Big East forged by greats like Thompson
Not a week after Lute Olson left for heaven’s playground, John Thompson joined him. It’s a tough week for college basketball. Knock hardwood, and hope these things don’t happen in threes.
Before he became an Arizona landmark, Olson solidified his bona fides at Iowa in 1980. That was the year his Hawkeyes beat Syracuse and Georgetown to win the East Region of the NCAA Tournament and earn a trip to the Final Four. I say again: Remember Ronnie Lester?
Thus ended the first season of the Big East’s existence, and so began the greatest decade of college basketball. At least, that’s my story.
I was 14 years old and watching on a black-and-white, 19-inch portable television, no remote, when Magic Johnson and Larry Bird brought the NCAA Tournament into the national consciousness in 1979. Not two months later, Dave Gavitt, the former Providence College coach and future Boston Celtics general manager, founded the Big East. And in its first season, the league placed four teams in the NCAAS — St. John’s, Villanova, Syracuse and Georgetown.
Ronnie Lester was only a temporary problem.
Gavitt’s idea was to put the Northeast back on the map by playing the city game in big arenas in metropolitan areas, elbows up. John Thompson was perfect for this. Probably, he was better than anyone else.
Thompson was from the D.C. housing projects. He played on an Archbishop Carroll team that may have been the best in D.C. schoolboy history, which is saying something. He played at Providence right after Lenny Wilkens and right before Jimmy Walker, and if you don’t know who Jimmy
averaged nearly a double-double per game at 14.0 points and 9.3 rebounds, earning second-team all-big Ten honors as voted upon by the coaches and media.
“I put a foot in (the draft) last year and I got the feedback that they wanted me to lose the weight to see where I was,” he said. “They wanted to see how I could affect the game other than just shooting the ball, just putting shots up. I upped my rebounds, my assists, things like that, even showing them I can initiate an offense, be a focal point in an offense if need be as far as bringing the ball upcourt, going into dribblehandoff ball screens, things like that.”
Adding a new layer to the situation: Wesson became a father to a boy, Kavari, born Aug. 9 in Columbus. Wesson remained home for three weeks before returning to Houston to resume his training in an effort to best be able to provide for his family.
“Me going back and forth (between Houston and Columbus) wouldn’t help anybody,” he said. “I feel like if I’m missing time to put into my game, I don’t think that helps my son at all as far as putting clothes on his back and feeding him. A lot of people might get upset, and if it was up to me I’d be in Columbus, but he has a great mom, and my family understands the situation and I’m blessed with that.”
Impending fatherhood was a factor but not the main reason for his decision to leave Ohio State, Wesson said. CJ Walker, his on-court teammate last season, has a young daughter, and Wesson said he knows that Ohio State would help ensure he could take care of his son just as well as it did with Walker’s child.
The support doesn’t make the distance any easier, though. Between now and whenever the NBA holds its draft, Wesson said he will return home for Kavari’s christening but otherwise will continue to train in Houston while using Facetime to stay connected.
Since declaring for the draft, Wesson said he has interviewed with seven teams. No individual workouts can be held amid the COVID-19 pandemic, and the draft is scheduled for Oct. 16 but could be pushed back. Wesson has been invited to participate in the NBA’S draft combine, should one take place. He does not appear in mock drafts produced by ESPN or The Athletic, but is widely viewed as a potential secondround pick.
Having a combine “would help me tremendously, just getting my game in front of people’s eyes I feel like would help,” Wesson said. “But I can’t control that. My family (and I) talk about it all the time: Just be ready, so you don’t have to get ready.”
For now, he continues to work in Houston with trainers who worked with the likes of Dwight Howard, D.J. Augustin and Robert Covington. All three are NBA veterans who have achieved Wesson’s long-stated goal of not just making an NBA roster, but sticking with a team and carving out a career.
It’s what keeps him motivated to keep his weight down, build his repertoire and take the next step.
“I’m not trying to do too much other than maximize my role,” he said. “Whatever that role is, making sure I’m an all-star at that role is something that I’m really working on right now. Working hard every day is all you can do.” ajardy@dispatch.com @Adamjardy