Summit: Opening remarks by Scottie Reynolds
13) Opening remarks by Scottie Reynolds, prospective basketball athlete, Herndon High School
Transcript: PDF.
Video: Windows Media File. Quick Time.
SCOTTIE REYNOLDS: Thank you for the opportunity. I guess my situation is a little bit different because I wasn’t, you know, very good at school, you know, it came harder for me so sports was everything that I always wanted and I just wanted to be the best at everything.
But living in Chicago for a little bit and seeing what, you know, college, all the people that were getting recruited like Dee Brown that’s at Illinois right now and talking to him and seeing what he went through, it kind of put my entire life in perspective and like, work ethic.
And work ethic, you know, not just on the basketball court but in school and with education. But I moved back to Virginia in my freshman year and I wasn’t really recruited, I was, you know, a talented player, whatever, but I didn’t, I wasn’t like, you know, number one. I wasn’t on anybody’s list really.
But I had an okay freshman year and, you know, I averaged like nine points a game and I was just, you know a secondary player. So the sophomore year I was in the gym, you know, working hard and everything and I had an okay sophomore year and I came, averaged about twenty-two, twenty-three points a game and I was okay with that and I saw that I was getting better but I really wasn’t getting any looks.
And then I remember my first time I got a letter from Clemson and my face, I was running out the gym, you know, just throwing my hands up, just, you know, excited that I just got one letter, you know what I’m saying? And that right there, that just made me work even harder to have schools coming around and, you know, recognizing me.
But I also knew that I had to get my books straight and my favorite NBA team was, is the Chicago Bulls and Jay Williams, you know, had an unfortunate accident and knowing his story kind of put that in perspective that, you know, I needed to find something other than basketball that’s going to, you know, make me happy and make me be successful.
And if I put the same work in, you know, basketball that I do, you know, in something else I could be successful. And I met him over the summer, this past summer at the NBA development camp and I got down and sat and talked with him a little bit and talking to him just inspired me even more and going and knowing his story is kind of like mine too.
But going back to I guess my story or whatever, sophomore year, at the end of my sophomore year I got invited to a camp called the ABCD Camp up in New York. And I’d never been to any camp, I really, I’m a Mama’s boy so I kind of just, I just hip to my Mom, you know, so I never really wanted to go to overnight camps or anything so I just stayed with my Mom, you know, so this is kind of really my first kind of, you know, I’m alone, you know, I don’t know anybody really and so I go out to this ABCD Camp and I’m like, these guys are big, you know, going out there, you know, but it’s basketball, so I, you know, I just wanted to play and compete and I’m competitive.
So I go out there and, you know, I do good and I’m just, I see all these coaches, I had never seen so many coaches in my life. I think at the time there wasn’t a coach that came to gym and I kind of got, you know, criticized for not going to like a public school, you know, I was thinking about going to a public school and things like that, like an O’Connell or something. But I went out to the ABCD Camp and I got good exposure.
I was the number one-ranked junior there, ahead of, I guess you’ve seen Greg Oden on TV and he’s, you know, I was ahead of him so I said, okay, I guess I did pretty good and I got to the All Star Game.
But that kind of led up to, you know, Oklahoma and things like that so the exposure, when you get exposure a lot of people just come shooting at you and you don’t know who’s real, who’s fake and who wants you and what not. And I guess after that, going into my junior year you just get, it just keeps going and going and you get, you know, that can text you or call you and things like that. So it kind of gets overwhelming and what not.
But when you narrow it down, and I’m fortunate to have a family that didn’t push me to make a decision or it was kind of left to me, you kind of realize that, you know, you know what people are true to you and for me I made my decision early in March and to go to the University of Oklahoma.
And that’s really, I guess you kind of, when I say you kind of realize who’s really fake or whatever. Playing AAU you have fifteen guys that are really highly, highly recruiting and things like that and they’re saying one thing to you and they’re saying that you, you get a text message from, you know, from one university and then you’re like, okay, okay and then one of your teammates gets a text message and it’s from the same university and they’re saying the same things and you all play the same position. And it’s kind of like, really, you know, like are you really, are you really doing this? So I guess in the recruiting process you kind of like, like Ruth said, you kind of like narrow your choices down and you talk to your family and you kind of make the best decision for yourself to put yourself to be in a good position, not just for basketball but later on in life to be successful.
DR. TURNER: Thank you. And both for you and Myron, we’re delighted to have your parents with us and when we get into the Q&A, well then they may be asked some questions too.
