Ryan Stayton

[Ed. note: this was written after I watched Darius play in the Cali HS state playoffs last March.]

Spoiler alert: he makes the dunk.

After convincing myself that a lone male in his 30s attending a high school basketball game would be interpreted by third parties as “superfanaticism” and “not sad” or likely to lead to phrases rhyming with flatutory grape, I donned my best ignore-the-cheerleaders goggles to watch Darius Morris’s Windward Wildcats battle the Visalia Central Valley Christian Cavaliers in round two (the regional semis) of the Cali high school state tourney, and am thrilled to report that not only did DaMo pace the ‘cats to a pimpressive 80-67 W, but UCLA-bound big man and Windward teammate Anthony Stover be damned we’re getting the most complete player on the floor. And most importantly no parents or faculty asked if my mustache was real.

My $9 entry fee paid, before tip I confirmed that DM looks like a basketball player. Some people may say that’s not important, but you people know what I’m saying: the kid’s long, athletic, wears one of them AI elbow sleeves and has just enough swagger to make you want to recruit him skills unseen.  And sure enough he had a layup seven seconds in and added a between-the-legs assist as the ‘cats scored the first seven points of the game in the first minute.

He frequently checked the Cavs’ best player (i.e. the white guy with the best hairdo) with success and looks to be Beezer’s ideal guard defender with his quick feet and long arms.

Though the Cavs had a bad case of Caucasian Bird Flu (100% pasty), they stayed within 5 by halftime and kept DM somewhat in check with about 6-8 points and a few assists (apologies– HS box scores are proving hard to come by). Here’s my best guess at Windward’s coach’s halftime speech:

COACH: You’re DARIUS MORRIS, dagnabit! Beezer recruited you for a reason, now show us that reason! Michigan only recruits the best, so I want to see you take over! Also, can you believe that lone, 30s-ish male in the stands? What a superfanatic! Beezer wasn’t kidding when he said the maize rage are the bestestest!

The third quarter was DM’s, whose aggressiveness all but single-handedly stretched the ‘cats’ lead to 20 points. Open threes: check. No look passes: yep, yep. Dribble drives through the Cavs’ entire squadron: oh my yes, and they were breathtaking. How to build a DM robot:

* Jumper: smooth, Ray Allen-esque form (though not quite THAT silky). He has the range, though now he looks to be more of a spot up shooter a la LLP who doesn’t look to create open threes off the dribble or curl hard off screens to stop and pop like Novak or Douglass. He did hit a couple mid-rangers off the dribble.

* Slashability: his athleticism enabled him to get to the rim at will, which was the primary source for the Cavs’ third quarter night frights. He needs to polish his finashability as his athleticism frequently led to acrobatic shots that didn’t drop, but the kid has the instincts to get to the rim similar to Manny, with one XXXL difference:

* Ball handling: oh my. If Manny had handles this good we’d have won one or two more games. The kid’s got the feel and was reminiscent of Horton in this respect, though DM has more of a pro-style game.

* Sharing: when a player frequently makes no-look passes, they can safely be said to have strong court vision. DM finished w/ 8 or so good-looking assists, and even tried an off-the-backboard alley-oop to Stover.

* Pizazz, emotion, flash: call it what you will but he’s got it. He’s a team captain and looks it. Best of all is he pulls it off not because he looks cocky but because the kid’s having a ton of fun. He and Manny’ll chest bump often next year, and it’ll be beautiful.

* Looks forward to TV timeouts: he didn’t play all 8 minutes of any quarter.

* Afro-able hair.  It’s short now, but he could pull off something proper.

DaMo Frosh forecast:

I think Darius’s season starts much like LLP’s did this year, with him as our sixth man (I see Grady making nice with Beezer and starting w/ Manny, Peedi, LLP and Novak) capable of big numbers, but who by the end of the year is better and more consistent that frosh LLP has been. He’ll have a couple 20-point efforts and will be 2nd on the team in assists (to Grady).

Bottom line: he’ll absolutely contribute and make us a better team. Good gravy.

[Ed. note: area man knows Grady is gone, daddy, gone; I told you: I wrote this in March. Now I predict... he starts?]

Non-DaMo bullets:

* Do high schools deflate height listings to make their opponents gulp come game time? The announcer introduced DM and Stover as 6′0″ and 6′5″ respectively, but standing next to them on the court postgame there’s nary a doughnut’s chance in Bob Traylor’s kitchen that Darius is less than 6′3″ and Stover less than 6′8″.

* Stover will be a wild card to watch at UCLA. He has a polished big man’s game, uses his body well and has good feet and touch, but he was also six inches taller than any Cavalier (I think he hit double-digit blocks, including many reminiscent of Bill Murray’s Rushmore rejection) and looks like a small Greg Oden. He won’t be doing that against other 6′8″ D1 ballers next year.

* Ironically, the Christian Caucasian team was more like our squadron: small, more white than their opponents, fundamentally sound and able to work for and hit open threes frequently, which kept them in it for longer than they should’ve been.

* One Cavalier hit a 60-footer to end a quarter, verifying that it’s one of the few plays to induce fan bedlam regardless of how much said fans’ team is down and regardless of whether the game is home or away. That and shattering a backboard are surely top two.

* Windward’s coach reminded me of Gene Auriemma, which is to say they bear a physical resemblance. I can’t comment on coaching style similarities as I prefer my hoops with dicks.