Maurice Commander’s worlds collided this summer when the California native and Los Angeles Lakers fan found out with the rest of the world that LeBron James, Commander’s favorite basketball player, was going to play in L.A.
Having moved to Chicago at a young age, he’d sat through the arguments about James as compared to Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant, obviously being outnumbered in the Windy City when those debates ensued. And he sat through summer after summer when star players were supposedly going to L.A.
LeBron was the one who finally ended the drought.
“You just had to be patient,” Commander said.
Now a freshman on the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga men’s basketball team, the 6-foot guard is – much like his favorite player – looking to help turn a team around.
Commander was an all-city and all-area player in his lone season at Curie High School in Chicago. Prior to that he was the East Suburban Catholic Conference player of the year at Marist in Chicago, the same program that produced fellow UTC freshman Justin Brown, who redshirted last season.
Commander is one of four true freshmen on the Mocs’ roster this season, joining fellow guard Donovann Toatley and forwards Kevin Easley and Keigan Kerby. His first day on campus in June, the quartet went through a freshmen-only workout with the coaching staff.
“You realize you’ve got to go harder than you did before,” Commander said of the transition to college. “You had to go hard to get here, and now that you got here it’s a whole new start. It’s like being a freshman trying to make varsity – you’ve got to work harder than everyone just to get on there. Now that I’m here, I’m just trying to give everything I’ve got.
“That workout at the beginning was real cool because it was all freshmen, and we all have high expectations. I already knew Don and Kevin because of AAU, so to come together on one team is real exciting. To see the potential of all four is real exciting; we still work out together now and have a good chemistry both on and off the court, but it also makes everyone work hard. Me and Don play the same position, and Kev and Keigan basically play the same position, so we’re all friends, but when we’re on the court we’ve got to go at each other. We’re still a team; it just makes everyone go hard.”
Commander was watching from afar as the Mocs struggled to a 10-23 mark last season. That roster has been flipped, with at least nine players making their UTC debuts this year. The players have come from Illinois, Wisconsin and Colorado as well as the Boston and Baltimore areas. Different upbringings, different locations, now all with the same goal.
Commander said it’s been a good mix and one that will be “exciting” to see this year.
“It’s about having a fresh mind, a new outlook,” he said. “I think we’ll be pretty good. Last year the chemistry seemed off, but I think we have good chemistry this year. Everybody communicates with everyone; we hang out together. Just having good chemistry on and off the court should help us.
“It’s exciting to see where it could go this year.”
Just like with LeBron and the Lakers.
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenley3.