Staff photo / Middle Tennessee State's Reggie Upshaw Jr., a former Baylor School standout, drives past Grand Canyon's Blake Davis on Dec. 30, 2013, during the second day of the Dr Pepper Classic at UTC's McKenzie Arena.EDITOR'S NOTE: This is the final story in a six-part series on the top local high school boys' basketball players of the past decade.
Reggie Upshaw Jr. never had a problem adjusting to his surroundings.
While some college athletes struggle to make the transition from high school, the former Baylor School multisport standout started 20 games as a freshman basketball player at Middle Tennessee State University.
But all along, there was always some flirtation - albeit minor - with the possibility of playing football for the Blue Raiders and the same program for which his father had a solid career. Even as his college basketball career was ending, there was a rumor he was going to play his final year of eligibility at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, where his brother was entering his redshirt freshman season in 2017.
Would he have adapted? He had been labeled a pretty solid football prospect coming out of high school, picking up offers from MTSU and Vanderbilt, among others.
But by that point, basketball had provided too many opportunities for the 6-foot-8, 228-pound Upshaw to consider any other options.
Much like his career at Baylor, success followed Upshaw throughout his time at MTSU. Nobody in program history has won as many games in his career (99). He finished second in career minutes played (3,965), third in steals (151), fourth in points (1,571), rebounds (910) and blocks (110), fifth in field goals made (598), seventh in double-doubles (19) and 11th in assists (257).
He was twice named to the All-Conference USA team and was the conference tournament's MVP after the 2016 tournament. That team, as well as the 2016-17 Blue Raiders, won a game in the NCAA tournament, with the 2015-16 Blue Raiders - seeded 15th - knocking off second-seeded Michigan State and MTSU beating Syracuse a year later.
All of the above cemented his legacy as one of the top players in Blue Raiders history.
"My college career was exciting," Upshaw said. "To be able to make it to the NCAA tournament, and even coming in as a freshman and starting. You hear so many stories about guys coming in and struggling to play, but I was able to jump right in."
With a résumé like that, future opportunities would certainly present themselves. And they did, first in Germany, then to Spain and Italy and now in Israel, where he had just played a basketball game Friday before his interview with the Times Free Press.
Playing professionally has given him a chance to see the rest of the world up close, but it's also given him an opportunity to branch out and learn, too.
"Every culture is different," he said. "Italy and Spain are super laid back - after practice a lot of guys will go to the beaches - whereas in Germany, it's more of a cold culture where people may be friendly, but they're not as warm and inviting as some of the other places.
"But there's not been one country where I haven't been able to adjust to their cultures and what they do."
Which is very similar to his transition from high school to college, where he stepped right in and adjusted to his surroundings.
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenley3.
Staff photo / Middle Tennessee State's Reggie Upshaw Jr., a former Baylor School standout, glides to the basket against Grand Canyon on Dec. 30, 2013, during the second day of the Dr Pepper Classic at UTC's McKenzie Arena.READ MORE OF THE SERIES
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