Silencing the doubters
At first overlooked, Michael Green III is now a standout
The skills, the determination, and the New York City bravado are all attributes packed inside the lithe body of Michael Green III.
So where pray tell were the Division I scholarship offers?
It wasn’t like Green didn’t have anyone in his corner. Tom Fraher, his high school head coach at Bronx-based Mount Saint Michael Academy, was a big advocate and told anyone willing to listen that he had a point guard they should come check out.
The interest wasn’t even lukewarm. It was barely faint. Green was too little. The “not strong enough” tag scared away the majority of programs.
All but one, mind you. Overlooked and under-recruited, Green eventually found a place to continue chasing his dream. The lone D-I scholarship he received came from the school that enters the final weekend in January atop the Northeast Conference standings.
“I was glad he had no D-I offers,” said Jared Grasso, the Bryant University head coach who bought stock in Green when no one else was remotely curious.
The reigning NEC Rookie of the Year, Green has emerged as the backbone of a rebuilding effort that keeps on raising the bar. The 10 wins that the Bulldogs will look to add to with a Saturday/Sunday doubleheader at Fairleigh Dickinson already matches the 2018-19 output from Grasso’s first season in Smithfield.
Just this week, Green landed on the Lou Henson Award midseason watch list – an award bestowed upon the top mid-major player in Division I college basketball. If you think this native of the Bronx walks around with a ginormous chip on his shoulder stemming from the lack of interest he received coming out of high school, think again.
“Going back two, three years, I would have said none of this was possible,” said Green.
Fraher recalled Green’s freshman year of high school as a classic case of seizing the moment and not looking back. Green was 20 games into his JV season when Mount Saint Michael had point guard issues. Enter Green, who scored 14 points in his first varsity game.
“Maybe we should have brought him up earlier,” said Fraher with a slight chuckle. “It was like he belonged and it all worked out.”
Becoming one of the top talents in the NYC Catholic League yielded nothing except crickets. Fraher purposely scheduled games at St. John’s and Fordham, fully believing that Green merited Division I attention. The University of Maine was curious, though not enough to truly sink their teeth into a player advertised as standing 5-foot-11 and weighing 155 pounds. In reality, Green is two, maybe three inches shorter.
“He was hoping for more attention, but he’s undersized. At the next level, is he going to be big enough and strong enough?” said Fraher.
Lesser players would have probably fretted upon heading into their senior year of high school with zero scholarships next to their name. Not Green.
“My high school coach told me to keep doing what I’m doing,” he said. “The right school will come find me.”
In September 2018, Fraher called Grasso and told him that he needed to come down and check out Green in an open gym. The two coaches were friends and often dealt with
each other when Grasso was on the staff at Fordham and later Iona.
Fraher told Green that Bryant was specifically coming down to check him out. With Grasso sitting in a folding chair, Green went out and in his words, hooped.
“I watched the kid make every shot he took … making threes off the dribble,” said Grasso. “I thought he was terrific.”
“I was just playing my game,” said Green.
Once the open gym period wrapped up, the senior sat down next to the college coach. The sample size might have been small, yet Grasso didn’t need additional convincing. Green was a perfect fit for the wheels he was putting in motion at Bryant.
Then came the words that Green had longed to hear.
“At that moment, I was excited. It was chills when I heard that,” said Green about finally landing a scholarship.
Stated Fraher, “I remember Jared saying to me that he wasn’t worried about size. He saw someone who could get into the lane and draw and kick.”
Officially on the board, Green and his mother Kizzy left the house at 7 a.m. for his official visit to Bryant. By noontime, Green phoned Fraher.
“He said, ‘Coach, I love this place,’ I told him that if he loved it, you should take it,” said Fraher. “You have to find a school that’s right for you, but Jared and his staff recruited him heavily. They had a
vision that he was their guy.”
Green was asked if there was a part of him that wanted to see if other schools would come forward once the word had gotten out that Bryant had offered. Along those lines, he had offers to join various AAU programs. He first suited up for the NY Gauchos as an eighth grader and remained loyal to the program throughout high school.
To Green, loyalty means everything. If Grasso was willing to take a flyer on him, what would be the point in potentially seeing what else could be out there?
“Coach Grasso is a loyal dude. I could feel it. That was a big piece,” said Green, officially known as the first Bryant recruit from the Class of 2019.
Stated Grasso, “It was great timing. He took a chance on this program and we gave him an opportunity when he didn’t have any others.”
The preseason leading up to the 2019-20 season was like being fed to the sharks. Still slightly built, Green was an easy target for Ikenna Ndugba, a fourth-year Bryant player who made the precocious freshman warm up to the idea that additional seasoning might not be the worst thing.
“Stronger guards and battle-tested guys who are looking to bully you,” said Green, noting that spending extensive time in the weight room was a foreign concept before setting foot on the Bryant campus.
On the eve of the Nov. 5 season opener against Brown, Green walked into Grasso’s office. He suggested that maybe it would be best if he redshirted. Flat-out, the coach told his first-year Bulldog that he wasn’t brought aboard to sit out.
“You came to play right away,” Grasso informed Green.
“That instilled confidence in me,” said Green. “The dog that I always knew I had, I just needed a talk like that.”
Barely four minutes went by when Green checked in against the Bears. He finished with 14 points – the same total he produced in his first varsity high school contest. The next time out at Rutgers, Green landed in the starting lineup. He went on to make 19 additional starts, a telltale sign that he was making an impact. By the time the season’s finishing touches were applied, Green had scored in double figures 15 times. In 13 games, he produced four or more assists.
So much for redshirting.
“It was all falling into place,” said Green.
The pandemic and subsequent lengthy quarantine period brought challenges to a player who practically lives in the gym. To his credit, Green found ways to remain active upon heading back to the Big Apple. Go to the store, dribble the ball. Get up early – we’re talking 5:30 a.m. – and head out for a three-mile run while Facetiming with Grasso.
That relentless approach stayed with Green upon returning to Bryant in late August. The importance of the weight room was no longer foreign. Neither was taking care of your body, whether it was visiting the trainer’s room or extra ice baths.
Green had a solid freshman year, but he was ready to take his game to a higher level. To make that desire a reality, he had to make sure he treated his body like a car engine to ensure it could withstand a heavy workload.
“By the end of [the 2019-20 season], he was a freshman point guard playing 35 minutes per game,” said Grasso. “He realized what it took and challenged himself to become a better player. He’s significantly better than he was 16 months ago.”
Green currently leads the Bulldogs in scoring (18.3 ppg) and assists (4.4). His 33-point masterpiece against UMass on Dec. 21 was a clinic in offensive efficiency, yet let’s not sidestep the 10 assists he handed out against Wagner on Dec. 17, or the seven helpers he dropped in the season opener at Syracuse.
As someone used to wearing multiple hats, Green understands the fine line he walks.
“There are games where they need me to score the ball. Other games, they need me to facilitate more. Some games, they need me to do both,” said Green. “Having the ball in my hands helps my teammates as well.”
Added Grasso, “He has this quiet, killer confidence about him. He wants the ball late in games and wants to take good shots. That’s the type of player you want running your team.”
It’s customary for Faher to fire off text messages to Grasso after games.
“(Grasso) can’t say enough great things about him,” said Faher.
“He has a chance to become one of the all-time greats here,” said Grasso.
In less than two years, Green has proven he belongs at the Division I level. He found his ideal landing spot at the only school that was seriously hooked in what he brought to the court.
“In high school, I didn’t have high expectations,” said Green. “I didn’t have big hopes.”
Now? Green adheres to a simple philosophy, one conveyed to him every time he touches base with his high school coach – now and forever his staunchest supporter.
“Keep it rolling,” says Maher.