MU’s Carton becomes dunking sensation
Defenders have a business decision to make when they see Marquette’s D.J. Carton rocketing down the runway on the left side of a basketball court.
Is the slim chance of a blocked shot worth the risk of becoming another crash-test dummy in the left-handed sophomore guard’s ever-expanding
highlight film? In an up-and-down season for MU, the hyper-athletic Carton’s dunks have been high points. Carton will take his gravity-defying act to the big stage at Madison Square Garden in New York when the Golden Eagles (1313) play in the first round of the Big East tournament against Georgetown (9-12) at 2 p.m. Wednesday (FS1).
Carton’s breathtaking running and leaping abilities can look natural and effortless. But it has been a physical and mental journey for the 20-year-old averaging 12.8 points per game this season.
“Growing up, I really didn’t have any bounce at all really,” Carton said. “I just started lifting and stuff. Once I started working on my body more, I got more comfortable with it. It became more natural for me.”
Carton was speaking last week after a thunderous dunk in the second half at DePaul that he called his personal favorite of many posterizations this season. It’s hard to imagine a 6-foot-4 guy who can sprint past several defenders and then throw down a one-handed punch over a 6-8 rim protector ever going through an awkward athletic stage.
Jordan Delp would know best. He is a basketball skills trainer in the Quad Cities, which includes Carton’s hometown of Bettendorf, Iowa. Delp has been working with Carton since sixth grade.
“I think he’s being a little harder on himself than he needs to be,” Delp said. “He was trying to dunk very early on in our work together. But he was certainly still growing into his body. There were certainly times where, you know, the old Bambi analogy when he’s a little too fast for his feet at times. Or he’s a little sped up and we wanted to slow him down.
“He’s always had the trifecta of athleticism, where he’s really fast north and south and really shifty east and west and explosive vertically as well. There aren’t a lot of guys that have that. You could tell that was in there. From the very first time I met him you could tell he was very different athletically. But he’s certainly had to grow into his body. It’s really just been an every year thing; every year I’ve known him he’s come into his own a little bit more.”
Delp also coached Carton with the Quad City Elite’s 15U AAU team. Their work began paying off.
“We had a lot of fun with that group,” Delp said. “When you’re at 15U, the recruiting is not what it becomes at the 16U or 17U level. So we benefited from that.
“You could just see, when we played the higher-profile programs, that D.J. never looked like he didn’t belong. In fact, he looked like he was thriving in those environments. He was still sped up, there were issues we had to work through, certainly. But you could tell he wasn’t going to be at a disadvantage in any situation from an athletic standpoint.”
MU coach Steve Wojciechowski was one of the first coaches to spot potential with Carton before he blossomed into a coveted recruit.
Carton eventually chose to attend Ohio State. He had some highlight plays last season with the Buckeyes, including an eyebrow-raising dunk at Villanova, but Carton left the team in January 2020.
Carton has been open about his struggles with mental health, saying he has battled depression since high school. Carton and his family opened up to Quad Cities TV station WHBF, saying his issues were exacerbated by the pressure of playing for the Buckeyes and criticism on social media.
“I truly believe he took a lot of those comments and internalized them and started to feel like those were true,” Jennifer Carton, D.J.’s mother, told reporter Corey Rholdon. “I remember him saying, ‘I’m not the D.J. that I used to be in basketball anymore. I don’t have that bounce anymore, I don’t have that skill.’
“He said that for a long time. I think more recently he said, ‘OK, I’m getting it kind of back again.’ ”
After a long break from basketball, Carton felt he was in a good place mentally. His relationship with Wojciechowski led Carton to transfer to MU.
Carton has the ball in his hands a lot with the Golden Eagles. He’s played out of control at times (87 assists and 78 turnovers), but has made several clutch plays, including getting downhill for a much-needed basket in the final minute against Xavier in the regular-season finale.
“Right now it feels more natural,” Carton said. “I feel like I can use my athletic ability to help me and my teammates around me.”
In every MU game there seems to be at least one play by Carton that raises eyebrows. His vicious dunks have made him a viral sensation, though that only tells a small part of the story.
“He’s an amazing young man that’s weathered a lot of different storms and has come out the other side in a great place,” Delp said. “You’re starting to see what happens when he plays with that joy again. Not only from a basketball standpoint, but from a personal standpoint.”