McGusty, Jean-Baptiste shining examples of what is still right with college basketball | Opinion
How heartening it is, as we plunge into March Madness, to know there are still Kameron McGustys and David Jean-Baptistes left in college basketball.
In the age of kids bolting to the NBA before they know their way around their college campus, McGusty is having his best season as a Miami Hurricane at age 24 and Jean-Baptiste, a Tennessee-Chattanooga graduate student from Miami Norland High, is making ESPN highlights knocking down NCAA Tournament-bid-winning buzzer-beaters at age 23.
They call these veteran sixth-year players “Super Seniors,” beneficiaries of the optional extra year of eligibility the NCAA allowed to make up for the COVID-interrupted 2020-21 season.
Super, indeed. That is the perfect moniker for players who delight in the college game, who already earned their diplomas but felt five years wasn’t enough time to learn everything they could from their coaches and professors.
In both cases, their patience, hard work and persistence has been rewarded.
McGusty, who flirted with the NBA Draft last spring but wisely opted to return to UM, on Monday was named to the All-ACC first team, just the third Hurricane in program history to earn that honor following Jack McClinton and Shane Larkin. His last season at Miami has been his best, with career-high stats in points per game (17.5), rebounds (4.8), and field-goal percentage (47.4).
Most important to him, the team is having its best season since he arrived as a transfer from Oklahoma in 2018.
As the Hurricanes headed to Brooklyn, New York, on Tuesday with a 22-9 record and a double bye into the quarterfinals of the ACC tournament, McGusty told the Herald that his two greatest decisions in life were transferring to Miami and returning to school this year.
His says he has transformed on and off the court due to habits coach Jim Larranaga has instilled: proper rest, drinking a gallon of water a day, meditating and visualizing goals every day and focusing on positive thoughts.
“All of those things ended up adding up for me and those are the types of things Coach L always teaches,” he said. “He’s more than just a basketball coach. He’s a life coach.”
Jean-Baptiste is another shining example of what is still good about college athletics. The graduate student received the prestigious Chattanooga’s Blue Award, given to a student who exemplifies excellence in academics, leadership, service and dedication to the school. He is the first student-athlete to win the honor.
On the court, the Miami native has improved each season. He made 35 three-point shots as a freshman, 50 as a sophomore, 54 as a junior, 59 as a senior and 89 (!!) as a Super Senior. His most recent, at the end of Monday night’s Southern Conference championship game, was the most memorable. It made ESPN “SportsCenter” and went viral on Twitter.
With 4.3 seconds remaining in overtime, Chattanooga inbounded the ball under its basket trailing Furman 63-61. Jean-Baptiste collected the inbounds pass, dribbled the ball over halfcourt and was swarmed by three Furman defenders.
With the clock winding down, he leaped up from beyond the three-point arc and launched the game winner at buzzer to earn the Mocs an NCAA tTournament bid.
If you haven’t seen the shot, go look for a replay right now. Making the shot even sweeter is knowing that it came from a sixth-year senior for whom wearing his college jersey means the world.
Both McGusty and Jean-Baptiste credit their Caribbean roots for their resiliency. McGusty’s mother and biggest inspiration, Julie Winn, is from Trinidad and Tobago. His father’s family is from Guyana. His favorite restaurant in South Florida is Caribbean Delite in Palmetto Bay, where he finds authentic curry and roti the way his grandmother and great-grandmother made it.
Jean-Baptiste is of Haitian heritage, carries a backpack with a Haitian flag and takes every opportunity he can to express pride in his family background.
This is a young man who commuted an hour by Tri-Rail to high school because he was determined to keep playing for Norland after he moved to Pompano Beach. To be at school by 7:15 a.m. he woke up at 4:30 a.m., took the Tri-Rail to the Golden Glades station and would then walk or take a bus to school. He would stay at school until well into the night, after basketball practice, and take buses and trains home.
“If you look at the Haitian flag, the palm trees and just how still they are, I just think no matter what storm that’s affecting you, no matter what’s happening around you, still unfazed,” Jean-Baptiste told the Chattanooga Times Free Press in a recent interview. “Still being us, still being resilient. I just think the people of the Haitian culture, how resilient they are, it translates to the game of basketball.”
McGusty was a talented football player and highly coveted basketball recruit coming out of Sunrise Christian Academy. He chose Oklahoma over Florida, Texas, Indiana, and Louisville, among others. He was one of the Sooners’ top freshmen since Blake Griffin and was named to the Big 12 All-Newcomer team. But his role changed as a sophomore when Trae Young arrived, and McGusty’s numbers dropped.
“I needed a change of scenery, needed to fall in love with the game again,” he said. He was intrigued by UM because of the success Big 12 transfers Sheldon McClellan and Angel Rodriguez had with the Hurricanes. He also liked that Larranaga is known for getting guards to the NBA.
Last Spring, McGusty tested the NBA waters. He entered his name in the draft, but scouts told him he would be better off returning to UM for a final season, fine-tuning his game and leading the team to a winning season. They told him he could be like Chris Duarte, who toiled at Northwest Florida Junior College and Oregon before becoming the Indiana Pacers’ 2021 NBA first-round pick.
McGusty took the advice to heart. So far, so good. He is a big reason the Canes are having their best season since 2017, and he will enter the NBA Draft better prepared than he was a year ago.
Jean-Baptiste said he learned a lot on those train rides to Norland, lessons he still carries today.
“The thing about those train experiences was I learned a lot… I had times where I’m waiting, and I’m just talking to people about life. I’m 16, 17 years old, and I’m talking to 30-year-olds about their outlook on life and learning from them.”
And he and McGusty are still learning, taking full advantage of everything a college scholarship has to offer. Sure, Name, Image and Likeness deals are nice. But the life lessons these two athletes have gained the past six years are priceless. If only more college athletes had the same wisdom and patience.
This story was originally published March 8, 2022 at 3:23 PM.