Hallice would get down on himself easily.

Dawkins would crack a joke or tell a funny story to lift Hallice’s spirits.

His calm nature was just the begin-

Hallice had to sit out last season due to NCAA transfer rules and because of his hip surgeries.

As a freshman at Oregon State Hallice posted a team high 46 percent from 3-point range while dishing out 2.5 assists per game, good for second on the team.

Hallice said he’s more of a combo guard than a clear-cut point guard or shooting guard.

He loves dishing out assists and creating open shots for other players, but he isn’t afraid to pull up from long range and get a few buckets for himself.

“He had this game that he loved so much taken away from him for the first time in his life for an extended period of time,” Robert said. “That was like, ‘What would I do if there was no more basketball?’ That thought hit him and it hit him hard.”

Robert Cooke lives to see his son play basketball.

Hallice said he loves the opportunity to bring his dad joy on the basketball court, and while he sat out last

46

That’s when he talked to Darryl Dawkins for the last time.

“Just being with Darryl, he had his kids with him, he was laughing, he had a funny outfit … just standing out,” Hallice said.

“Just having the opportunity to be around Darryl again when I had the

season, Robert was devoid of that happiness.

“He loves me no matter what. Seeing my parents unhappy, that was probably the toughest part of this year — them not having that extra happiness.”

Hallice used the year off from basketball to grow as a person and as a family member.

He has two older siblings: his brother, Jarryd-Skylar, and his sister, Krystal, as well as a niece, Janae.

The year off from basketball was hard for the whole family, but it gave Hallice time to reflect.

Now when he’s home he will make himself available to people.

He’ll help out a former coach at a basketball camp or he’ll play a heated game of monopoly with his family.

“When people ask me ‘Who are you?’

I’m not going to say Hallice Cooke, the basketball player,” Hallice said.

“I’m Hallice Cooke, the uncle, brother, son. All those things matter just as much as basketball.”

Darryl Dawkins the basketball player was not as important as Darryl Dawkins the person, Hallice said. He was a positive energy who always had just the right story to tell.

“Just a beautiful person.” Hallice said. “I use this as a platform to affect others’ lives just as others have affected my life. Kyle, for example. Darryl, they affected my life. Even without basketball, me and Kyle would be the best of friends.

“This year off without having basketball, it showed me who I really was and more than that.”

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Our WAY OF

Words by Emily Barske

It all happened so fast.

Steve Prohm interviewed for the Iowa State University’s men’s basketball coaching job left open by the resignation of Fred Hoiberg on a Sunday morning in Atlanta, Ga. By 2 p.m. the same day, he was back at Murray State University, where he was the men’s basketball head coach.

He didn’t really have a good feel for the interview and wasn’t sure it had gone well, he told his wife, Katie, so leaving to coach at Iowa State was no longer on their minds.

They enjoyed a typical Sunday afternoon. But at 8 p.m., Steve’s agent called.

“The athletic director is going to call you and offer you the job, and he’s going to come over in the morning, so you’d better say yes if this is what you want,” his agent said.

Within 10 minutes, ISU Athletics Director Jamie Pollard called and

48

offered Prohm the head coaching position. He told Prohm to expect him at the Prohms’ home the next morning to get his answer.

Steve and Katie stayed up all night weighing the decision. Steve had been in Murray for nearly a decade. It had been Katie’s home, well, forever.

Her family was there; her friends were there; the school district she attended and her alma mater, Murray State, were there; her job teaching sixth grade at Calloway County Middle school was there; her life was there.

Cass was a mere 3 months old. Katie’s mom had died less than a year earlier.

Katie would have to quit her teaching job. It would be another big change at a time when everything in their lives was changing.

Four years earlier, when they were dating, Steve had been offered another job and he ended up not taking it. That was the moment,

Far left: (From left to right) Kim, Giselle, Ashly, and Katie having a discussion over lunch Left: T.J. Otzelberger and his wife Alison with their two children.

though, when the thought of leaving Murray State was planted in the back of her mind.

Now another opportunity beckoned.

“He tried to be very considerate that it was my home,” Katie said. “I tried to continually reassure him that my home is with him. Even though I love Murray, my home is with you. If this is something we need to do for us, we’ll go, and it will be good.”

Pollard arrived at their home at 10 a.m. Monday. By 2 p.m., the Prohms — Steve, Katie and their son, Cass — were on their way to Ames.

The news conference was on Tuesday.

Katie watched Steve from the audience, holding Cass in her arms.

She was proud of him. She knew all the hard work he had done since his first coaching job at Centenary 16 years ago, when he lived in the basement of a residence hall and got paid with a meal ticket. During the news conference, he choked up, which made her choke up.

After he was formally introduced to Iowa State and the media, Katie and Cass flew back home to Murray.

They decided that, while Steve got settled in Ames, she and Cass would stay in Murray to get the closure she

They come from

different

backgrounds.

needed. They would join him in Ames in October.

“It was tough in the regard that we missed Steve,” Katie said. “Steve felt really guilty for leaving us, especially Cass. I kept telling him, ‘It’s OK, you’re creating a better life for us. Cass isn’t going to remember this.’

“I think I probably needed a little bit of time in Murray to wrap my head around it,” she said. “If I had to move within the month, that would’ve been very stressful and emotional for me.

So actually, for as much as we missed Steve, I think it worked out because I got to have some closure and say my goodbyes and not feel rushed.”

Phone calls, video calls, meeting in person every three weeks — and, most importantly, they said, their faith in God — got Katie and Steve through the four months apart. Katie could count on one hand the number of times she and Cass would see Steve in person.

“At the end of the day, it was going to be a positive career move for him, so we went for it,” she said.

Coaches’ partners are a breed apart.

Their role is easy to overlook.

The families of the six ISU men’s basketball coaches have come to Ames from all directions.

Because of the six women’s hectic schedules, they met in two groups to talk about their roles. Alison and Paula were interviewed individually on different days. Katie, Ashly, Giselle and Kim found time to meet for an interview together.

As they talked, one thing became clear: Though they each have strong identities and interests of their own, they recognize their partners’ jobs as more than just sources of income.

Those jobs affect everything in their families’ lives. From important moments — such as the births of their children — to the mundane — such as eating family dinner, their lives are consumed by basketball.

For them, it’s not just a game, it’s a way of life.

“The coaches’ wives story hasn’t been told before, so we want to talk about what that role entails,” I said to the group.

“How much time do you have?”

Giselle said with a snicker. Katie and Ashly laughed in agreement.

We were sitting in a corner booth against the back wall of Bar La Tosca, the restaurant’s gray walls and small display lights giving it a rustic but modern feel.

The women had been talking about their children and their plans to get together at the Robinsons’ house for a Halloween party that weekend before the conversation turned to describing the role of a coach’s partner.

“I think you have to be very independent,” Katie said.

Katie is the wife of head coach Steve Prohm, who came from the head coaching position at Murray State. Kim is the wife of assistant coach Daniyal Robinson, who was previously at Iowa State before taking other coaching opportunities and is now returning for his first season under Prohm. Alison is the wife of assistant coach TJ Otzelberger, who was previously at Iowa State and is returning for his first year under Prohm. Paul is the wife of assistant coach William Small, who worked under Prohm at Murray State. Ashly is the wife of special assistant to the coach Neill Berry, who came from being an assistant at High Point University. Giselle, is the wife of director of basketball operations Micah Byars, who is in his fifth season with Iowa State.

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She was holding 7-month-old Cass.

He was snuggled in a warm, knit onesie, all prepared for the cold weather the Prohms had been warned about.

“That’s not something that when you get married you think, ‘Oh, I have to be independent.’ That has to be who you are before your marriage,” Katie said. “You have to enjoy being by yourself, taking the reins and leading the ship at home.”

Her response hung in the air for a few moments, the silence broken only by James Brown’s “I Feel Good” piped in through the restaurant speakers.

“I’m trying to think of what it doesn’t entail,” Ashly said.

“For me, I think it means really knowing what being a team player is,” Giselle said. “A lot of people think a marriage, even without basketball, is 50-50, and it’s not.

“With basketball, especially during the season, you go into a season yourself at home … where you think, ‘You know, I’m going to carry a lot of this work alone from here,’” she said.

“As a new wife in this business, it took me a little time to understand.

“At the beginning, I came across more negative — ‘Oh, he’s gone again.’ And now I look forward to the times he’s there, and, when he’s gone, I know this is what we’re going to do and this is the life we’ve chosen,” Giselle said. “When you’re on board with that, it makes it work.”

That resonated with Ashly.

“It is an adjustment,” she said. “When Neill and I met, I was coaching. I was an assistant volleyball coach, and I had played volleyball in college.

I thought, ‘Easy peasy. I’ve always played, I’ve always coached, I know exactly what this is,’ and I didn’t.

“I knew what it meant to coach and be on the road, and I think that did help,” Ashly said. “I knew how important recruiting was, and I knew why he was still on the phone outside in the driveway at 11 o’clock at night.

And I knew why, as soon as the kids went to bed, he went right back to work. I understood why he had to do

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Coaches’ wives are a breed apart. that. But it still didn’t always make everything easy.

“You have to learn to be completely selfless to be a coach’s wife,” she said. “You have to be confident enough to know that you are the top priority in your husband’s life, but you’re going to have to take a back seat to the game a lot of times. That’s just the reality of it.”

Moments later, Kim walked up to the booth and apologized for her late arrival, then quickly joined the conversation.

“When Daniyal and I first started dating, he was a grad assistant, and he was like, ‘You know I’m going to be a coach right?’ And I was like, ‘OK, I have no idea what that means. I don’t even know if you’re going to be here next week,’” she said.

“He started to travel, and we had a 13-month-old for our first move,” she said. “It was difficult at times, but you get your own routine and your own system.

“It’s been a good life; I don’t see him doing anything else.”

And with the table set for conversation, they told their stories.

The Ohio Valley Tournament, in which Murray State was a favorite, was scheduled for March 4-7, 2015.

Selection Sunday was March 15. Cass Prohm was due March 17, the same day the NCAA Tournament would begin.

Talk about March Madness.

As soon as Steve and Katie learned Cass’ due date, they knew postseason timing wasn’t in their favor. Murray State was undefeated in conference play and had high hopes for a deep run in the NCAA tournament.

Early in Katie’s pregnancy, they discussed inducing the baby. Their doctor saw no reason they couldn’t, as long as it didn’t put Katie or the baby at risk. They decided to induce a month early.

Katie wanted to go to the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament in Nashville, Tenn., if her doctor approved. Though her doctor planned to also be at the tournament, he had no professional rights to treat her in a Nashville hospital if she were to go into labor.

Katie was conscientious about not jumping up and down, but for the most part she enjoyed the games, sitting next to her father and sister-inlaw.

Ashly, who had no idea she would meet Katie that summer when their husbands landed positions at Iowa State, was watching the championship game on television. Ashly noticed Katie in the crowd and worried when one of her trips to the bathroom

lasted more than five minutes, and she was relieved when she saw Katie return to her seat.

Murray State won its first game against Morehead State 80-77 but lost the championship game in a nail-biter to Belmont, 88-87.

The Prohms had scheduled March 11 as the date to induce Cass, but they wouldn’t find out whether Murray State had earned a spot in the NCAA tournament until Selection Sunday on March 15.

So they went ahead with the delivery plan.

The birth went well, but Murray State didn’t make the NCAA tournament.

The team did make the NIT, and the first game on the next Tuesday was played in Murray. Katie and 6-day-old Cass watched from home.

Murray State won, but Steve had to leave Katie and Cass to coach two more games, one in Oklahoma and one in Virginia.

It wasn’t the first or last time Katie’s independence would be important.

But she also finished revamping their old kitchen table. It was the first table Giselle and Micah had purchased when they got married and set up their first home together in Florida. The table was well built, as if it were symbolic of their 13 years of marriage.

It was in great condition, but it didn’t match their current taste so they decided to give it a face lift. Giselle painted blue over the table’s oak finish and black over the chairs.

It was ready.

After a day of school and activities to get to, the kids usually ate dinner at 5. During the season, Micah rarely made it home in time to eat dinner with them.

Giselle always made an effort to wait to eat with Micah, but some nights she ate alone because of how late he was.

But tonight was different.

The kids waited to eat until after 5. Micah happened to wrap up early, and they found themselves sharing a family dinner.

When they all sat down together, they stared at each other for a few moments. It was such a rare occurrence that they couldn’t just launch into their food.

Giselle Byars was not a morning person, but, after a few months, she got the hang of getting up at 5 a.m.

“It was such a special time because he had made it home for dinner; we had our new painted table,” Giselle said. “To me it wasn’t a coincidence that it just happened to be that night.”

“I find that I have to schedule me-time, or it does not happen.

Unfortunately, I have to schedule it when the sun’s not up.”

Working out is not just a me-time activity for Giselle; it’s her job.

She was a personal trainer before morphing that into online health coaching. She coaches people through their weight-loss journeys and posts inspirational items to Instagram (@coached_by_giselle) and other social media accounts.

Top left: Ashly and Neill Berry

The dinner lasted only 15 minutes, but it was 15 minutes that Giselle cherished. For those 15 minutes, their lives didn’t revolve around basketball.

with their children

Above: Steve and Katie Prohm with their son Cass

It’s important to have something to focus on when Micah is away, she said. Even when he’s not away, his days are long.

But then some days are special. This one started off as usual.

Giselle got up to enjoy her me-time. Her 3-year-old son went to preschool, her 7-year-old daughter went to school and Micah went to work. She worked on her coaching.

Alison Otzelberger woke up at 3 a.m. on St. Patrick’s Day 2012 to find T.J. already awake. He couldn’t sleep; his mind was on that day’s game in the third round of the NCAA Tournament against the Kentucky Wildcats.

The two of them lay in bed and watched game video on his laptop until T.J. understood the Wildcats: what plays they ran in certain situations, how certain players performed and everything else he could absorb.

She liked watching him analyze the game and seeing what he picked up on.

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“I put my two cents in, even though I don’t think he listens to me,” Alison laughed, recalling that night and how long the next day felt. “It’s fun that we have that connection because, if I didn’t have an interest in basketball, I just don’t really know what we would do since it takes up so much of our time.”

As a former ISU women’s basketball star who played in the WNBA, a basketball-shaped world was nothing new to Alison. But now she had a new role: the coach’s partner, the support system, the positive voice among a sea of critics.

Sometimes she tries to guess which recruit T.J.’s on the phone with -because he talks to them so much that she gets to know them, too.

She talks about each game with him.

Sometimes support means letting him vent, and sometimes it means joking around with him about “listening to a professional” when she wants him to hear her input.

“It’s definitely a positive to have a wife that understands not only the schedule, the time, the emotional-

Left: Kim and Daniyal Robinson with their children; Reece, Devyn and Reid enjoying an Iowa State football game Until it happened a third time.

mental investment,” T.J. said.

“Then obviously there’s the dynamic of it with all of our wives if you choose to go down that path of, ‘Hey, we weren’t guarding pick and roll very well tonight.’ They know what you’re talking about, and there’s something comforting there, whereas somebody else may not be able to connect on that level.”

The Houston Cougars had lost back-to-back games on last-second shots. Nothing was more frustrating than having the games in hand and then losing them at the buzzer.

Kim Robinson took the kids — Devyn, Reece and Reid — to the third game, and, when the other team hit the lastsecond shot, she wanted to get out of there immediately.

“Kids, let’s go,” Kim said, shuffling them along, making their way to the car.

After losses, they didn’t wait for Daniyal.

Kim glanced at him as the Cougars went through the tunnel to the locker room and gave him a look that let him know they were headed home.

The boys, ages 2 and 4, always wanted to go back to the locker room with their dad, which they got to do after a win, while their daughter,

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of her eye she caught a glimpse of a boy about 10 years old riding his bike passed the house.

Right: Giselle Byars and Micah with their children.

As she continued to glance out the window, she noticed that he kept riding his bike back and forth, back and forth on the sidewalk and stopping in front of their house. It was as if he were pacing, guarding the house, waiting for something to happen.

Devyn, got to stay with mom.

As they were exiting the arena, a fan stopped her.

But after the team’s third close loss, she needed to be the inspirational coach.

“Does he need help?” she thought.

Finally, Ashly stepped outside and asked the boy what he was doing.

This was a tough one. She texted Daniyal, “Honey, I’m sorry for the loss.

We’ll get them next time. You still have your No.1 recruits.”

Kim reminded him that they’d made it through tougher times, that basketball can take your emotions on a roller-coaster ride.

“I heard your husband is a new coach for the basketball team,” the boy shouted from the sidewalk.

She and the kids are Daniyal’s No. 1 recruits. Collectively they call themselves Team D Rob.

“We are a basketball family,” Kim said. “Basketball brought us here, so I can’t complain.”

Two years ago, when Devyn got a smartphone, they started to use #TeamDRob with an Instagram account.

Daniyal uses group texting to send Devyn and Kim a Team D Rob thought of the day meant to inspire them.

Just a few weeks after moving into their new home in Ames, Ashly Berry was playing with her 4-year-old son Ty in the front room. Out of the corner

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“Thanks,” she replied sluggishly.

“What was I supposed to say to that?” she thought.

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“It’s going to be a tough night at home,” the fan said.

“Yes, he is,” Ashly shouted back, slightly amused by the situation.

The little boy dropped his bike, flew up the driveway and plopped down on their patio chair. He began talking a mile a minute, telling Ashly everything he knew and loved about the ISU men’s basketball team — about how exciting last season was, about the players whose names she

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hadn’t yet learned and about how pumped he was for the upcoming season.

kinds of things.

These dinners and games were her opportunity to communicate her role. She made sure the parents knew she would treat their sons as if they were hers — and she did.

“I didn’t even have to invite him or anything,” she said, recalling his 20-minute commentary. “It was really funny and really cute.”

Interest in her husband’s job didn’t just come from 10-year-old boys.

In her Thursday morning Bible study at Cornerstone Church, group members were asked to share what they could do all day, every day and never get tired of it. Two women, about her age, answered that they could watch Iowa State basketball.

At that time, the women didn’t know Ashly’s husband was a coach for the team. But a few sessions later, Ashly found herself answering the typical questions that she preferred to avoid.

She wanted to be known for herself, not for what her husband did.

Why did she move to Ames? “For her husband’s job.” What does he do? “He works for the university.”

Oh yeah, what area? “The athletic department.”

Eventually, they found out Neill was a coach, and the grilling began.

They were so excited for the upcoming season, they knew all the team stats, and they were diehard Iowa State fans.

She was used to High Point University in North Carolina, where High Point basketball fans also rooted for Duke basketball and UNC basketball, and Wake Forest Baskeball.

Iowa State basketball is different, though, and the 10-year-old boy and the women from her Bible study showed her the magnitude of Cyclone Nation and Hilton Magic.

“That was my first glimpse into the fact that Iowa State fans are serious fans and getting myself geared up into being in the Ames community,” Ashly said.

“Miss Paula, I really need some of those beans!”

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“They are trusting you with their children,” Paula said. “It’s a big responsibility, and you want to fulfill their expectations.”

Above: Paula Small laughs as she talks about her times at Murray State.

Isaiah Caanan, who played for the Philadelphia 76ers, had come back to visit his alma mater, Murray State.

She definitely fulfilled Payne’s mom’s expectations.

When Payne walked across the stage at the Barclays Center in New York as the 14th overall pick in the 2015 NBA, his whole family was in the audience, including William and Paula.

Paula Small had met Isaiah during his junior year, which was William’s first year of coaching at Murray State.

During a team potluck dinner, Paula made baked beans, using her special recipe with meat mixed in.

The six women continued to share their tales of the ongoing journey.

She noticed that the beans filled Isaiah’s dish. “Is that all he’s going to eat?” she thought. She took note of his fondness for the beans and began setting aside a separate dish for Isaiah whenever she made them.

“It’s a stressful job, and sometimes (being a coach’s partner) is just being a listening ear, offering encouragement, which sounds simple,” she said. “But in this type of profession, it can be a very daunting task, especially right now.

“I was glad that that was something he remembered, something special that I did for him,” Paula said. “Those things, as a wife, make you feel like you’ve had your impact.”

Paula’s role in supporting players was stressed to their families long before they chose to play at Murray State.

To many fans, the way players are treated depends on whether they win or lose. But Paula saw her role as much more than that. She wanted the players and their families to know that she would be there to support them, no matter the circumstances.

That became obvious during the time William was recruiting Cameron Payne, a star point guard who now plays in the NBA. Before he committed to Murray State, Paula and William went out to eat with his family. She and Cameron’s mom clicked, and they talked about all

“How many people are judged in their job for a win or loss every single day?” Katie asked.

“When you’re a new coach in a new town and you’re trying to feel your way through everything, there’s a lot of uncertainty,” Katie said.

One certainty about basketball, though, is that it’s uncertain.

Alison was uncertain about whether T.J. would make it back from a tournament in time for the birth of their twins. Kim was uncertain about whether Daniyal would be home to celebrate their wedding anniversary.

They all are uncertain about where their husbands’ next job offers could take them.

But none of them would have it any other way.

“There is so much more to life than basketball,” Giselle said. “But this is our way of life.”

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Jadda Buckley

A Break in the Words by Kevin Horner

ACTION The worst-case scenario haunted Jadda Buckley.

The Big 12 season had begun. The Cyclones were counting on a healthy Buckley to aid them in their pursuit of a Big 12 title. Buckley was on the same page, but to her dismay, her body was not.

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matter if her body was sore. She was just very dedicated.”

The dedication led to a career at Mason City High School — where Jadda notched four all-conference and two all-state selections — and eventually to Iowa State, where she earned a unanimous selection to the Big 12 All-Freshman Team in 2014.

It was that same dedicated player who sat with Fennelly and O’Mara, numb with frustration and anger. This time around, her circumstances did prevent her from playing, a reality she initially wasn’t able to accept.

A stress injury in her foot that started during the first seven games of the season was re-aggravated in an 86-84 loss at Texas Christian University on Jan. 21. After the initial injury, Buckley rested for four days, but this time, more drastic measures were needed.

Head coach Bill Fennelly and athletic trainer Denise O’Mara sat their second-year guard down, Buckley still clinging to hope for good news. But she knew what was coming.

“We have to look at the bigger picture here,” Fennelly said to a dejected Buckley. “We have to look at your future.”

“We started lying about the [time],” Mary said. “We just had to make up a number that would satisfy her. She just was never satisfied, so we knew she was going to play some sport.”

Buckley began as a soccer player, never leaving the house without her oversized water jug on her arm. It was the summer of 2006, and the 11-yearold Buckley was ready to take the next step in her soccer career.

Her parents found an Olympic development camp in Des Moines, so on the day of tryouts, Jadda and her mom headed south on I-35 for Des Moines.

And just like that, Buckley’s sophomore season ended. The thought of a season away from the court hurt much more than the pain in her right foot.

On that same day, Jadda’s best friend, Maya, was trying out for the All Iowa Attack, the AAU basketball team in Ames. Maya and her father, who coached the team, had suggested that Jadda try out.

Young Jadda Buckley rushed around her living room, trying to beat the clock, dipping and diving around obstacles in a race against herself.

So, on the way to Des Moines, the Buckleys decided to exit the freeway in Ames, and she ended up making the team.

She had built these obstacle courses around her house in Mason City, Iowa, with the goal of continually beating her previous records, which were monitored by a stopwatch. Buckley’s parents, Darren and Mary, ran the stopwatch and relayed the results to their daughter after every attempt.

“It’s really like a fluke thing,” Buckley said. “I was not a basketball player whatsoever.”

Most of the time, Jadda was not satisfied.

“It didn’t matter if she wasn’t feeling good,” Mary said. “It didn’t matter if she had a lot of homework. It didn’t

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The orange ball quickly replaced the black-and-white one. The trips to Ames became more frequent, sometimes five or six days a week.

“It sucked,” Buckley said. “I was pissed off. I was full of anger. I instantly called my mom and cried to her. It took me a while to adjust.”

Buckley had never before had an injury keep her off the court for an extended period of time. Lexi Albrecht, who had been Buckley’s teammate since AAU ball in fifth grade, said Buckley was the player who “always played through injuries.”

In her second year at Iowa State, Buckley had assumed a larger role on the court for the Cyclones. That was no longer an option, and Buckley felt helpless.

“She was obviously very upset,” Albrecht said. “She cares so much about the team, so her sitting out from anything was just devastating.

The whole time, she just felt like she was letting everyone down.”

Her teammates, coaches and family members assured her she wasn’t.

Whether it was a brief, “keep your head up” from Fennelly or words of encouragement from her teammates, the people surrounding Buckley made sure she knew she wasn’t letting anyone down.

Perhaps Buckley’s biggest encourager and supporter was her mother.

Through listening to her daughter vent after receiving the news to taking her shopping after a “bad” doctor’s appointment, Mary Buckley did what she could to alleviate the pain that the process brought Jadda.

Her mother did give Jadda time to vent and process the news, but the anger and frustration had to end at some point. As Mary Buckley realized, this was a teachable time for Jadda, and complaining was not conducive to learning.

“...she just felt like she was letting everyone down.”

LEXI ALBRECHT

“You’ve got 24 hours to be mad about this,” Mary Buckley said to Jadda after her conversation with Fennelly and O’Mara. “Then you need to think of how you’re going to be a good teammate, how you’re going to be a leader and how you’re going to be a positive role model while you’re injured.”

“Coach is always saying, ‘Look for this option’ or ‘Pass to this girl,’ and I never could fully comprehend [that].

So I [could sit] back and hear what [Fennelly] was saying to Nikki [Moody] at the time, and I could look at it and be like, ‘Oh, I finally do see that your option that you’re telling us is actually open.’”

Buckley’s mindset began to shift. She became aware of the bigger picture, realizing that her health, even beyond basketball, was more important than trying to play through this injury.

By viewing the game “from a more mental perspective,” as Fennelly put it, Buckley used this period away from the court, this break in the action, as an opportunity to prepare.

Although she had always worked her body to its limits, Buckley now had a greater concern for her health, recognizing that “basketball ends for everyone.”

Buckley knew she would return to the court — in November 2015 — as a part of a young ISU team with underclassmen outnumbering upperclassmen. She would enter her third year to run the floor, with a larger leadership role placed on her shoulders.

Buckley’s perspective on the sideline began to shift as well. She had gained the on-court perspective of a guard within Fennelly’s system. Now, she began to see the court from Fennelly’s perspective.

“When you’re playing, you kind of have blinders on,” Buckley said.

The time to begin leading, as Buckley came to realize, was not after her foot was healthy again.

The time to lead was right then during her time on the sideline. Even though she didn’t put on that ISU

jersey every day, her teammates were still looking for a leader.

“This year, she had to take over the team,” Fennelly said. “If you’re selfish and worried about yourself, all these kids that are back [from last season] aren’t going to follow you. [She had to] establish herself moving forward, so that this year, her transition to her current role [would be] pretty easy.”

Buckley accepted her role and invested in her teammates from the sideline. She used the opportunity to improve the mental aspects of her game to better prepare her for the upcoming season, all while being able to see the bigger picture beyond her current situation.

Through the time away from the court, through all the missed games and time in therapy, through the good and bad doctor appointments and changes in perspective, Jadda remained Jadda.

“When you have something taken away from you, you view things differently,” Fennelly said. “I think she’s been smarter. She doesn’t do things to put herself at risk [anymore]. On that wall [in Sukup practice facility], there are a lot of really good guards on that list. Someday, she wants to have her picture up there, and I don’t think there’s any reason why she shouldn’t.”

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Josh Carper

Billy Fennelly

T.J. Otzelberger

OVER and BACK ISU men’s and women’s staffs work in unique collaboration Words by Max Dible Josh Carper and Billy Fennelly saw it coming.

Fennelly, who gave up basketball in the eighth grade.

The two future ISU employees — unaware of each other at the time — were faced with an unfortunate truth that haunts so many young, soonto-be-former athletes as they barrel toward the end of their senior years.

Carper had no medical issue to point to as the culprit for his athletic demise, except for maybe flat feet. Still he knew, as did Fennelly, that he wanted basketball to remain a central focus in his life.

When high school was over, so were their athletic careers.

Carper, the director of operations for the ISU women’s basketball team for the last eight seasons, started college in 2003, leveraging his connections to his high school coaches to get hired as a student manager with the men’s

“I’ll blame the end of my career on my heart defect because, of course, I’d be in the NBA without it,” laughed

team at Iowa State.

Fennelly, who has served as an assistant coach on the women’s team for the last five seasons, defected his freshman year to Iowa City.

He returned to Ames in 2004 and took a student manager’s job on the women’s side, working for his father, ISU coach Bill Fennelly In their sophomore year of college, Carper and the younger Fennelly bonded through mutual interest despite working for different ISU teams.

61

Their relationship epitomized a cooperation between the men’s and women’s basketball programs at Iowa State — one that makes the hoops environment in Ames special.

ISU men’s assistant coach and recruiting coordinator T.J. Otzelberger, who arrived on the ISU campus in 2006 and recently returned to Ames after two years coaching at Washington, noticed the cooperative nature between the programs immediately. And he missed it during his time on the West Coast.

“A lot of places, programs are competitive against each other, whether they’re fighting for gym time, fighting for attention, awards or accolades,” Otzelberger said. “I think this environment is unique because everybody is pulling for each other like we’re on the same team.”

Fennelly — who departed after graduation to coach at Maryland for a year, followed by two years in operations at Northwestern — also felt the pull to return to Ames for similar reasons.

“I grew up with this, but I was just some punk kid growing up spoiled rotten,” Fennelly said. “But you didn’t know you were spoiled rotten until you got a chance to go out and see other programs.”

“I grew up with this, but I was just some punk kid growing up spoiled rotten. But you didn’t know you were spoiled rotten until you got a chance to go out and see other programs.”

BILLY FENNELY

was no one else to do it. Team managers a decade ago were around the sixth person down in the hierarchy, Carper said. Now, because of an increase in staff numbers, they could be as low as 15th.

Carper and Fennelly learned early on that dedication was the key to turning a college job into a career, and so they sacrificed. Their social lives suffered in service of their professional aspirations.

“Carp and I were clipping anything and everything from VHS to DVD,” Fennelly said. “Now, they don’t even use DVDs. Now the video work is already done if you subscribe to this service, and everybody does.”

But the grind wasn’t without its charms and certainly wasn’t without its stories.

Fennelly and Carper’s student jobs as managers were more demanding and time-intensive than the positions are today, and the excess of responsibility fell on the shoulders of fewer student employees.

On numerous nights, Carper edited film until the early-morning hours, showered and went to class on no sleep. Video had to be cut, and there

“We landed at 3 a.m. in New York, and a coach’s newborn son needed food,” Carper remembered. “We were just a few 19-year-old kids wandering the streets of New York in the [early morning hours], a place none of us had ever been, searching for milk.”

Fennelly remembered another manager he and Carper befriended, referred to only as Mike, who used to be tasked with tending to the car of Wayne Morgan, the coach of the ISU men’s team at the time. He took full advantage of such opportunities.

“He’d go fill up Wayne’s Escalade with gas, then he’d roll down the windows and roll down Welch [Avenue] bumping music,” Fennelly laughed. “He’d take at least one loop.”

Mostly for Carper and Fennelly, though, the perks were friendship and solidarity.

“Monday nights, we’d go to Old Chicago around 10 p.m., and we’d eat half-price apps and drink cheap beer. We’d be writing plays down on a napkin,” Fennelly said. “We watched games and used ketchup bottles and salt shakers to set up plays on the table.”

The relationship they fostered would prove crucial to Carper’s ability to remain in Ames and would serve as another example of inter-program cooperation and exchangeability.

62

Otzelberger arrived at Iowa State during Carper’s final year as a student manager.

the men’s team. Then, Carper’s old friend Fennelly reached out.

Fennelly’s father had an open position for a director of basketball operations for the women’s team and an interest in Carper, whose position with the ISU men’s coaching staff had been fabricated just so he wouldn’t pull up stakes for another program.

When the season ended, Carper hoped to remain on staff as a graduate assistant under new head coach Greg McDermott, but no graduate assistant job was available.

Otzelberger and McDermott created the position of associate of operations and kept Carper on staff.

“It’s just an appreciation for what the other people do on a daily basis,” Carper said. “I switched from the men’s side to the women’s. There’s been a lot of that going back and forth — multiple others who started on one side and ended on the other.”

Needing a place to stay, Carper became Otzelberger’s roommate.

“We felt like Josh was invaluable; we were trying to find out every way we could keep him,” Otzelberger said.

“I obviously moved here single and had a bachelor pad, [so he moved in with me]. We were good friends, got along well, and it worked out for both of us, even though he had to live in a dungeon, basically.”

Otzelberger, influential as a Cyclone recruiter from the time of his hiring, spent a lot of time on the road but had few concerns about leaving Carper

unsupervised in his new home.

“Absolutely, I trusted him,” Otzelberger said. “I didn’t have anything for him to take.”

Carper spent nine months on a couch in an unfinished basement, eating takeout from The Café in north Ames, still hoping to continue his career with

The seamless transitions and cooperation between programs, which share the Sukup Basketball Complex in west Ames, are only possible because the basketball departments function as a coherent community with open lines of communication and shared goals.

“When you’re not at Iowa State, you come to appreciate so much more the closeness with the staffs, the department, the people in the community, the walking out to Hilton Coliseum,

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where you see how much people care and how important it is,” Otzelberger said. “You miss those things when you’re gone, and you appreciate it more when you’re back.”

Fennelly, who’s worked for three universities, more than Otzelberger’s two and Carper’s one, has the widest perspective — and couldn’t agree more.

“I’ve been to some really great places, but the support for Iowa State in Ames is honestly second to none,” Fennelly said.

“My dad is on his sixth men’s coach since he’s been here.

In terms of relationships with the men’s staff, the other two places I’ve been, I’ve never had a relationship like we’ve had here with [each] of the men’s coaches.”

The ISU basketball cooperative doesn’t stop at administrative collaboration and career transitions from one side to the other.

Coaches watch each other’s practices when possible and consult on plays.

“Whoever the head coach has been, whether it’s been McDermott, Fred Hoiberg or Steve Prohm, they’ve kind of looked at [Bill] Fennelly almost a little bit as a mentor,” Otzelberger said. “Coach Fennelly has been a head coach for 20 years, and he’s been highly successful for a long time.

“We’d be foolish to not capitalize on that.”

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65

REMEMBER ME,

COACH Words by

Trey Alessio

Latoja Schaben’s journey with Fennelly

66

One night during her freshman year at Toledo, Latoja Schaben felt all the stresses of life piling up — basketball, school, being away from home. She was taking it pretty hard.

“When I first started, I had no confidence, no self-esteem whatsoever,” Schaben said. “[My mom] promised me in a game we played that, every point you get, you get a dollar. I think I made $12 that day.”

to every song. Schaben sat there in silence. Fennelly whistled along for the rest of the hour-and-a-half drive back to Mansfield.

“I was like, ‘Man, this is a smart guy,’” Schaben said. “I didn’t say two words, so when Coach Fennelly initially met me, he thought I was the shyest person ever. Little did he know.”

During a high school all-star game at Ohio State, Schaben looked over and saw Fennelly watching her.

The clock struck 2 a.m. Schaben picked up the phone and called head coach Bill Fennelly. She was bawling.

“I don’t know if I can do this,” Schaben told him.

Fennelly drove over to Schaben’s residence hall.

“For him, as a head coach, to come over to my dorm at 2 a.m. and talk to me for an hour, it meant that he not only cared for me as a player, but as a person, too,” Schaben said. “He was like a dad away from home. It wasn’t just about basketball with him.”

Fennelly described Schaben as a kid whose family members hadn’t attended college, and she had to work hard in school.

“There were some challenges in her life, but she really appreciated people who cared about her,” Fennelly said.

That’s what made Schaben want to start playing basketball. She said that’s how she began to excel, even though her mom stopped giving Schaben money after her $12 game.

In high school, Schaben became a standout post player. Colleges noticed her athletic ability and started recruiting her.

Fennelly, now head coach of the ISU women’s team, was the head coach at Toledo at that time. He knew Schaben was teetering between Toledo and a junior college, so he drove to Mansfield to pitch her what Toledo had to offer.

“Would you rather play at a two-year school or three years?” Fennelly asked Schaben. She pondered it, and something finally clicked.

“It was that important that I played for him that he came down and saw me again,” Schaben said. “I felt like he not only cared about basketball, but he cared for me.”

Schaben — formerly Latoja Harris — was raised in Mansfield, Ohio. Her mom noticed how active she was and told Schaben that she should get involved with basketball.

Shortly after, Schaben made an official visit to Toledo. At that time, NCAA rules allowed high school coaches to take student-athletes on recruiting visits, and college coaches could drive them back home.

There wasn’t a girls’ team, so she played on boys’ basketball teams until seventh or eighth grade.

The car was silent. After a brief period of awkward silence, Fennelly turned on the radio. He began to whistle along

After Schaben dominated on the court, Fennelly handed her a letter of intent to Toledo — something also allowed at that time.

“Back then, I thought it was the biggest thing because that meant he actually cared for me and he wanted me to play for him,” Schaben said.

Her grades were not exactly where they needed to be, Schaben said, so Fennelly made the offer with faith that Schaben would improve her grades.

Schaben committed to Toledo, marking the start of a lasting relationship with Fennelly.

Some of the things Fennelly told Schaben that night at her residence hall during her freshman year have stuck with her for decades, she said. He told her to just relax and trust that everything would work out, advice she also applied to her game on the court.

She was a powerful, physical, inside presence. Schaben backed opponents down, attacked the goal, rebounded and ran the court.

Fennelly said there was not one bit of finesse in her game. She was always go, go, go, and sometimes she needed to relax.

“The more you hit [Schaben] and the more contact, the better,” Fennelly said. “I think the more you competed and challenged her, the better she got. Her game was better against the better people that we played against.”

67

Schaben rose to the challenge and became Fennelly’s best player at Toledo. She led the Rockets to the second round of the NCAA Tournament in 1991-1992 and finished her career with 1,466 points, which is eighth all-time at Toledo, and with 833 rebounds, which is sixth all-time at Toledo.

Schaben also holds the school and Mid-American Conference record for career field-goal percentage at .623, and she ranks second in blocked shots with 70 and rebounding average with 9.2 boards per game.

After her dominating career at Toledo, Schaben took her talents overseas.

She played professionally in Portugal, Italy, Finland and Turkey, enjoying Portugal’s breathtaking scenery and Finland’s down-to-earth people. While in Europe, Schaben averaged double figures in scoring and rebounding.

Even though everything was clicking on the court, Schaben still missed

68

home. She picked up the phone and called Fennelly.

“This is Latoja Harris. Do you remember me?’” Schaben said to Fennelly.

On the other side of the phone, Fennelly was cracking up. He thought it was hilarious that Schaben would think he’d forget who she was after two or three years. Fennelly broke the ice that had formed during the couple of years apart and offered encouragement, echoing his role during her first year at Toledo.

Schaben was ready to hang it up around 1996, but she didn’t want to be done with basketball completely.

She felt homesick and physically worn.

One day, Schaben called ISU assistant coach Jodi Steyer just to hear a familiar voice to cure her homesickness.

Steyer planted a seed, saying Fennelly might be looking for an assistant coach.

A light bulb went on. She picked up the phone and called Fennelly. She explained to him that she was ready to be done playing overseas and was thinking about getting into coaching.

“Well, if you want to coach, I’ll give you a job,” Fennelly told her.

Fennelly said Schaben was just finishing her season overseas, and the timing wasn’t ideal. But he told her that he’d wait. He coordinated with Gene Smith, Iowa State’s athletic director at the time, and kept a spot on the staff open for Schaben. The next year, she was hired as an assistant coach.

Schaben has gone on to mentor and coach the post players for the ISU women’s basketball team.

She tutored players such as Chelsea Poppens, Anna Prins, Hallie Christofferson, Angie Welle and Desiree Francis.

“She has impacted a lot of lives in the time she’s been here,” Fennelly said.

One of the lives Schaben has impacted has been Fennelly’s.

Schaben walked into Fennelly’s office with a big question.

She said, “Coach, I need to ask you something.”

Fennelly thought something might have been wrong. “OK,” he said, sensing how nervous she was.

Schaben finally let it out: “I really want you to walk me down the aisle when I get married.” With tears in Fennelly’s eyes, he happily accepted.

Fennelly’s two children, Billy and Steven, are both sons, so he realized Schaben’s wedding would probably be the only time he would get to walk a bride down the aisle. “[The ceremony] was phenomenal,” Fennelly said. “She was beautiful, and it was fun. It was, personally, one of the biggest honors — greatest days of

my life. I can honestly say that.”

practical characteristics.

Schaben continues to coach the post players at Iowa State. She continues to bring an uplifting and warm presence to the team.

While Fennelly gets on the players and pushes them to get better, they describe Schaben as more nurturing.

“She’s just always coming to practice, and she always has a smile on her face.

She’s always joking around,” senior Madison Baier said.

Baier said Schaben has ongoing jokes with the players.

Sophomore Bry Fernstrom also said Schaben brings a lot of fun to the team.

“Off the court, she’s always been open to me always coming up and talking to her. She’s been through the things with Coach Fennelly,” Fernstrom said. “On the court, she’s always enthusiastic — always the one to light a fire under you to get you going and making you want to get better. She always has a smile on her face.”

Schaben is a glass-half-full person, and Fennelly has more analytical and

Their relationship continues to grow as Schaben heads into her 19th season at Iowa State.

From one of Fennelly’s players to one of his assistants, Schaben hasn’t forgotten where their bond started.

Fennelly sat in his office on a typical weekday, doing his typical routine one day, when he got a text from Schaben.

Fennelly looked at his phone for a minute. The words took him back a little.

It read: “Hey Coach, I really appreciate what you’ve done for me.”

“It was so much bigger than basketball,” Schaben said. “I feel like there are some people that are in your life for a lifetime, for a reason or for a season. I feel like Fennelly is one of those people that are very rare and that will be in my life for a lifetime. I’ve known him since I was 16, and I’m 44 now.”

69

CARLETON: COOL AS THE OTHER SIDE OF THE BORDER Words by Trey Alessio ISU women’s basketball coach Bill Fennelly has recruited players from as far away as Australia, Antigua and Lithuania. His latest international student is not that far away, but she’s coming with a lot more hype.

Bridget Carleton is a freshman from Chatham, Ontario.

She’s the first Canadian under Fennelly, and she is the first women’s basketball player to come directly from her country and attend Iowa State.

“Alison Lacey is on the short list of one of the best players to ever play here [at Iowa State,]” Fennelly said about the former player from Australia. “She didn’t have the hype that Bridget has.”

Carleton played hockey and basketball in the winter and soccer and basketball in the summer.

She realized her true passion in eighth grade.

“I knew [basketball] was what I was best at and what I loved to do,” Carleton said.

70

She competed for several Canadian national basketball teams, including the U16/U17 Cadette National Team, where she was named team captain in 2013 and 2014.

She also started on the U18 Junior National Team and became a captain for the U19 Women’s National Team.

Everyone knows Bridget in Canada.

Everyone.

During her senior year at John McGregor Secondary, Carleton was also named the high school athlete of the year. All of the accolades got her a top spot on the 2015 prospect list in Canada.

All those accomplishments caused all that hype that got the attention of Iowa State fairly early on in Carleton’s recruiting process.

CANADIAN THANKSGIVING Freshman Bridget Carleton has settled in at Iowa State.

She has made a mark on the court and began the bonding process with her teammates off the court.

Carleton said Iowa State sent her a 20-minute-long women’s basketball video. She watched it in her mom’s office with her mom, and she was immediately interested in Iowa State.

Another reason why Iowa State intrigued Carleton was its support of her dream.

Carleton stood in the arena with the crowd at her back. The Canadian flag hung in front of her as she stood next to her teammates.

She made the U16 Cadette National Team for the first time, and she was feeling all sorts of mixed emotions — excitement, nervousness, anxiety.

The Venezuelan national team stood across from Carleton and her Canadian team as the national anthem singer stood up with microphone in hand and belted out, “Oh Canada.”

Chills rose up Carleton’s spine and she felt something for the first time as the anthem was sung.

In that moment, Carleton formed her dream of making the Canadian Olympic basketball team. Her sights were set on the 2020 Olympics.

Iowa State remained at the top of Carleton’s list based on the connection between her and the coaching staff and the fact that it was willing to help her reach her Olympic goals.

Michigan, Michigan State and Villanova were competing with Iowa State to get Carleton.

“We were very committed to helping her with her dream of the Canadian Olympic team,” Fennelly said.

When No. 14 Iowa State played Holy Cross on Dec. 28, 2013 in the Cyclone Challenge tournament, Carleton and her family decided to make an unofficial visit to Ames.

She walked into Hilton Coliseum and felt the magic. She saw the screaming fans.

On Oct. 11, 2015, Carleton’s parents decided to travel to Ames in celebration of Canadian Thanksgiving.

Carleton sent out a text in the ISU women’s basketball team’s group message, inviting everyone over to her apartment for turkey and a good time.

The entire team showed up with excitement and curiosity—how does Canadian Thanksgiving differ from U.S. Thanksgiving? The answer is not by a whole lot.

It’s actually the exact same, according to Carleton.

Carleton’s parents, Rob and Carrie, led the team on the Canadian Thanksgiving.

Everyone ate, laughed and bonded over turkey.

Drake’s music might as well have been playing in the background as the Canadian superstar, otherwise known as the 6 God, seemed to be there in spirit as the the ISU women’s basketball team enjoyed its Canadian feast.

71

She saw Fennelly and the rest of the coaching staff lead an undefeated Cyclone team, and she saw Nikki Moody put up 14 points and 10 assists.

“I was just blown away,” Carleton said. “That was the moment I knew I wanted to come here.”

I could tell in her voice she was damn serious.

After the game, Naz Long, a Canadian standout for the ISU men’s basketball team, came over to talk with Carleton and her family.

traveled to Canada and attended one of Carleton’s high school practices.

“[Naz] was really awesome to us,” Carleton said.

He said she was so much better than everybody else.

“It was comforting, knowing that there was another Canadian in the basketball program and he was doing really well.”

“I watched her mom challenge her a lot to be better, to not accept things, to be a leader,” Fennelly said.

She also said Long emphasized how everyone in the ISU basketball program is like a family, which is a big deal to Carleton because she’s a “very family-oriented person,” Fennelly said.

Fennelly wanted to show his and Iowa State’s commitment to Carleton, so he

BILL FENNELY

After Carleton’s practice was over, Fennelly called Carleton when he got back to his hotel room.

“Look, you’ve got a chance to do something and we can help you move on,” Fennelly told Carleton.

Carleton replied, “Coach, I just want to be special. I want to be special in

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Fennelly said Carleton is completely committed to Canadian basketball.

“You could tell in her voice. She was damn serious,” Fennelly said.

“She wants to be a great college player, but she wants to be special for the Canadian national team.

I hung up the phone and called my wife and said, ‘This kid, we’ve got to get. She’s got something that a lot of kids don’t have.’ I could tell when I talked to her, she’s got it. There’s not many of them that have it.”

Carleton sparked something within Fennelly, and Fennelly with Carleton.

“We weren’t the best high school team, but him just showing his commitment to me and how much he wanted me to be part of the family here was big,” Carleton said.

Carleton burst onto the recruiting scene in 2013 after a big spring event where she had a dominating performance.

It was late April of her junior year.

Steyer was in attendance along with representatives from many other schools.

Long, both of whom are from Canada, has set the stage and opened the doors for future international recruiting for Iowa State.

Carleton had what she called “one of her better games of the whole year,” and, at that point, she exploded and every college wanted her.

Carleton’s recruitment opens the door on the women’s side for Canadian and other international recruitment.

Carleton had conversations with Fennelly, reaffirming her status with Iowa State. “Hey Coach, I really like you guys. You’re my number one choice,” she told Fennelly. “Coach, don’t worry about it.”

“Bridget, I’m going to worry about it until you tell me you’re coming,” Fennelly replied.

A couple of days after her big spring event, Carleton committed to Iowa State.

“She called one day and said, ‘if you’ll take me, I want to come,’” Fennelly said. “She didn’t want it to be a big deal.”

The success of former ISU men’s basketball player Melvin Ejim and

“[Canadian basketball] is definitely on the rise,” Carleton said.

“I think we started out kind of midpack but now our senior team won the Pan-Am Games. Our Cadette women’s team was seventh or eighth in the world championships.

Our development team won their tournament, so I think we’re all getting better.”

Fennelly said sometimes it’s easier to recruit international students because they’re not tainted by what they’ve read on the Internet or by AAU coaches or other people with their own agendas. “[International students] are like, ‘Hey, where can I go play? Where can I get a good education? Are the people nice?’ They just want to go somewhere

they’re happy, comfortable, and it’s a good fit for them and their families,” Fennelly said.

“Sometimes it seems like it’d be harder but it’s almost easier,” he said.

“Every kid now that we’ll ever call in Canada, the first thing we’ll say is, ‘Do you know we have Bridget?’ And everyone knows Bridget in Canada.

Everyone. The ability to say every kid on this team is not from Iowa does make a difference and it does open it up.”

Careton tallied 28 points in her season debut, setting an ISU freshman debut record. In her second game, she put up 10 points and 11 rebounds.

“I think the stage will not be as big to [Carleton] as it is for a normal freshman because of her life experiences and what she’s already done,” Fennelly said.

“The kid has been all over the world, so I think leaving home to go to college wasn’t a huge thing. She’s got a chance to be very, very good.”

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SEANNA JOHNSON:

THE HEART OF A COMPETITOR

WORDS BY LUKE MANDERFELD

A phone call interrupted Seanna Johnson as she sat in her room, preparing for summer workouts before her junior season with the ISU women's basketball team.

It was her brother, Jarvis.

She knew her younger brother had a meeting that day, but she didn’t know what it was about.

Seanna answered and heard Jarvis sobbing.

“What’s going on?” Seanna asked.

“It’s over,” Jarvis said.

Jarvis' meeting was with the Minnesota Gophers' coaches, who told Jarvis that his heart ailment would prevent him from playing basketball at Minnesota.

Seanna struggled to understand her brother’s words, who had just graduated from high school. So Jarvis kept repeating it, the words cloaked in tears.

“It’s over.”

75

Then it hit her. Jarvis' basketball career was in jeopardy.

Her world ceased to turn for the length of that phone call.

The room dissolved in the background, all of the walls turning bleach white. It was just her and Jarvis across the phone.

She found it hard to reply. She wanted to comfort him. She wanted to help him. But the feeling of pain was met with an overwhelming sense of guilt.

“Why couldn’t it have been me? Why does it have to be him?” Seanna, the older sister by 14 months, thought to herself.

Her thoughts were distorted by the two words that continued to bounce around in her head.

“It’s over.”

The denial of clearance for Jarvis to play wasn't the first time the Johnson family had dealt with a medical crisis.

In the eighth grade, Jarvis took the court during a routine basketball practice, and his heart gave out. He went into full cardiac arrest.

The doctors called it hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a heart disease that thickens heart muscles and disrupts the heart’s beat pattern.

The doctors worked to save Jarvis but weren't optimistic as

his life was slipping from their grasp.

After eight to 12 minutes of lifelessness, his heart drummed once. Then twice. And finally, he came fluttering back to life.

The family describes his revival from the dead as a miracle.

After two days in a coma, Jarvis awoke to see his family by his side. He wasn’t thinking about what happened. He was

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thinking about basketball.

That was expected from Jarvis, who watched or played basketball from sunrise to sunset. He loved it even more than Seanna.

After her brother nearly died, Seanna contemplated giving up the game that was central to the Johnson family.

“She was like, ‘If he can’t play, I’m not going to play either,’” said Tanisha, Seanna’s mother.

“We told her that wasn’t the right thing to do. We told her to play for him.”

Seanna took her mother's words to heart. While Jarvis lay in the hospital bed, she had one of her best games at DeLaSalle High School in Minneapolis.

“We told her that wasn’t the right thing to do.

We told her to play for him.”

TANISHA JOHNSON

“She was like a hero,” Jarvis said.

Seanna and Jarvis remained on the phone, tears flowing down each of their faces.

She summoned the courage to respond.

It started with comforting words, which she needed for herself, too.

Seanna netted more than 30 points and dropped a buzzer-beater to send the game into overtime.

“Do what you got to do,” Seanna said.

“It’s only one thing in your life. God has other plans for you.”

Tanisha’s phone filled with calls and texts from family and friends, commending Seanna for her effort.

It meant a lot for the family, but it meant so much more to Jarvis.

But her gut reaction was the same one she had five years before: She wanted to give up basketball.

“I think in the moment, it was a reac-

tion from him just saying that,” Seanna said.

But Jarvis wasn’t going to let that happen — not to his hero.

So he repeated another phrase again and again.

“Play for me.”

If he couldn’t play, that shouldn’t stop Seanna from playing. That should make her want to play more.

“Do whatever you can,” Jarvis said. “At that point, I didn’t know if I was going to play basketball (again). That’s what was going through my head.”

Seanna knew that was what she needed to do. She felt guilty for wanting to quit. She had to keep going to make Jarvis proud — to be strong for him.

She got off the phone with Jarvis and quickly called her mother.

“I told her, ‘You have to play. You have to dedicate this to your brother,’’’ Tan isha said. “You have to just believe in God.”

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Seanna ended the second call, not knowing what her next step was. She packed her things and made her way to the Sukup Basketball Complex.

It doesn’t surprise Tanisha that Seanna was the first person Jarvis called. They were only 14 months apart and as close as any two siblings could be.

“I always call them like peanut butter and jelly or Kobe and Shaq,” Tanisha said. “Everything they’ve always done, they’ve always done together.”

But, even in the Johnson family, Seanna wasn’t originally interested in the game.

“At first, I think it was sort of forced on me,” Seanna said As time went on and as Seanna played more and more, she fell in love with basketball. She couldn’t help it.

Her disinterest gave way to dedication.

She became one of the best female players in the state — the only female player in Minnesota high school basketball history to have five all-tournament honors at the state tournament.

The sport in which Seanna found so much success also bonded her with Jarvis.

Growing up, she and Jarvis would take on Ty, their older brother, on the basketball court.

Although Ty, who eventually competed at Gustavus Aldophus College in Minnesota, would win most of the time, it didn’t matter to the other two.

Ty led the way for the Johnson trio in basketball, but Jarvis also turned to his older sister in the game and in life.

game,” Seanna said.

everything that she should be.”

Seanna walked through the wide, glass doors of the Sukup building, trying to hold her emotions together.

Fennelly doesn’t believe he did much to sway Seanna, giving the credit to the Johnson family and the rest of the coaching staff.

She walked up the stairs and down the hallway to assistant coach Billy Fennelly’s office.

Fennelly was the first person she thought to talk to. Although Fennelly didn’t have the same heart condition as Jarvis, he had been forced to give up basketball because of a different heart problem — something that drew him and Seanna together.

“He understands,” Seanna said. “He understands that it’s going to be hard.

He understands that there are going to be tough days or rough days. He understands that it’s not the end, but it’s the beginning of new opportunities.”

Seanna walked through Fennelly’s door and sat in the padded seat in front of his desk. She paused until she couldn’t hold in the emotions any longer.

She cried.

She cried for her own emotional turmoil. She cried for her family. But most of all, she cried for Jarvis.

Before she told Fennelly the news, he stared back at Seanna’s shiny face, coated with fresh tears, with a confused look.

“I was thinking the absolute worst,” Fennelly said.

Seanna told him everything. She told him that she could hardly bear the pain anymore.

He stood up and hugged her.

“She was always someone I could look up to,” Jarvis said. “Whenever I needed something, she’d be there.”

At that moment, Fennelly didn’t know that Seanna had thoughts about giving up basketball.

And when Jarvis had his heart attack, he once again looked up to his sister.

The game that Seanna was originally forced to play was now her way of giving Jarvis what he needed most — hope.

Just like Tanisha and Jarvis, Fennelly tried to direct her grief into something that she could use — something for the better.

“When my brother went through what he went through, I fell in love with the

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“I was told that [I couldn’t play anymore at a young age], just like he was,” Fennelly said. “There is nothing more that I could want for my sister than to be

Seanna felt otherwise.

Without him, she may have made a rash decision with lasting consequences.

“Without [Billy Fennelly], I wouldn’t be in certain situations I am in or be sitting where I am at the moment,” Seanna said. “I wouldn’t be still playing basketball.”

The last time that Seanna faced Jarvis’ medical hardships in high school, their mother said she played some of the best basketball of her career.

She is planning do the same thing this season.

“I’m going to each game with a chip on my shoulder and realizing that [I’m] not playing for me,” Seanna said. “It’s for the people around me.”

Seanna has another reason for that chip on her shoulder. She and her Big 12-leading 9.4 rebounds per game have been left off this year’s All-Big 12 preseason team, voted on by the league’s coaches.

ISU players and coaches alike have called it “ridiculous,” but to Seanna, it’s another log on the fire that will fuel her competitive drive this season.

“Everything is a motivation — from the Big 12 to my brother,” Seanna said.

“But I feel like I have a support system to be able to go out there and not worry about that — just realize during a game that I have a chip on my shoulder so, after the game, I can say I did everything I could in the moment.”

She is confident this will be her best season so far and plans to plant reminders of Jarvis in her locker before every game.

“Just do it like every game is my last game to play,” Seanna said. “Although I have another year, I feel like this season I have something to prove — not only to myself, but everyone.”

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