Freshman has eye on future
High school basketball players seem to be making college commitments earlier and earlier these days, some even before they begin high school.
So it wasn’t earth-shattering news when Arbor View freshman Maiscei Grier gave Rutgers an oral commitment last week before he’d played a varsity basketball game. But what made Grier’s decision unusual was that he probably won’t play a junior varsity game this year, either.
“I’m not going to let him do that,” said Grier’s father, Marshall Grier. “I want him to go through the natural process. I’m trying to keep all the pressures of performing to a limit.”
So the 5-foot-8-inch, 120-pound guard probably will play on the freshman team this winter. Not exactly what one would expect from a player who has accepted a scholarship offer to play in the Big East Conference, but probably where Grier needs to be if he’s going to develop into a Big East-quality guard.
“He is no phenom,” Marshall Grier said. ”You play freshman, you play a lot, and you make sure you’re on the floor.”
The elder Grier said he wouldn’t push for his son to play on the varsity next season.
“We’ll play (his sophomore year) by ear and see what happens,” he said. “If he isn’t ready, that’s no big deal, either. He’ll go play 25 minutes (a game) of JV ball.”
That’s a refreshing attitude compared with some parents who push to have their sons play on the varsity or badger coaches about playing time.
But that attitude doesn’t jibe with the early commitment to a major university. The elder Grier concedes the decision to commit to Rutgers puts added pressure on his son.
“With all this going on, he needs to have more of a burning desire because he’s got a bull’s-eye on his back,” Marshall Grier said.
Longtime Durango boys basketball coach Al La Rocque has seen the recruiting from both sides. His daughter Lindy is a senior and has committed to play for Stanford. He thinks some young players are rushing into a decision that will have a major effect on their lives.
“Arizona offered Lindy when she was a seventh-grader,” La Rocque said. “The big thing is they want to be the first ones there. To commit at that age, the kid hasn’t reached puberty probably, but he’s made the second-most important decision that he’ll ever make in his life.”
On the surface, the decision to commit early seems strange for the Griers and even stranger for Rutgers. But Marshall Grier and Rutgers coach Fred Hill have a history dating to Marshall Grier’s playing days. He played two seasons at Rider University in New Jersey, where Hill was an assistant coach, and two seasons at Penn State, where Hill’s uncle, Brian Hill, was an assistant.
Under NCAA rules, Hill cannot comment on potential recruits until they sign national letters of intent.
“We always had teased that there would come a day when Mais was going to play for him,” Marshall Grier said.
So Maiscei and family traveled to Rutgers to check out the campus. The family moved to Las Vegas from New Jersey four years ago, so Maiscei’s roots had been planted on the East Coast, and that might have played the biggest role in his decision to commit.
Also, Maiscei’s mother, Lauriebeth, went to Rutgers, and the family has many relatives in the area.
“Going to college on the East Coast feels real good because that’s where I’m from,” Maiscei Grier said. “It feels like home there.”
In fact, his face breaks into a huge grin when asked if he misses New Jersey. It’s the only time he smiles during the interview.
“A lot,” Maiscei Grier said. “I’ve been wanting to go to Jersey every summer, winter break, every break that I get, I want to go back there.”
And for Marshall Grier, Rutgers feels like a safe place to send his son.
“(We thought) if it was possible to go to Rutgers, it wouldn’t be a bad thing,” Marshall Grier said. “It was in the Big East, I know how (Hill) treated me. The question was, what could be better for him than that, playing for a coach I respect and have a great friendship with.”
Hill is doing more than taking on a former player’s son. Marshall Grier spent 10 years as a high school coach in Passaic, N.J., so he’s not just another father.
“He’s taken kids on my say-so (before),” Marshall Grier said. “I have a pretty good feeling with my son’s work ethic and his desire to be a great basketball player, so (Hill) was willing to take a chance on me because he knows me and has known my son all his life.”
Because Marshall Grier stands 6-6, Maiscei isn’t just another short, skinny freshman. The Griers are hoping for a growth spurt that will make Maiscei tall enough to play both guard positions in college.
“I was 5-9 in eighth grade, and I grew 5 inches one summer,” Marshall Grier said. “We’re just hoping for that spurt.”
Said Maiscei Grier: “I hope to be like a 6-2, 6-3 guard that can score from anywhere on the floor.”
Though he’s committed to a college, Maiscei Grier plans to spend the next four basketball seasons at Arbor View, and Aggies coach John Teran is happy to have him, even if he won’t be helping the varsity team right away.
“I saw him play AAU ball this summer,” Teran said. “He is going to be a very good athlete. We’re very pleased to have him in our program. He’s going to be the nucleus of our team in a couple years when he learns our system.”
And Teran said Maiscei Grier will bring more than basketball talent to the team.
“He is a kid of great character,” Teran said. “He has very good grades, very well-behaved, very respectful. I think he would probably be the model student-athlete.”
Grier can’t officially sign a letter of intent until November 2010.
“It’s a test of your word,” La Rocque said. “It’s totally nonbinding from both parties.”
Maiscei Grier said he felt “a little bit” of pressure to perform because of the early commitment. But his dad is sure Maiscei will become a quality Big East player.
“If he just continues to work on his game with the natural process of Mother Nature, he’s going to be a player that no one is going to be dissatisfied with,” Marshall Grier said. “He works too hard to be a bust.”
Contact Prep Sports Editor Damon Seiters at dseiters@reviewjournal.com or (702) 380-4587.
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