The caption on the latest Instagram post by University of Tennessee at Chattanooga freshman forward Sam Alexis said it all.
“I remember they was clownin me now they on the side watchin me.”
It’s fair if Alexis has a long memory in that regard, though he doesn’t have to think that far back to measure his progress. After all, it hasn’t even been two years since the 6-foot-9, 190-pound forward was playing junior varsity basketball as a junior at Apopka High School in Florida.
In this day and age, tall players in high school are supposed to be dominant, right? So when Alexis wasn’t, he’d walk the halls and hear people refer to him as “tall for no reason,” to the point where he considered quitting the sport altogether.
It hasn’t even been a full calendar year since Alexis was playing for 1Family out of Florida on the AAU circuit, which as a senior is not the place anyone wants to be. But it’s also where more and more high school kids find themselves now as they are passed over or discarded as recruits in favor of college players in the transfer portal.