Luck of the Orange
For all the precepts and concepts he learned about basketball, Warrick could be who-knows-where if not for the intervention of people he had never met. Murphy’s Law skipped by the Syracuse men’s basketball team’s senior so many times, you wonder if his luck is predetermined.
Just take a look at his life, how he went from oblivion to stardom because of another man’s phone call, or because of someone else’s decision. As the world around him moved, Warrick constantly found himself in favorable positions.
Warrick’s cousin, Jeff Warrick, remembered how opportunity never knocked him in to the world of premier men’s college basketball. So five years ago, he picked up the phone and tried to create for his cousin an opportunity he never got.
Two days before the ABCD Nike Camp in Indianapolis, Jeff Warrick called up Littel Vaughn, a Philadelphia tournament director and Jeff Warrick’s friend.
‘My cousin Hakim,’ Jeff Warrick said, ‘he can play. He can jump through the roof. He’s an unbelievable player. Talk to George. See if there’s a spot for him.’
George Raveling, the Nike Camp director, received a call from Vaughn the next day.
‘Tell him to come,’ Raveling said. ‘We’ll make room for him.’
So Jeff Warrick jumped onto his computer, found the cheapest flight to Indianapolis and shipped his cousin, a junior in high school, off for the five-day event that started in less than 24 hours.
That’s where Hakim Warrick burst.
Not even a top 100 recruit entering the camp, Warrick earned top 30 status at the camp and interest from Syracuse, Virginia and Providence. He narrowly missed playing in the camp’s all-star game.
‘I was trying to get him a better situation,’ Jeff Warrick said. ‘If he goes there and does extremely well, I mean, there are college coaches and general managers there. I wanted Hakim to get a better opportunity.’
Not even Warrick’s pterodactyl-sized wingspan could cover the distance between where he was as a junior in high school (a no-name recruit destined for a mid-major conference) to where he is now (a player of the year candidate vying for his second national championship).
‘There seems to be a lot of crazy things,’ Warrick said, ‘where if one little thing hadn’t gone right, it’s hard to say where I’d be right now.’
That Warrick ended up here – potentially the country’s best player on the country’s best team – is mere happenstance. Sure, Warrick’s athletic ability makes Bo Jackson blush. But if not for a series of events tumbling in succession, Warrick might just be a role player on a forgotten team.
If not for the camp, Warrick might be wasting away on a sinking team, perhaps the most overlooked, underdeveloped player in college basketball.
How many Hakim Warricks are out there? How many people missed the chances Warrick capitalized on and are paying for it with a spot on LaSalle – a school that recruited Warrick?
That’s where Warrick would probably be without the Nike Camp. When asked whether his talent would bloom at such a small school, with a less prestigious coaching staff, Warrick said he hopes it would have.
Julius Hodge, a senior at North Carolina State, attended that camp, too. As a 17-year-old soon-to-be McDonald’s All-American, Hodge attended St. Raymond’s in the Bronx. Syracuse had one scholarship left and had been riding Hodge hard.
SU recruited Hodge as a freshman and was one of four finalists, along with Florida, Maryland and North Carolina State, pursuing him.
Warrick attended a Quaker high school called Friends Central. He left University City High School in Philadelphia three years earlier because his mother, Queen, wanted Warrick to receive a better education.
The coach at University High benched Warrick because he was too long-limbed.
‘Who’s gonna be intimidated by him?’ the coach asked Queen. Hakim would run home crying after school.
At Friends Central, Warrick blossomed, mastering the 15-foot fake-right-spin-left move that continues to victimize so many defenders.
Because he backdoored his way in to the Nike Camp, Warrick arrived a day late to the five-day event.
During a shooting drill, SU coach Jim Boeheim noticed Warrick. Boeheim talked to his assistant coaches, Mike Hopkins and Troy Weaver, about the most overlooked player in the nation.
Boeheim told Warrick that SU, which had just one scholarship left, wanted him – if Hodge ran somewhere else.
‘If I had never been there, Coach Boeheim would’ve probably never seen me,’ Warrick said. ‘I’d have been happy to be in a mid-major.’
Two other schools – Providence and Virginia – offered Warrick, too.
But Virginia pursued another recruit. After the camp and early into Elton Brown’s senior year, the 6-foot-9 Newport News, Va., native signed with the Cavaliers.
As Hodge contemplated a decision, the Friars pressured Warrick to sign. Time started winding down.
Warrick had visited SU before Providence and fell in love with the campus.
Providence pushed for a decision. Warrick made it.
‘Mom,’ he said, ‘even if Julius decides to go to Syracuse, I want to go there. This is the place for me. I’ll find a place on the team.’
‘Just be patient,’ said Kino Terrell, Warrick’s high school coach. ‘A decision will come soon. And then you’ll know for sure.’
Two days later, Hodge committed, and Warrick ended up as the lankiest freshman on the Syracuse bench.
Now Mark Konecny enters the picture, because he came to Syracuse as part of its lucrative recruiting class, which included Warrick, Craig Forth, Josh Pace and McDonald’s All-American Billy Edelin.
Edelin’s infamous sexual harassment charges struck another casualty, as Konecny, a starter, left the Orange after two games in 2001-2002 because, he says, of his loose connection to the incident. Konecny’s girlfriend was friends with the girl who accused Edelin. It thrust Warrick into the starting lineup.
During the season, Warrick started wondering, ‘Where would I be without Julius Hodge?’
Warrick broke out in the National Invitational Tournament. In a 62-46 third-round win over Richmond, Warrick had 15 points and 14 rebounds. In a 65-54 consolation game loss to Temple, Warrick had another big game, finishing with 12 points and seven boards.
One year later, as a sophomore, Warrick reached the NCAA national championship game. With 15 seconds left, Warrick stood at the free-throw line with SU up three against Kansas.
Queen watched from the stands. Clank.
She turned around and covered her eyes. But curiosity beat at her unrelentingly, and she peeked. Another clank.
‘Oh my God,’ she screamed. ‘I can’t believe it! What are you doing Hakim? You just missed two free throws!’
Thirteen seconds later, Warrick defined his basketball life in an instant.
Freeze the frame there and remember Jeff Warrick, George Raveling, Julius Hodge and Mark Konecny. Warrick is about to make the highlight play of his life, the one ESPN will replay in frame-by-frame intricacy and Sports Illustrated will snap for its two-page layout, and none of those four people are anywhere near the camera. But they all put
Warrick in that position.
Warrick flies from seemingly halfcourt and nips Michael Lee’s 3-pointer. Warrick barely reached his destination, and a second later, he won a national championship.
Warrick’s junior season defined consistency on a team that lacked any other reliable player. Point guard Gerry McNamara could shoot 2-for-17 one night (Feb. 2 against Connecticut), but Warrick’s 11-for-18 night, 26 points and 11 rebounds always followed.
By the end, he had played a perfect game (11-for-11 shooting Dec. 14 against Miami) and been named a Sporting News Second Team All-American.
Warrick heard a team could pick him in the NBA Draft anywhere from the lottery until the late first round, so, never spirited about the NBA anyway, Warrick announced his decision to stay at Syracuse on Thursday, April 29.
Things happened so fast for Warrick, he never had a chance to have a big head. Hardly recruited until his high school senior year, Warrick hardly believes his own stardom.
‘Four years ago,’ Warrick said, ‘nobody even knew if I’d be a good college player. Then everyone’s talking about the NBA. It’s just happened so fast.’
Now a senior, Warrick competes for Player of the Year honors with Wake Forest’s Chris Paul, Kansas’ Wayne Simien and Providence’s Ryan Gomes, among others.
‘I came back because I want to be the best player in the country,’ Warrick said, ‘and I want to win a national championship.’
Such a longshot. So many things need to go right for it to happen.
So expect it.
‘Destiny,’ he says. ‘My whole career: I was destined to come to Syracuse, destined for all this stuff to happen. To be in this spot, I’m really fortunate.’
Published on November 8, 2004 at 12:00 pm
